IEM Katowice 2023 results Groupstage

IEM Katowice 2023 results Groupstage

7. February 2023 by Andrew Williams

Heroic defeated OG 2:0 at IEM Katowice. Outsiders defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas with 2-1 who were eliminated from IEM Katowice. MOUZ was also eliminated after losing to Complexity. Vitality secured the victory with a 2-1 win over Fnatic and will play in the Spodek Arena for the first time in their history.

Asian underdog IHC lost 2-0 to FaZe and Liquid made their way to the final of Group A at IEM Katowice with a win over Spirit. Here are the matches of the IEM Katowice summarized for you.

Heroic vs. OG

The first map was Inferno and Heroic had a good start and could take a quick 8:4 lead. OG didn’t let up and won three rounds in a row to go into the CT side with a one round deficit. OG won the pistol duel in the second half to tie it up, but Heroic didn’t let up and  won the map 16-10. Next up was Mirage, where OG got off to a 4-0 start. But Heroic immediately caught up and overtook their opponents to win the second map as well, 16-12. Luck turned in their favor at the last second and they were able to secure their ticket to Spodek Arena.

Outsiders vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas

The game started on Vertigo and the Outsiders came right out faltering. The Ninjas, on the other hand, were in better shape and with two aces from Fredrik “REZ” Sterner, the team quickly outscored their opponents 16-5. Things were looking up for the Outsiders on Overpass. They were able to build a 7:3 advantage. The Ninjas in Pajamas managed to get a few more defensive turnovers thanks to a double AWP lineup, leaving the Outsiders with just a 9-6 advantage at halftime. But the lead didn’t last long and the game was tied. Then the Outsiders took control and pulled out a 16-12 win. It went to the decider on Inferno and Outsiders were able to pull away with a 3-1 lead. The teams went back and forth until Dzhami “Jame” Ali and Co. were able to end the map with a 16-9 win.

Vitality vs. Fnatic

The match started on overpass and Vitality used a force-buy in the second round to take a 7-2 lead. Emil “Magisk” Reif put himself in  for Vitality. As the match progressed, both teams exchanged blows, but Vitality went into the halftime break with a 10-5 lead. Vitality continued strong right away and managed to take a 14-6 lead, but fnatic managed to cut the deficit to 15-13. Nevertheless, Vitality secured the 16-13 victory on the map. After that, it was on to Mirage. There, fnatic was able to put down 12 rounds and ended the half with a 12-3 lead. fnatic continued to dominate and quickly ended the map with a 16-8 lead. For the decider, it was onto Nuke and the teams engaged in a wild head-to-head race, though Vitality was able to prevail quite easily with a 16-13 win.

Complexity vs. MOUZ

The match started on Inferno and MOUZ had a slightly stronger start. The head-to-head on Inferno continued throughout the rest of the half, but it was MOUZ that managed to take the lead, with Dorian “xertioN” Berman able to give his team a one-round advantage at the break in round 15. A quadruple kill from Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli put Complexity back in the lead, 11-9. MOUZ had no chance to  somehow get back into the game again, and Fnatic ended the map with a 16-9 score. It was on to Nuke and MOUZ surged ahead, dominating the game with an early 6-0 lead.

It took until the seventh round for Complexity to rally, but hallzerk paved the way for recovery with a double kill, and the North American team was able to cut the deficit to a more tolerable score of 6-9 by the turn of the match. Complexity managed to even the score at 11:11. MOUZ stabilized and managed a 16:11 series equalizer. Finally, it was Ancient’s turn and Complexity went right to work, taking a 6-3 lead. dexter made an important clutch to even the map at 9-9. From now on, the two teams went back and forth, but the North Americans finally won 16-12 and won the match 2-1.

FaZe vs. IHC

IHC started the match on Inferno with an early 3-0 lead. FaZe quickly followed suit and five rounds in a row went to the account of Finn “karrigan” Andersen. FaZe led 9-6 by the break, but IHC was able to close the gap and regain the lead for the first time since the  start of the map, with four rounds in a row leading to a 10-9 score.

They didn’t last long, though, as FaZe quickly outscored them 16-11 to take a 1-0 lead. The second map was pretty one-sided and FaZe dominated. Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and Helvijs “broky” Saukants were responsible for FaZe closing the map with 16:3.

Liquid vs. Spirit

The first map was Nuke and Spirit didn’t have much success there. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski helped Team Liquid to a 10:5 lead. Nick “nitr0” Cannella’s men tried to give it their all again on the map, but it didn’t help, the gap was too big to overcome and it wasn’t long before a hit from Liquid on the B-side decided the map in their favor 16-12.

The match continued with Overpass and Spirit got off to a better start, taking a 3-0 lead. Liquid quickly hit back with some quick offensive rounds, but the Russians recovered and Igor “w0nderful” Zhdanov saved the 7:8 halftime score for his team. Eventually, Spirit evened the series at 1-1 with a 16-13 win. The last map was Anubis and Spirit managed to take a 9:6 halftime lead. But the tide turned for the North Americans after the change of ends, as they won the second round of pistols to secure a 16-11 victory.