Cloud9 and Complexity make strong debuts in IEM Katowice 2020 Closed Qualifier; FURIA and Riot Squad eliminated
The first day of IEM Katowice 2020 North America Closed Qualifier has concluded, seeing Complexity and Cloud9 make their way to the upper bracket finals while FURIA and Riot Squad were eliminated.
The first series of the day saw the newly signed Cloud9 make quick work of Riot Squad in their debut for the organization. Starting on Dust2, Ian "motm" Hardy and company smashed Riot Squad as they won their CT-side 10-5 before securing the map 16-7.
Moving onto Overpass, the one-sided series continued to be heavily in Cloud9's favor as they secured the map 16-4 without much trouble.
Cloud9Riot Squad| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
40 - 21 | +19 | 100.6 | 79.1% | 1.62 |
 Ian 'motm' Hardy |
44 - 23 | +21 | 95.3 | 74.4% | 1.50 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
39 - 24 | +15 | 94.0 | 83.7% | 1.47 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
31 - 18 | +13 | 74.4 | 83.7% | 1.29 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
26 - 22 | +4 | 74.4 | 74.4% | 1.13 |
| Riot Squad |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
26 - 35 | -9 | 74.2 | 67.4% | 0.88 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
27 - 36 | -9 | 66.9 | 62.8% | 0.85 |
 Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
22 - 37 | -15 | 64.0 | 51.2% | 0.72 |
| Austin 'crashies' Roberts |
15 - 35 | -20 | 54.1 | 55.8% | 0.53 |
| Pujan 'FNS' Mehta |
18 - 37 | -19 | 44.4 | 51.2% | 0.48 |
Continuing on, Complexity also managed to find a win in their official debut, securing a close series over Gen.G.
Complexity launched into their CT-side on Train, overpowering Gen.G to secure a dominant 11-4 lead heading into the second half. After winning their T-side pistol, Complexity stumbled a bit, allowing Gen.G to string together six rounds in a row, with Damian "daps" Steele's side managing to narrow the round deficit to just two rounds. However, Gen.G were unable to take the lead in the second half as, thanks to a massive performance from in-game leader Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, Complexity won the next four rounds in a row to take the map 16-10.
On Mirage, a CT-side pistol round win helped Gen.G on their way to a strong 9-2 lead before Complexity began to close the gap, fighting back to end the half down 6-9. After switching sides, the first half played out in an almost identical fashion, with Gen.G getting to fifteen rounds first before Complexity forced overtime by winning the last five rounds in a row. In overtime, Complexity were quickly carried to a 19-15 win thanks once again to a standout performance from blameF.
ComplexityGen.G| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer |
49 - 37 | +12 | 95.2 | 78.3% | 1.32 |
 Valentin 'poizon' Vasilev |
51 - 34 | +17 | 85.9 | 73.3% | 1.28 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
50 - 39 | +11 | 85.3 | 78.3% | 1.24 |
| Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke |
44 - 33 | +11 | 75.0 | 71.7% | 1.22 |
| Owen 'oBo' Schlatter |
30 - 41 | -11 | 60.1 | 76.7% | 0.91 |
| Gen.G |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam 's0m' Oh |
51 - 43 | +8 | 88.5 | 66.7% | 1.20 |
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
39 - 43 | -4 | 65.2 | 60.0% | 0.94 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
35 - 44 | -9 | 59.2 | 65.0% | 0.80 |
| Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
29 - 50 | -21 | 66.5 | 58.3% | 0.74 |
| Hunter 'SicK' Mims |
29 - 45 | -16 | 56.1 | 56.7% | 0.71 |
Continuing onto the third series of the day, Chaos managed to take down FURIA on razor-thin 16-14 margins on Train and Mirage.
With Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman standing-in, Chaos managed to win their T-side on Train 9-6 — even after conceding the first four rounds in a row. On their CT-side, Chaos immediately climbed up to thirteen rounds after winning the second pistol round. FURIA retaliated, winning eight out of the next ten rounds in a row, but Chaos rallied and managed to prevent overtime, securing the map 16-14.
A similar scenario played out on Mirage as the two squads were neck-and-neck, with FURIA narrowly winning their T-side 8-7 after a five-round rally at the end of the half. After switching sides, Chaos began clawing back, winning the first four rounds in a row before FURIA answered with five rounds of their own to retake the lead. Once again, the game came down to the closing round as Chaos managed to win five out of the last six rounds to secure the map.
