SK and Astralis take first two victories of IEM Katowice
The coveted IEM Katowice event has finally begun with it's bo1 group stage in full swing. The Kazakhstanian team of AVANGAR came out swinging as they took the first three rounds of their Terrorist side on Cache against a formidable SK. After the first gun round the Brazilians were able to equalize the scoreline and continued to dominate from there forward until the half, transitioning to their offensive side with a 10-5 lead.
After switching sides, AVANGAR narrowly took the pistol round bringing the score to 10-6, but with a first round bomb plant SK was able to force a buy that would thwart the CT economy in it's tracks. SK would go on to take the following two rounds before AVANGAR's economy had stabilized, grinding out four additional rounds before SK would ultimately claim the last two rounds they needed to take their first match of Katowice with a 16-10 scoreline.
SKAVANGAR| SK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marcelo 'coldzera' David |
30 - 12 | +18 | 103.8 | 96.2% | 1.76 |
| Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
20 - 15 | +5 | 80.4 | 61.5% | 1.23 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
19 - 17 | +2 | 80.4 | 69.2% | 1.13 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
17 - 14 | +3 | 82.1 | 73.1% | 1.12 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
12 - 15 | -3 | 58.7 | 73.1% | 0.90 |
| AVANGAR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dmitry 'dimasick' Matvienko |
19 - 20 | -1 | 83.7 | 73.1% | 1.12 |
| Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev |
21 - 20 | +1 | 94.7 | 53.8% | 1.10 |
| Timur 'buster' Tulepov |
15 - 19 | -4 | 52.0 | 53.8% | 0.79 |
 Dzhami 'Jame' Ali |
11 - 21 | -10 | 55.5 | 57.7% | 0.70 |
| Aidyn 'KrizzeN' Turlybekov |
7 - 18 | -11 | 36.8 | 42.3% | 0.44 |
Simultaneously being played during the match between SK and AVANGAR was the match between Renegades and previous IEM Katowice Champions Astralis. The two met on train for their bo1 where Renegades began by taking the first four rounds of their CT-side. While Astralis would stifle them on round five, Renegades would then go on to take an additional five of their own before their opponents would answer again. Renegades started to struggle during the latter portion of half where Astralis would squeeze out what little they could before it ended 11-4 in favor of Renegades.
With their backs against the wall in their first match of IEM Katowice, Astralis took to their CT-side like a fish to water as they claimed the first five rounds of the second half. Renegades would eventually see their substantial round lead dwindle into nothing as Astralis tied it up 12-12. Only able to sneak away with one additional round in their first match of the event, Renegades would eventually fall to Astralis as they closed out Train 16-13.
RenegadesAstralis| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
18 - 21 | -3 | 73.4 | 58.6% | 0.94 |
 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad |
20 - 21 | -1 | 68.2 | 69.0% | 0.93 |
 Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
16 - 21 | -5 | 59.3 | 62.1% | 0.87 |
| Justin 'jks' Savage |
14 - 19 | -5 | 57.3 | 58.6% | 0.84 |
| Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
13 - 23 | -10 | 51.6 | 48.3% | 0.62 |
| Astralis |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen |
29 - 20 | +9 | 102.2 | 75.9% | 1.54 |
| Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
22 - 14 | +8 | 85.2 | 72.4% | 1.28 |
| Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth |
21 - 15 | +6 | 82.1 | 69.0% | 1.22 |
| Nicolai 'device' Reedtz |
21 - 15 | +6 | 66.7 | 82.8% | 1.20 |
| Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander |
12 - 17 | -5 | 44.7 | 69.0% | 0.76 |
Winners SK and Astralis now advance in the Upper Bracket where they will meet at the conclusion of the round one match-ups. Next up on the docket for Group A matches we will see Liquid vs. Gambit and TyLoo vs. Major Champions Cloud9.
