Dignitas fe and CLG Red secure playoffs berth at Intel Challenge 2019
Day one of the Intel Challenge Katowice 2019 has concluded with the four teams advancing to the playoffs now determined. North America will have two teams representing the region in the playoffs as CLG Red and Dignitas fe were both able to advance out of their respective groups.
In Group A, the action started off with the Dignitas fe claiming victory against Orgless fe 16-8 on Train. During the match, the veteran NA player Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido put up a massive 2.22 K/D against the European team.
The second match in the group saw the recently signed paiN fe unable to claim victory against Assassins as they dropped their opening match 16-7 on Inferno. The final best-of-one of Group A saw Dignitas fe concede defeat to Assassins after a close 16-11 loss on Dust2.
As Group A's best-of-threes began, paiN fe took on Orgless fe in the elimination match. On paiN fe's map of Nuke, the Brazilian team were able to close out map one due to a strong opening CT side where they claimed nine rounds. On Overpass, after an initially strong start from paiN fe, Orgless fe were able to take the win on round 30 after stopping a five round T streak. On map three, paiN fe were finally able to close out the series after a strong performance from Pamella "pan" Shibuya that garnered a 1.48 rating.
paiN feOrgless fe| paiN fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pamella 'pan' Shibuya |
69 - 49 | +20 | 91.0 | 81.0% | 1.34 |
| Juliana 'showliana' Maransaldi |
67 - 53 | +14 | 92.1 | 75.0% | 1.32 |
| Camila 'cAmyy' Natale |
59 - 47 | +12 | 62.6 | 77.4% | 1.10 |
| Bruna 'bizinha' Marvila |
52 - 59 | -7 | 67.8 | 69.0% | 0.93 |
| Gabriela 'GaBi' Maldonado |
54 - 65 | -11 | 71.6 | 66.7% | 0.91 |
| Orgless fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ana 'ANa' Dumbravă |
68 - 58 | +10 | 83.5 | 73.8% | 1.21 |
| Madalina 'iLLa' Gherman |
61 - 56 | +5 | 72.5 | 66.7% | 1.06 |
 Marion 'MAR1ON' Lopez |
54 - 64 | -10 | 82.6 | 72.6% | 1.03 |
 Terri 'KiTTy-KaT' Mulvey |
51 - 61 | -10 | 72.0 | 65.5% | 0.93 |
| Perrine 'Lalita' Allesiardo |
39 - 63 | -24 | 54.8 | 65.5% | 0.73 |
With a win in the bag, the final match of Group A began, with Dignitas fe and paiN fe facing off for the final Group A spot in playoffs. The first map of the series took the action to Train, where Dignitas fe absolutely dominated their Brazilian opposition taking the map 16-1. Dignitas fe's strong performance continued on Mirage as paIN were unable to muster more than six rounds.
Dignitas fepaiN fe| Dignitas fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Catherine 'cath' Leroux |
46 - 21 | +25 | 120.5 | 87.2% | 1.86 |
| Amanda 'rain' Smith |
39 - 16 | +23 | 103.4 | 84.6% | 1.70 |
 Kiara 'm1lky' Makua |
32 - 20 | +12 | 88.8 | 82.1% | 1.41 |
| Carolyn 'artStar' Noquez |
29 - 24 | +5 | 80.4 | 82.1% | 1.25 |
| Emmalee 'EMUHLEET' Garrido |
25 - 18 | +7 | 61.7 | 76.9% | 1.12 |
| paiN fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriela 'GaBi' Maldonado |
24 - 32 | -8 | 70.7 | 56.4% | 0.84 |
| Pamella 'pan' Shibuya |
22 - 36 | -14 | 61.4 | 61.5% | 0.65 |
| Bruna 'bizinha' Marvila |
18 - 36 | -18 | 63.9 | 51.3% | 0.63 |
| Juliana 'showliana' Maransaldi |
16 - 33 | -17 | 57.8 | 46.2% | 0.57 |
| Camila 'cAmyy' Natale |
19 - 35 | -16 | 53.7 | 64.1% | 0.54 |
Over in Group B, CLG took their opening match against Crowns fe on Train, winning the match 16-7. However, after a strong start, CLG Red were dealt a shock in the Group B winner's match as they lost to Beskitas 9-16 on Inferno.
The deciding match of Group B was a rematch between CLG Red and Crowns fe. CLG narrowly won Crowns fe's map pick of Mirage 16-14 after taking four rounds in a row on their T side.
Moving onto CLG Red's map pick of Train, they quickly set themselves up to take the map and the series as they claimed 11 rounds on their T side. Afterwards, it was a quick cleanup as although Crowns fe took the pistol round, CLG Red won the next five rounds to book their spot in the playoffs.
CLG RedCrowns fe| CLG Red |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mounira 'GooseBreeder' Dobie |
41 - 31 | +10 | 88.9 | 70.6% | 1.27 |
| Emma 'Emy' Choe |
40 - 33 | +7 | 89.4 | 74.5% | 1.21 |
| Benita 'bENITA' Novshadian |
37 - 35 | +2 | 77.1 | 74.5% | 1.17 |
| Jennifer 'refinnej' Le |
35 - 31 | +4 | 82.3 | 74.5% | 1.16 |
| Diane 'di^' Tran |
33 - 26 | +7 | 59.6 | 74.5% | 1.10 |
| Crowns fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ivelina 'HellRose' Danova |
42 - 38 | +4 | 94.9 | 68.6% | 1.17 |
 Vanessa 'Nessa' Ahlström |
37 - 34 | +3 | 73.1 | 68.6% | 1.04 |
 Julia 'bullet girl' Kurzyńska |
31 - 37 | -6 | 72.1 | 60.8% | 0.89 |
| Sophia 'Kim' Benfakir |
25 - 38 | -13 | 59.5 | 62.7% | 0.73 |
 Kristina 'zon1Q' Stevanović |
20 - 39 | -19 | 48.7 | 60.8% | 0.67 |
With the stage set for the playoffs, the schedule, in EST, is below:
| Semifinals | |
 Assassins -vs- CLG Red |
5:00 AM |
Besiktas -vs-  Dignitas fe |
8:50 AM |
The second matchup of the day will see defending champions Dignitas fe take on Besiktas, which contains the core of the Secret fe lineup which won the Intel Challenge back in 2017.