FURIAChaos| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles |
43 - 36 | +7 | 67.5 | 75.0% | 1.12 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
40 - 44 | -4 | 78.3 | 63.3% | 1.00 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
32 - 36 | -4 | 66.5 | 68.3% | 0.95 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
33 - 42 | -9 | 56.6 | 65.0% | 0.80 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
30 - 49 | -19 | 62.4 | 51.7% | 0.72 |
| Chaos |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Maxim 'wippie' Shepelev |
48 - 34 | +14 | 80.9 | 80.0% | 1.31 |
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
43 - 26 | +17 | 67.9 | 86.7% | 1.23 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
45 - 38 | +7 | 85.0 | 78.3% | 1.21 |
| Joshua 'steel' Nissan |
36 - 38 | -2 | 79.9 | 78.3% | 1.07 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
35 - 42 | -7 | 68.9 | 70.0% | 0.96 |
The final upper bracket quarterfinal series was a Brazilian bout between MIBR and INTZ.
Starting the action off on Mirage, MIBR won without much trouble as they won their CT-side 12-3 before winning the map 16-4.
With INTZ down in the series, they managed to shock MIBR on their own map pick as they started off Train by winning their CT-side 10-5. Following the side swap, INTZ only allowed MIBR three more rounds before winning the map 16-8, forcing the series onto Vertigo.
On what looked like a launch-week Vertigo game, INTZ locked down both bombsites, winning their CT-side with a massive 11-4 lead. After switching sides, MIBR were keen to return the favor, but INTZ's massive lead proved too tall a hill to climb despite MIBR continuing to find rounds, leading to a 16-13 scoreline in favour of Gustavo "yel" Knittel's squad. INTZ's upset win over MIBR was in no small part thanks to Ricardo "boltz" Prass, who put in a vintage performance with a 1.57 rating on the map.
MIBRINTZ| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
72 - 55 | +17 | 95.8 | 71.6% | 1.35 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
47 - 47 | +0 | 72.7 | 70.3% | 1.07 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
48 - 52 | -4 | 83.9 | 67.6% | 1.03 |
 Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer |
42 - 46 | -4 | 64.0 | 73.0% | 0.97 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
40 - 47 | -7 | 52.7 | 67.6% | 0.88 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
55 - 43 | +12 | 82.7 | 74.3% | 1.24 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
56 - 47 | +9 | 78.4 | 73.0% | 1.17 |
| Bruno 'shz' Martinelli |
50 - 50 | +0 | 72.4 | 64.9% | 0.99 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
47 - 57 | -10 | 68.2 | 63.5% | 0.85 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
38 - 53 | -15 | 58.9 | 66.2% | 0.80 |
Continuing into the upper bracket semifinals, Cloud9 continued to make a statement with their new lineup as they crushed INTZ on Vertigo and Inferno.
On Vertigo, they put up a near perfect 11-4 CT-side before locking down the map 16-6. Inferno also turned out to heavily one-sided in Cloud9's favor as they won their T-side 11-4 before taking the map 16-7.
Cloud9INTZ| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
32 - 22 | +10 | 77.2 | 86.7% | 1.36 |
| Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
35 - 23 | +12 | 91.0 | 82.2% | 1.36 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
41 - 27 | +14 | 92.1 | 66.7% | 1.33 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
37 - 25 | +12 | 79.9 | 75.6% | 1.28 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
25 - 23 | +2 | 66.4 | 80.0% | 1.11 |
| INTZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
34 - 34 | +0 | 92.2 | 60.0% | 1.11 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
29 - 32 | -3 | 75.0 | 64.4% | 1.02 |
| Bruno 'shz' Martinelli |
19 - 32 | -13 | 45.0 | 62.2% | 0.68 |
| Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes |
22 - 37 | -15 | 54.7 | 57.8% | 0.64 |
| Alexandre 'xand' Zizi |
16 - 35 | -19 | 42.3 | 57.8% | 0.58 |
Like Cloud9, Complexity also looked to make a statement against Chaos in their upper bracket semifinal series, with two strong wins on Dust2 and Nuke.
Starting on Dust2, Owen "oBo" Schlatter demonstrated why he is one of the most exciting young prospects in North America as he led the server with a 24-10 K-D ratio as Complexity swiftly secured the map 16-4.
After being dominated on Dust2, Chaos kept closer check against Complexity on Nuke, keeping the score within one as they trailed by a single round at the end of their defensive effort. However, after the teams switched sides, Complexity out-fragged Chaos as they only conceded three more rounds before taking the map 16-11.
