G2 claim final playoff spot, NAVI move on to semifinals

The Spodek Arena now awaits the six playoffs teams, who will fight for the crown over the following weekend.

Completing their lower bracket run in Group B following an initial loss to fnatic, G2 have defeated Astralis to secure themselves a spot in the playoffs of IEM Katowice. There they will face off against Virtus.pro, who came out of Group A with the second seed.

On the upper side of the bracket, Natus Vincere was able to complete their upper bracket run and take down FaZe in a close series to secure a semifinal spot in the playoffs. After needing to use Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage for the first match against Liquid, Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool was finally cleared to travel to Katowice and helped FaZe to win their upper bracket semifinal versus fnatic.

Whether the team will be able to use their full lineup in the playoffs however is still up in the air, as shortly after ropz was cleared to play, Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to play the remainder of the group stage from the hotel. If the Norwegian player is unable to test negative before the playoffs, the team may find themselves using jks once again.

Things started off really rough for the Astralis camp, being unable to pick up any wins in the first eight rounds of Ancient. Eventually, a 1 v 2 clutch from Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer allowed the Danish team to pick up their first Terrorist round, and was able to convert it into five by the end of the half.

The second half was much different however, as Astralis put up a masterful defense headed up by Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke. After a strong comeback, the Danes were able to close out their own pick and go up 1-0 in the series.

G2 were completely unfazed by the map loss however, and had an even stronger first half on Dust 2. With Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač ravaging Astralis on the T side, G2 secured a strong 11-4 lead going into half two. There was no coming back this time however for Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and co., as G2 were able to quickly secure the final five rounds needed to win map two 16-5.

With a deciding map of Inferno, the series was do or die for both teams, with a playoff spot for one of the biggest events of the year on the line. However, the G2 plow had already begun and there was no stopping the multi-national team. As a result, the final map ended up as a 16-1 stomp, and G2 secured their spot in the playoffs.

The first map between Natus Vincere and FaZe was Overpass and Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen kicked off the series with a early lead on the Terrorist side. Natus Vincere were able to equalize the scoreline and keep things close in the second half, but the rock solid defense of Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants and rain ensured the international side was able to take the map in 16-13.

Determined to come back on their pick of Dust 2, Natus Vincere pushed ahead in the first half of the second map with an offense spearheaded by Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev. Despite multiple clutches by the hands of FaZe, the CIS superteam was still able to hold the lead going into the next half. s1mple once again asserted his dominance, and helped the Natus Vincere camp hold the line, pulling out a 16-12 win.

Right from the beginning, Mirage was the set to be the closest map yet. Natus Vincere were able to hold on to a close lead after the first half, but weren't able to break FaZe's defense at the start of half two. Eventually FaZe hit match point, with a five round buffer to close out the map. Through a collective effort from Natus Vincere, overtime was secured, and the slate was reset. Despite many individual plays from both teams in overtime, Natus Vincere secured the map win 22-19, closing out the series and putting themselves directly into the semifinals in the Spodek.