Fnatic beat 100 Thieves 2-0 today in the first quarterfinal of IEM Katowice.
Both maps, Inferno and Mirage, went to overtime. It was the closest CS:GO series of Katowice so far, in which the result could have gone in favor of 100 Thieves. But Fnatic saw their star player KRIMZ step up and be decisive throughout the quarterfinal.
Fnatic had a 14-6 advantage on Inferno but 100 Thieves gained momentum after they scored some rounds and were actually playing better than Fnatic when they took the game to overtime. The crucial round of overtime was a two-vs-five clutch won by JW and KRIMZ on their T-side. KRIMZ finished the map with 30 kills and only 14 deaths, as well as a 1.44 rating, which massively helped Fnatic win 19-16.
On Mirage, 100 Thieves built a 15-12 advantage but didn’t find ways to close out the game. Fnatic took it to overtime and steamrolled 100 Thieves in it, winning 19-16 again. KRIMZ once again top fragged for his side, this time with 29 kills. He single-handedly won the last round with a one-vs-three clutch, too.
100 Thieves can leave Katowice proud of themselves since they eliminated Evil Geniuses and mousesports and could’ve eliminated Fnatic as well. With these results, they should be close to reaching the top five again in HLTV’s world rankings.
Fnatic will face G2 tomorrow at 8am CT in IEM Katowice’s first semifinal. The French squad is undefeated in 2020, but they’ll have one more hard task since Fnatic are still playing as good as they were at the end of 2019.
You can keep track of the competition results here.
