NAVI, FaZe secure playoff spots at IEM Katowice

FURIA and fnatic will continue through the Group B lower bracket, where four teams will fight for one playoff berth.

Natus Vincere and FaZe are assured to play at the Spodek Arena in Katowice after winning their Group B upper bracket semi-finals against FURIA and fnatic, respectively.

The Russian squad did so in two maps, smashing Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and company on Mirage 16-2 before taking their map pick of Nuke 16-12, while FaZe, with Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool back in the fray, won two out of three in their series against fnatic.

The two winning sides still have one more group stage match, scheduled for Sunday at 19:30 , to decide who will win the group and get seeded straight into the playoff semi-finals. fnatic and FURIA, meanwhile, will play Astralis and G2, respectively, to fight for the final Group B playoff spot in the lower bracket.

Natus Vincere and FURIA went at it on the Brazilian squad’s map pick of Mirage to kick off proceedings in their upper bracket bout for a spot in the playoffs, with Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov rejoining the team in the tournament area after being cleared of an initial positive Covid-19 test result and playing the opening match against ENCE in isolation from his hotel room.

The map was a complete blowout from the start, with the CIS squad stopping every attack from their counterparts, as the Brazilians could only tally two rounds in their T-side half. Natus Vincere then went on to take the second pistol round to win the map out 16-2 before going onto their own pick.

The pace didn’t change on Nuke and it was Natus Vincere who once again charged out of the gate, this time on the attack, battering a tattered FURIA round after round, changing the pace between fast hits and slow defaults with great success until late in the half, when FURIA came alive with a double AWP setup to win the last three rounds, making it 5-10.

FURIA kept their hopes alive by securing the pistol round on the attack, winning the first three rounds of the half, but Natus Vincere then took over, winning the following three before Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy bagged an important 1vs1 against Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa. FURIA struck back the following round and forced an eco, continuing in their comeback attempt, but ultimately fell short as Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company ended the map and series, 16-12.

FaZe, with ropz back in the server, won the CT-side pistol round on fnatic’s Overpass to kick off their Group B upper bracket semi-final for a spot in the playoffs, going on to build an early economy on the defense. Playing from his room, Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard showed up big for his team on the CT side with 18 kills in their 10-5 showing before switching sides.

A T-side pistol round win inched FaZe closer and closer to match point as they followed it up in the anti-ecos and first gun round, eventually running away with a clean six rounds to take the series lead with a 16-5 scoreline.

FaZe were once again able to get ahead first, this time by winning the T-side pistol on Inferno, but fnatic’s Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson downed three from pit with a Desert Eagle in the follow-up to keep fnatic from falling behind. The two teams then remained close, tied at 4-4, but the Anglo-Swedish side peeled ahead to win the half just shy of hitting double digits before the switch.

fnatic won the second pistol round and followed it up to remain ahead 11-6, but a triple with a Desert Eagle by ropz in top mid followed by a fourth frag in apartments with a stolen AK gave FaZe a new lease on life as they went into the following round with a full economy and won a crucial fight on banana to link up another round. A brawl ensued with back-and-forth rounds before Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin and his men were able to win out 16-10.

FaZe came back alive on Mirage, establishing dominance from the start on the attacking side despite losing the pistol round as they won the second round forcebuy and went on a tear to get ahead 8-2 by the tenth round, although they didn’t keep up the pace as fnatic brought it back to 6-9.

The final half saw FaZe take a 3vs4 in pistols with Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants and Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen downing two each to hit double digits. fnatic retaliated two rounds later, in the first gun round, and put up a fight early on, but wouldn’t last as Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken and company settled into the CT side to secure the map, 16-9, clinching a coveted berth in the playoffs.