ESL Challenger Katowice 2024SAW and paiN march on to playoffs in Katowice
Only two playoff spots are up for grabs in the $100,000 tournament.
SAW and paiN have locked up spots in the semi-final stage of ESL Challenger Katowice 2024 after beating B8 and Legacy in their respective winners' matches.
Fresh off a narrow win over Falcons in the opening round, SAW had to work hard to overcome B8, who were riding a wave of momentum after beating top seed Eternal Fire earlier in the day.
It wasn't an easy game for the Portuguese side, who spent large swathes of the game trying to catch up on the scoreboard and shockingly wasted a 5v2 advantage early in the first half. But they managed to pull through in the end with a near-flawless T side as they went on a 7-1 run once they had money in the bank.
André "Ag1l" Gil, SAW's newest recruit, had the most frags on his team, but all eyes were on veteran Ricardo "roman" Oliveira, who boasted a remarkable 9-0 opening kill record.
  B8 |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 - 14 | +4.18% | 86.0 | 73.9% | 1.24 | |
| 17 - 16 | -0.32% | 85.7 | 78.3% | 1.23 | |
| 19 - 15 | -2.09% | 81.8 | 78.3% | 1.20 | |
| 15 - 14 | -1.87% | 87.2 | 73.9% | 1.13 | |
| 7 - 18 | -7.51% | 35.5 | 52.2% | 0.44 |
  SAW |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 - 16 | +4.09% | 81.4 | 82.6% | 1.33 | |
| 19 - 14 | +2.88% | 83.4 | 65.2% | 1.18 | |
| 16 - 18 | +3.57% | 77.6 | 69.6% | 1.06 | |
| 12 - 14 | +1.48% | 69.0 | 73.9% | 0.96 | |
| 12 - 15 | -4.39% | 54.9 | 69.6% | 0.87 |
Meanwhile, paiN left it late to squeeze past Legacy 13-10 in an all-Brazilian clash on Nuke. The scoreline doesn't tell the whole story: paiN were in control during the entire first half and quickly hit match point on the T side.
With no room for error, Legacy took the fight to their opponents and chipped away at the deficit, but their efforts were for naught as paiN put the game to bed as overtime loomed.
"Not really," Lucas "nqz" Soares said after the game when asked if his team felt nervous. "We just needed one round on the T side. We knew we were losing rounds in a way we should not. They were pushing us and we were getting caught off-guard."
  paiN |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 - 13 | +1.63% | 79.6 | 78.3% | 1.30 | |
| 18 - 10 | +1.55% | 75.7 | 65.2% | 1.26 | |
| 17 - 12 | +0.91% | 79.2 | 65.2% | 1.23 | |
| 16 - 14 | +1.37% | 84.5 | 73.9% | 1.17 | |
| 12 - 14 | +0.93% | 61.9 | 69.6% | 1.01 |
 Legacy |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 - 14 | +8.56% | 74.7 | 65.2% | 1.11 | |
| 15 - 13 | -1.93% | 63.3 | 60.9% | 0.92 | |
| 8 - 16 | -1.04% | 70.4 | 69.6% | 0.83 | |
| 11 - 17 | -4.79% | 56.5 | 60.9% | 0.79 | |
| 12 - 18 | -7.19% | 56.4 | 43.5% | 0.69 |
Day one of ESL Challenger Katowice will wrap up with the first elimination series, pitting MIBR against Monte.
Ivan 'maddened' Iordanidi
Pavle 'Maden' Bošković
LeLaser
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syjeon
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Ademar
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yoshiiii
^Trusty
DanChip
KnelI
