Hectic clutches push FURIA to Stage 2 over Wildcard

FURIA won six 1vX clutches between them to Wildcard's one on the Nuke decider.

FURIA are into IEM Katowice proper after a tight series against Wildcard, needing a win on glocks, six clutches and a Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato 30-bomb to prevail over their American rivals.

The loss puts Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's troops on a collision course with another regional heavyweight in the form of Liquid in the lower bracket.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025 Play-in
31/01/2025	Liquid 18:30 Wildcard	Match
31/01/2025	Wildcard Finished 1:2 FURIA	Match
31/01/2025	Complexity Finished 0:2 Liquid	Match

"What the fuck man, it feels so good to be back," KSCERATO said when asked by James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks about missing top 16 at the last two IEM Katowice events on stream.

It was a close run thing, with Wildcard in impressive form and stanislaw keeping the upper hand on the calling for much of the series.

Inferno was map one and Wildcard sprinted to an 11-1 T half with Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo helpless in the face of their suffocating offense. Dust2, however, was similarly one-sided in FURIA's favor to take us to an enthralling Nuke decider.

A loss to a scout, two P250s, and two Glocks early in the first half set the tone for a Wildcard performance full of promise but lacking some bite under pressure.

KSCERATO won three clutches in the map and FalleN two as experience won out for FURIA at the close.

"I've never played playoffs in Katowice, so maybe this is the first time," KSCERATO concluded.

Stanislaw's calling impresses despite defeat

Wildcard came into the series knowing that to make top 16, they likely needed to beat one of the region's top dogs in the form of FURIA or Liquid.

They are currently the fifth-highest ranked Americas team, a crucial placing that would give them a Major berth if invites were handed out today.

But it's a precarious position with European qualifiers looming if they drop out of that top five, and stanislaw entered the series like a man who knew the team needed a win.

Wildcard were all over FURIA, rushing to 6-0 and 11-1 lead on Inferno's T side first half.

A perfectly timed Apps pop into a FURIA with four players on Brackets was a brutal demonstration of the reads stanislaw displayed all game long as they took a deserved 1-0 lead.

Experience takes the wheel for FURIA

Pressure did, however, rear its ugly head for Wildcard on a hapless Dust2 and a Nuke full of missed opportunities.

Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek was caught being greedy against glocks early on, with FURIA stealing the round and all the early momentum.

But the team did rally, with Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant sticking to the aggressive style that worked so well fore him on Inferno (if not Dust2) and earning a 5-0 record in opening duels after the first eight rounds.

The fifth of those was the most crucial as Wildcard won an eco of their own off the back of a phzy double on Dualies in a Ramp push.

But KSCERATO, after a slow first two maps, was powering up and showed Wildcard why he was the best player in the server with two crucial clutches to end the half 6-6.

Another veteran, FalleN, then added a couple of clutches of his own to bring FURIA to match point at 12-10.

With the score reading 5-0 in clutches to FURIA, stanislaw finally got Wildcard's first 1v1 win in round 24 to bring us to overtime.

With equal economy, it seemed Wildcard might have the edge if only they could convert some late-rounds only for FalleN found the right calls at the death to defeat his long-time opponent once again.