NRG and FURIA secure playoff berths at Americas Minor
The first day of the IEM Katowice Americas Minor has concluded, and North American favorites NRG have topped their group. These victories help to put the team one step closer to their long-held goal of qualifying to the Major after previously failing to make the FACEIT London Major by falling to eUnited in a startling upset.
NRG's opening matchup saw them dismantle the Caio "zqkS" Fonseca-led Imperial in quick fashion, with Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte managing 140.2 ADR and a 2.01 rating in a quick 16-8 victory.
NRGImperial| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
29 - 14 | +15 | 140.2 | 87.5% | 2.01 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
23 - 14 | +9 | 88.1 | 79.2% | 1.48 |
 Damian 'daps' Steele |
16 - 13 | +3 | 83.7 | 79.2% | 1.34 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
19 - 13 | +6 | 76.0 | 79.2% | 1.26 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
9 - 15 | -6 | 39.6 | 70.8% | 0.71 |
| Imperial |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Caio 'zqkS' Fonseca |
17 - 19 | -2 | 75.2 | 58.3% | 0.89 |
| Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' Gonçalves |
16 - 21 | -5 | 76.0 | 70.8% | 0.88 |
| Denis 'dzt' Fischer |
15 - 20 | -5 | 76.5 | 45.8% | 0.83 |
| Thiago 'tifa' França |
13 - 18 | -5 | 70.4 | 62.5% | 0.75 |
| Bruno 'shz' Martinelli |
8 - 19 | -11 | 43.2 | 54.2% | 0.57 |
As the day went on, matches were temporarily suspended as the venue has a power outage that lasted around an hour, coming in the middle of a close matchup between Bravado and INTZ.
This temporary delay did not seem to halt Bravado's momentum as after returning to the match, Bravado were able to make quick work of the Brazilian squad by stringing together eight rounds on their CT side, paving the way for a 16-12 victory on Train.
BravadoINTZ| Bravado |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
26 - 15 | +11 | 97.0 | 75.0% | 1.50 |
| Ruan 'ELUSIVE' van Wyk |
25 - 15 | +10 | 86.8 | 82.1% | 1.38 |
| Dimitri 'Detrony' Hadjipaschali |
15 - 18 | -3 | 63.0 | 67.9% | 0.96 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
12 - 21 | -9 | 57.1 | 71.4% | 0.80 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
14 - 21 | -7 | 48.9 | 71.4% | 0.79 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
28 - 16 | +12 | 97.1 | 75.0% | 1.46 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
19 - 20 | -1 | 89.8 | 60.7% | 1.08 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
20 - 18 | +2 | 69.5 | 75.0% | 1.05 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
17 - 23 | -6 | 72.1 | 75.0% | 0.97 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
5 - 15 | -10 | 24.1 | 57.1% | 0.52 |
As such the final matchup the of Group A was NRG v Bravado, with the first map going to Inferno, where Bravado were immediately placed on the back foot after NRG was able to claim twelve rounds on their T side. After this rout, Bravado was able to make a minor resurgence on their T side, however they ran out of momentum after a 1v2 clutch by Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov secured the North American side their 14th round.
On Bravado's map pick of Train, the outcome was much the same as NRG appeared poised to move onto playoffs after claiming 10 rounds during their CT side. After this Bravado attempted to mount a comeback by winning their CT pistol, however it was short lived as after the eco round, NRG swept up six rounds in to claim a convincing 2-0 victory over Bravado.
NRGBravado| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
48 - 26 | +22 | 110.5 | 89.4% | 1.69 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
43 - 23 | +20 | 95.3 | 76.6% | 1.50 |
| Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
38 - 23 | +15 | 77.4 | 83.0% | 1.37 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
34 - 21 | +13 | 74.7 | 76.6% | 1.23 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
21 - 24 | -3 | 51.4 | 68.1% | 0.83 |
| Bravado |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
29 - 35 | -6 | 55.1 | 57.4% | 0.83 |
| Ruan 'ELUSIVE' van Wyk |
27 - 36 | -9 | 67.9 | 59.6% | 0.82 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
25 - 40 | -15 | 63.1 | 55.3% | 0.81 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
21 - 34 | -13 | 61.8 | 57.4% | 0.72 |
| Dimitri 'Detrony' Hadjipaschali |
15 - 39 | -24 | 48.9 | 42.6% | 0.48 |
Over in Group B, the bracket started off with a surprise as Envy were able to absolutely demolish oNe in a decisive 16-3 victory. The effort was primarily lead by Danish import Finn "Karrigan" Andersen who put up an impressive 23-11 kill difference while also acting as the team's IGL.
