Cloud9, Liquid and Renegades see Round 1 wins in Katowice
The first round of the IEM Katowice New Legends stage has concluded in the Polish city. The six North American-based teams that have played have had some mixed results as the tournament gets underway.
Renegades were the first North American team to take to the stage, and they faced ENCE on Inferno. Having opened the first half with the pistol and following anti-eco round, they lost the first gun round before winning the next two on their T-side, after a Sean "Gratisfaction" Kaiwai 3k on the eco round. But the remainder of the first half belonged to the Finnish team, with only one other round won by Renegades.
With ENCE 10-5 ahead, Renegades began the second half with the pistol and next two anti-ecos, before the two teams traded rounds in the buy section. But after that Renegades started to close the gap and moved up to a 14-12 lead. Although ENCE picked up one last round, it was Renegades who picked up the 16-13 win, guaranteeing them a place at the next Major in Berlin and, for the first time, being able to avoid the Asia Minor for the next time around.
ENCERenegades| ENCE |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jere 'sergej' Salo |
23 - 15 | +8 | 74.8 | 79.3% | 1.28 |
| Jani 'Aerial' Jussila |
18 - 17 | +1 | 64.0 | 72.4% | 0.99 |
| Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen |
19 - 22 | -3 | 72.6 | 69.0% | 0.93 |
| Aleksi 'allu' Jalli |
17 - 19 | -2 | 65.4 | 58.6% | 0.91 |
| Sami 'xseveN' Laasanen |
14 - 22 | -8 | 70.2 | 62.1% | 0.88 |
| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
30 - 17 | +13 | 103.1 | 62.1% | 1.50 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
20 - 17 | +3 | 72.9 | 79.3% | 1.12 |
| Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas |
15 - 18 | -3 | 67.5 | 79.3% | 1.05 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
18 - 20 | -2 | 62.4 | 69.0% | 0.94 |
 Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai |
12 - 19 | -7 | 53.5 | 58.6% | 0.73 |
Next up was a close game between Liquid and AVANGAR on Overpass. Having opened the game with the first two rounds of their T-side, Liquid then dropped the following three to AVANGAR's CT-side. Liquid came back from that strongly, taking five rounds in a row but that wouldn't secure them the lead. AVANGAR had a rock-hard hold on the CT-side, as they secured the final five rounds of the first half to take a small 8-7 lead, with Aidyn "KrizzeN" Turlybekov taking down three to run the clock down in that final round.
The second half was eventually a much stronger display for Liquid, with Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken taking three in the pistol round to even the score, before the two teams starting ping-pong with AVANGAR keeping the lead. With the Kazakh team now 12-9 ahead, Liquid went rolling and won seven rounds in a row to secure the 16-12 win and sit on a 1-0 record in Katowice.
LiquidAVANGAR| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
26 - 12 | +14 | 73.5 | 82.1% | 1.42 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
20 - 17 | +3 | 86.8 | 85.7% | 1.30 |
 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip |
19 - 19 | +0 | 83.3 | 78.6% | 1.15 |
| Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
17 - 18 | -1 | 76.3 | 67.9% | 1.03 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
15 - 16 | -1 | 54.9 | 82.1% | 0.99 |
| AVANGAR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev |
27 - 22 | +5 | 105.0 | 78.6% | 1.44 |
 Dzhami 'Jame' Ali |
17 - 12 | +5 | 76.4 | 85.7% | 1.28 |
| Timur 'buster' Tulepov |
15 - 19 | -4 | 56.1 | 53.6% | 0.72 |
| Bektiyar 'fitch' Bahytov |
11 - 22 | -11 | 44.1 | 60.7% | 0.59 |
| Aidyn 'KrizzeN' Turlybekov |
12 - 22 | -10 | 46.4 | 53.6% | 0.57 |
NRG and NiP played alongside that match on Nuke, and it was the Swedish team who opened the game on the CT-side. But it was NRG who secured a flawless Deagle-eco round to immediately get on the scoreboard. But that wouldn't last long as NiP came back - in force. Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg opened with a 4k recovered from the opposition and went rolling. The Swedes took a set of four rounds and then five rounds, with NRG only claiming one in between.
A 11-4 lead was what NRG had to overcome, and they gave it a good go. Having seen Jacob "FugLy" Medina overturn NiP's pistol round with a 3k, they pushed on to claim a set of five rounds then a set of four rounds to even the map at 13-13. But from there NiP rolled back into the lead, with Fredrik "REZ" Sterner and f0rest winning a 2v4 before reaching a 15-13 scoreline. Although Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov secured a ninja defuse to keep their hopes alive, NiP closed the game out 16-14.
