Day two of the New Champions stage began earlier today, and another contender has emerged.
MIBR defeated Renegades in the third quarterfinal of the IEM Katowice Major. The Brazilians took the best-of-three series with 2-0 map scoreline, eliminating the first Australian team to reach top eight in a Valve Major. In the veto process, Renegades picked Dust II as their pick, while MIBR went with Train.
Related: ENCE win the second quarterfinal of IEM Katowice as Liquid choke
Quarterfinal No. 3: MIBR vs. Renegades
MIBR won Dust II 16-6
The opening half of the match was a close bout with the Brazilians leading the entire time on their CT side. Renegades broke into the bomb sites and strung together a few successful offenses, but MIBR controlled the pace of the map. After leading 10-5 at the half, MIBR dropped the second pistol round on T side, won the following forcebuy, and subsequently demolished the weak Australian defenses six rounds in a row to end the map in their favor.
MIBR won Train 16-12
Renegades surprised MIBR with a great showing on their map pick starting on their CT side. The Aussies minimized MIBR’s offensive consistently throughout the first half, allowing only four rounds to slip through against the shaky Brazilian side.
A second pistol round win put MIBR back into the game as they held the line against Renegades’ T side. The offenses from the Aussies were stopped by MIBR’s double AWP setup on every single hit they attempted, and Renegades eventually gave up their lead. In the end, MIBR only lost the first buy round in the second half, coming back from 11-4 to 16-12.
Everyone on MIBR was firing on all cylinders on both maps, while Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Epitacio “TACO” de Melo had the biggest impact on the AWPs on CT Train. At the end of the series, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga did the most damage to the Aussies at a solid 100.9 average damage per round stat following the two maps.
MIBR will be competing against the winner of the fourth quarterfinal, Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Astralis, tomorrow in the semifinals. They’ll be fighting for a spot in the grand final, which will also be contested by Natus VIncere and ENCE Esports on the other side of the championship bracket.