EnvyTeamOne| Envy |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
23 - 11 | +12 | 130.2 | 94.7% | 1.93 |
| Taylor 'Drone' Johnson |
21 - 9 | +12 | 116.2 | 89.5% | 1.83 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
12 - 4 | +8 | 66.8 | 100.0% | 1.50 |
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
14 - 8 | +6 | 63.4 | 78.9% | 1.21 |
| Stephen 'reltuC' Cutler |
11 - 10 | +1 | 66.3 | 84.2% | 1.15 |
| TeamOne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima |
11 - 15 | -4 | 69.4 | 42.1% | 0.77 |
| Alencar 'trk' Rossato |
9 - 15 | -6 | 58.6 | 68.4% | 0.68 |
 Nicolas 'NikoM' Miozzi |
9 - 16 | -7 | 52.2 | 52.6% | 0.68 |
| Pedro 'Maluk3' Campos |
7 - 16 | -9 | 35.8 | 52.6% | 0.45 |
| Victor 'iDk' Torraca |
6 - 19 | -13 | 52.2 | 52.6% | 0.41 |
As the day continued, FURIA were able to overcome eUnited in a 16-11 match on Mirage, regardless of the individual heroics from Michael "dapr" Gulino who was able to able to temporarily stave off FURIA's victory with an initial 3k in a 1v5 A hold against the team's upgraded pistols.
FURIAeUnited| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
24 - 18 | +6 | 105.6 | 70.4% | 1.46 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
19 - 14 | +5 | 71.1 | 77.8% | 1.21 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
20 - 15 | +5 | 68.3 | 70.4% | 1.06 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
19 - 19 | +0 | 88.1 | 63.0% | 1.04 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
13 - 16 | -3 | 53.6 | 66.7% | 0.91 |
| eUnited |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will 'dazzLe' Loafman |
20 - 19 | +1 | 86.5 | 70.4% | 1.22 |
| Pujan 'FNS' Mehta |
20 - 17 | +3 | 80.8 | 66.7% | 1.06 |
| Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
15 - 19 | -4 | 70.6 | 63.0% | 0.82 |
| Michael 'dapr' Gulino |
14 - 21 | -7 | 63.4 | 70.4% | 0.76 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
13 - 19 | -6 | 40.7 | 55.6% | 0.75 |
After this, the final matchup of the day came between a reinvigorated Envy vs. the Brazilian upstarts of FURIA. The first map of the series took the two teams to Inferno where after a close first half, FURIA eventually to pull away and claim seven maps in a row to take the first map.
Moving onto Mirage, Envy seemingly ran out of steam as after a close 8-7 half, FURIA pulled away and was able to crush Envy on their CT side primarily due to the massive performance of Kaike "kscerato" Cerato who managed to put up a massive 1.83 rating propelling FURIA into playoffs.
EnvyFURIA| Envy |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'jdm64' Marzano |
41 - 36 | +5 | 80.7 | 70.9% | 1.16 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
38 - 37 | +1 | 80.9 | 70.9% | 1.05 |
| Stephen 'reltuC' Cutler |
37 - 34 | +3 | 66.1 | 72.7% | 1.03 |
| Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
28 - 47 | -19 | 62.8 | 65.5% | 0.75 |
| Taylor 'Drone' Johnson |
24 - 40 | -16 | 51.3 | 54.5% | 0.66 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
43 - 22 | +21 | 75.2 | 78.2% | 1.39 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
44 - 37 | +7 | 97.1 | 72.7% | 1.24 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
43 - 38 | +5 | 78.4 | 78.2% | 1.20 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
33 - 35 | -2 | 58.9 | 78.2% | 1.03 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
31 - 36 | -5 | 69.3 | 70.9% | 0.93 |
With day one concluded NRG and FURIA will be able to sit back having secured their spots in the playoffs, while the remaining teams will fight to see who will join them.
The matches for tomorrow are as follows:
| Wednesday, January 23rd (EST) | ||
| 9:15 AM | Imperial vs INTZ |
BO3 |
| 9:15 AM | oNe vs eUnited |
BO3 |
| 12:45 PM | Bravado vs Imperial/ INTZ winner |
BO3 |
| 12:45 PM | Envy vs oNE/ eUnited winner |
BO3 |