ComplexityChaos| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owen 'oBo' Schlatter |
48 - 26 | +22 | 104.5 | 83.0% | 1.66 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
37 - 29 | +8 | 77.6 | 78.7% | 1.27 |
| Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer |
30 - 22 | +8 | 83.3 | 80.9% | 1.23 |
| Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke |
32 - 27 | +5 | 73.5 | 78.7% | 1.18 |
| Valentin 'poizon' Vasilev |
27 - 19 | +8 | 61.0 | 85.1% | 1.17 |
| Chaos |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
25 - 35 | -10 | 66.7 | 66.0% | 0.90 |
| Maxim 'wippie' Shepelev |
30 - 32 | -2 | 68.1 | 63.8% | 0.89 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
29 - 38 | -9 | 70.6 | 63.8% | 0.88 |
| Joshua 'steel' Nissan |
22 - 35 | -13 | 49.5 | 55.3% | 0.65 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
17 - 34 | -17 | 52.2 | 59.6% | 0.61 |
In the lower bracket, Gen.G sent FURIA packing after two hard fought wins on Train and Inferno.
On Train, Gen.G started the map in a heavy deficit as FURIA powered ahead to secure their CT-side 11-4. After moving onto their CT-side and with little room for errors, Gen.G shocked FURIA as they only allowed the Brazilian squad two rounds on to take the map 16-13.
After a massive comeback on Train, Gen.G managed to claim victory on Inferno in a more traditional way, winning their CT-side 8-7 before crushing FURIA on their T-side to take the map 16-9, eliminating one Brazilian squad from the qualifier.
Gen.GFURIA| Gen.G |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
47 - 29 | +18 | 85.8 | 70.4% | 1.28 |
| Kenneth 'koosta' Suen |
48 - 40 | +8 | 99.1 | 68.5% | 1.26 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
43 - 27 | +16 | 65.6 | 79.6% | 1.21 |
| Hunter 'SicK' Mims |
37 - 39 | -2 | 85.1 | 75.9% | 1.15 |
| Sam 's0m' Oh |
31 - 34 | -3 | 67.1 | 70.4% | 0.99 |
| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles |
41 - 44 | -3 | 87.7 | 72.2% | 1.11 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
40 - 38 | +2 | 76.7 | 66.7% | 1.00 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
37 - 38 | -1 | 72.9 | 70.4% | 0.97 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
27 - 46 | -19 | 67.2 | 57.4% | 0.77 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
24 - 40 | -16 | 48.9 | 64.8% | 0.63 |
The final series of the day went the distance as MIBR managed to come out ahead of Riot Squad after a close series on Inferno, Mirage, and Train.
After Riot Squad started off the T-side of their map pick, Inferno, by winning the first five rounds in a row, MIBR managed to claw back the half, winning it 8-7. On their own offensive effort, MIBR continued to narrowly keep ahead of Riot Squad, winning the map 16-13.
Moving onto Mirage, Riot Squad once again began the map in the lead as they claimed five out of the first six rounds on their CT-side. However, their momentum slowly faded as MIBR's economy got going, with the Brazilians once again winning the half 8-7. Unlike map one, this time around Riot Squad managed to recover on their T-side as they won the first five rounds in a row before going on to force a third map with a 16-13 scoreline.
After a close opening two maps, Train ended up being relatively one-sided for MIBR as they started the map off by winning their T-side 10-5. While Riot Squad won their T-side pistol, MIBR converted an anti-eco win into five rounds to immediate secure map point. Riot Squad attempted to keep up the fight as they won four more rounds; however, MIBR finally secured the rounds they needed to take the map 16-10 and eliminate Riot Squad from contention for a spot at IEM Katowice.
Riot SquadMIBR| Riot Squad |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin 'crashies' Roberts |
55 - 52 | +3 | 73.6 | 67.5% | 1.10 |
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
60 - 53 | +7 | 70.2 | 69.9% | 1.07 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
51 - 51 | +0 | 72.2 | 66.3% | 1.02 |
| Pujan 'FNS' Mehta |
41 - 53 | -12 | 58.9 | 65.1% | 0.84 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
44 - 66 | -22 | 69.9 | 62.7% | 0.83 |
| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
73 - 51 | +22 | 87.6 | 74.7% | 1.33 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
68 - 50 | +18 | 88.6 | 71.1% | 1.26 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
41 - 47 | -6 | 61.0 | 67.5% | 0.96 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
45 - 47 | -2 | 55.3 | 69.9% | 0.93 |
| Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer |
46 - 57 | -11 | 65.7 | 65.1% | 0.89 |
With six teams remaining, the matchups for day two look as follows, with times in EST:
| Lower Bracket | ||
| INTZ |
vs. Gen.G |
6:00 PM |
| MIBR |
vs. Chaos |
6:00 PM |
| Upper Bracket | ||
 Complexity |
vs. Cloud9 |
6:00 PM |
