CLG & Misfits Prevail: IEM Katowice NA Open Qualifier Day 2 Recap

The North American Open Qualifier for IEM Katowice is now in the books and the two teams that will move forward into the closed qualifier have been determined. Those two teams are:

• Counter Logic Gaming (No. 1 Seed)
• Misfits (No. 2 Seed)

Coming into the day, eight teams were still in contention to qualify:

• Counter Logic Gaming (No. 1 Seed)
• Misfits (No. 2 Seed)
• Luminosity Gaming (No. 3 Seed)
• NRG Esports (No. 4 Seed)
• Rush (No. 6 Seed)
• Muffin Lightning (No. 7 Seed)
• Denial Esports (No. 9 Seed)
• TheGosuCrew (No. 92 Seed)

Quarterfinals

NRG Esports 1-0 TheGosuCrew

In the first match of the day, NRG ended TGC’s run by making an impressive comeback in the second half on Mirage and winning 16-12. Their win clinched them a spot in the semifinals, where they awaited the winner of the CLG-Denial matchup.

Counter Logic Gaming 1-0 Denial Esports

In the matchup between the top-seeded team and the ninth seed, the game was fairly evenly matched, The teams traded rounds back and forth in the first half, but the second half belonged almost entirely to CLG. In the end, CLG took the win on Dust 2 by a score of 16-9.

Misfits 1-0 Muffin Lightning

Misfits defeated Muffin Lightning on Dust 2 as well, and in nearly identical fashion as they won 16-9 with Sean “seang@res” Gares leading the way.

Luminosity Gaming 1-0 Rush

This was the last match of the quarterfinals, but it surely did not disappoint. On Cobblestone, the Brazilians of Luminosity had a slow start, but steadily climbed back into the game to tie the game 12-12. The game was interrupted by ESEA technical difficulties, causing a lengthy break for both teams. Once the game restarted, LG was able to take its first lead of the game by winning the next round and going up 13-12. Their lead would be short lived, though, as they lost the next three rounds and looked to be destined for elimination. However, the players somehow banded together, overcame Rush’s momentum, and tied the game at 15-15 to force overtime. In the first half of overtime, Luminosity took two out of the three rounds as Terrorists. They did not want to be delayed any further, and finished the match in consecutive rounds to advance to the semifinals to take on Misfits.

Semifinals

Counter Logic Gaming 2-0 NRG Esports

In the first game of the series between CLG and NRG, CLG dominated on Train and won by a score of 16-5. The second game on Mirage would be more of the same, as NRG had no chance against CLG. The top seed won 16-3 to become the first team of the tournament to clinch their spot in the closed qualifier.

Misfits 2-0 Luminosity Gaming

In the other semifinal battle, Luminosity Gaming and Misfits faced off. LG jumped out to a 5-1 lead on the CT side of the map before ESEA’s client once again crashed and caused an almost two hour delay. After the excruciatingly long break, Misfits returned ready to fight and quickly evened the score up and surpassed LG in rounds, managing to take a halftime lead of 9-6. The Misfits were able to keep up enough of their momentum to finish off the Brazilians on Train by a score of 16-13. In the next game on Cache, Luminosity once again jumped out to a comfortable yet early lead, and once again let Misfits climb right back into the game and take an 8-7 lead into halftime. After winning the pistol round as Terrorists to open the second half, Misfits quickly took more rounds to lead 11-7. However, LG was not ready to go away quietly. The two teams traded rounds semi-frequently, but the Misfits were again able to break LG’s economy and win the game by a score of 16-10. More importantly, the Misfits were the victors in the match and clinched their spot in the closed qualifier.

That is all for the IEM Katowice North American Open Qualifier. The closed qualifier will begin on Feb. 4 and, as always, you will be able to keep up with all Counter-Strike news and scores on GAMURS.com.

Did you expect Misfits and Counter Logic Gaming to walk away victorious? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @GAMURScom.

Preston Byers is a contracted writer for @GAMURScom. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, or tips, please contact him via email (enblitz@gmail.com) or Twitter (@Enblitz).