NRGNinjas in Pyjamas| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
23 - 20 | +3 | 87.0 | 76.7% | 1.21 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
22 - 21 | +1 | 76.3 | 66.7% | 1.03 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
20 - 22 | -2 | 72.8 | 66.7% | 1.01 |
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
21 - 22 | -1 | 73.8 | 66.7% | 0.97 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
12 - 21 | -9 | 42.4 | 60.0% | 0.66 |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner |
33 - 17 | +16 | 92.2 | 70.0% | 1.53 |
| Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg |
31 - 19 | +12 | 99.6 | 63.3% | 1.52 |
| Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson |
19 - 22 | -3 | 84.5 | 60.0% | 1.01 |
| Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund |
12 - 19 | -7 | 56.6 | 63.3% | 0.75 |
| Dennis 'dennis' Edman |
11 - 21 | -10 | 40.9 | 63.3% | 0.70 |
Astralis and compLexity faced up next, and from the veto it wasn't looking good for the North American team as they chose to play on... Nuke. Although compLexity opened the game with the pistol round, the Danes immediately reversed the score and then went on a roll. A nine round roll as Astralis kept moving to a stronger and stronger lead. Although compLexity secured three more rounds towards the end of the half, it was Astralis who went in at the break 11-4 leaders.
Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth and Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander were both strong performers throughout the game as Astralis secured the first four rounds of the second half, with the latter picking up a triple kill on the B-site hold to hit map point. Although compLexity secured two T-side rounds to prevent a loss, Xyp9x, who finished the game with 131.1 ADR and a 2.05 rating, picked up a 4k to take a 16-6 win.
AstralisComplexity| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth |
26 - 8 | +18 | 131.1 | 90.9% | 2.05 |
| Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen |
17 - 15 | +2 | 89.4 | 77.3% | 1.29 |
| Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander |
17 - 15 | +2 | 66.9 | 63.6% | 1.12 |
| Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
16 - 16 | +0 | 73.0 | 68.2% | 1.02 |
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
12 - 15 | -3 | 59.9 | 72.7% | 0.94 |
| Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
18 - 17 | +1 | 85.8 | 68.2% | 1.06 |
| Ricardo 'Rickeh' Mulholland |
14 - 19 | -5 | 67.2 | 59.1% | 0.87 |
| Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan |
14 - 18 | -4 | 74.1 | 68.2% | 0.85 |
 Rory 'dephh' Jackson |
11 - 17 | -6 | 64.3 | 59.1% | 0.82 |
| Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert |
12 - 17 | -5 | 63.5 | 50.0% | 0.65 |
The final game of the round to complete was between MIBR and Cloud9, on Inferno. It was the Americans who absolutely decimated the Brazilian team. Having picked up the first two rounds of the first half, MIBR won the third round before Cloud9 went on and won another set of three rounds. The Brazilians only won one round at a time, and with displays like Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro's 3k on the retake they couldn't do much damage. Having only dropped three rounds in the entire first half, Cloud9 pushed on and won all four rounds in that second half to secure the 16-3 win, with Timothy "autimatic" Ta winning it in a 1v2 clutch.
MIBRCloud9| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
12 - 16 | -4 | 72.7 | 68.4% | 0.93 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
9 - 15 | -6 | 55.8 | 52.6% | 0.80 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
7 - 17 | -10 | 44.8 | 52.6% | 0.49 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
5 - 17 | -12 | 53.2 | 47.4% | 0.47 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
5 - 16 | -11 | 33.6 | 47.4% | 0.39 |
| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
17 - 4 | +13 | 74.8 | 84.2% | 1.66 |
 Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey |
14 - 6 | +8 | 87.8 | 94.7% | 1.49 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
16 - 9 | +7 | 101.8 | 84.2% | 1.46 |
| Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist |
18 - 10 | +8 | 99.4 | 78.9% | 1.45 |
| Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro |
16 - 9 | +7 | 91.1 | 89.5% | 1.44 |
The second round matches, with times in EST, will be as follows:
| 1-0 Round | |
 Na`Vi -vs- Vitality |
2:25 PM |
 FaZe -vs- Renegades |
2:25 PM |
| Liquid -vs- NiP |
3:35 PM |
| Astralis -vs- Cloud9 |
3:35 PM |
| 0-1 Round | |
ENCE -vs-  HellRaisers |
12:50 PM |
 BIG -vs- G2 |
12:50 PM |
| NRG -vs- AVANGAR |
1:30 PM |
MIBR -vs-  compLexity |
1:30 PM |
The games are starting to be played right now, beginning with the 0-1 bracket. They're available on ESL's A stream and B streams.
