Two teams have already qualified for the playoffs at the 2019 IEM Katowice Major.
Astralis and Team Liquid secured their spots in the New Champions stage today by finishing 3-0 in the final Swiss Format group stage of this Major cycle. They completed their undefeated streak through the New Legends stage by taking down Renegades and Natus Vincere.
Renegades almost upset Astralis by taking map one Mirage, but the Danes added another tally to their win streak on Nuke at 29-0 before taking the series 2-1. Na’Vi, on the other hand, received a sweep from North American powerhouse Liquid, while star Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev had a rough game.
NRG Esports vs. compLexity Gaming was arguably the most notable match of the day, though. Nuke and Cache went into overtime for the NA showdown, and coL emerged victorious in both maps. In-game leader Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz and AWPer Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan closed out both maps with insane late-round clutches, allowing coL to eliminate NRG and stay alive in the New Legends stage of the Major.
Round Three
2-0 Matches
Astralis vs. Renegades
- Renegades won Mirage 19-17
- Astralis won Nuke 16-9
- Astralis won Inferno 16-2
Team Liquid vs. Natus Vincere
- Liquid won Mirage 16-14
- Liquid won Dust iI 16-9
1-1 Matches
- MIBR won Inferno 16-12 vs. G2 Esports
- AVANGAR won Mirage 16-13 vs. FaZe Clan
- Ninjas in Pyjamas won Overpass 16-5 vs. HellRaisers
- Team Vitality won Mirage 16-14 vs. Cloud9
0-2 Matches
ENCE Esports vs. BIG
- BIG won Dust II 16-5
- ENCE won Train 16-14
- ENCE won Overpass 16-10
CompLexity Gaming vs. NRG Esports
- coL won Nuke 22-19
- coL won Cache 19-16
All of the action in Katowice begins tomorrow at 6am CT, with three winners’ matches taking the entire day. The games will consist of Renegades vs. Vitality, Na’Vi vs. AVANGAR, and MIBR vs. NiP to end the competition.
