Astralis and BIG complete upper bracket at IEM Katowice Play-In

With these matches complete the best-of-one phase of the play-in is now over.

A busy day at IEM Katowice continued with these final first round matchups, the last best-of-ones before series play takes over. Astralis and BIG emerged victorious, earning themselves a spot in the upper bracket and two chances to qualify for the main event.

That all-important qualification best-of-three between Astralis and BIG will take place later today at 18:15 , whilst Movistar Riders will take on MIBR in the elimination series on Wednesday at 12:30 .

The first game featured Astralis taking on MIBR, and in the eyes of many this match was primed for a potential upset considering Astralis' recent poor form.

The Danes kicked off on the T side and settled any potential nerves with a pistol win and conversion, before MIBR began making things competitive. With the half in the balance, Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander came alive for his side and began opening up rounds with aggressive lurk plays, getting Astralis up to six rounds and ensuring a successful offence single-handedly.

A 9-6 half meant the Brazilians had an opportunity to make the game a close one, but unfortunately their underwhelming T side had not improved since BLAST, and despite a pistol win they struggled to get much going. Once Astralis had gotten the better of the force-buy war that began the half, it was a simple task for the Danes, and they closed the game out 16-11.

Over on the B stream, it was BIG taking on Movistar Riders, and the Germans got off to a rough start on the T side of Nuke. After winning the pistol they got turned over by the Spaniard's second round force and could not win their counter-force in the third; just as it looked BIG's economy was on the ropes they won a tec-9 force rushing upper, and this turned the game around.

A close half ensued from this point, with the teams generally trading rounds back-and-forth evenly with Riders edging things out 8-7.

The scrappy nature of the game continued into the second half, as the teams went back to trading force-buys. Just as it seemed Movistar Riders would get the better of the early exchanges, they hesitated for too long after a hero M4 push from Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz almost caught them throwing nades, allowing BIG to create enough chaos to win the round with USPs and recovered weapons.

This put the Spaniard's economy in the bin and, despite putting together a solid T side, they had simply too much to do, eventually losing the game.