FaZe Clan toppled Gambit Esports and G2 Esports outplayed Virtus.pro to kick off the six-team Playoff Stage of IEM Katowice 2022 on Friday in Katowice, Poland.
While Gambit and Virtus.pro were eliminated, FaZe advanced to the semifinals to battle Group A winner Heroic and G2 moved on to meet Group B champion Natus Vincere. Saturday’s two winners will battle Sunday in a best-of-five grand final.
FaZe defeated Gambit 2-0 with victories of 16-5 on Dust II and 16-11 on Inferno. Latvia’s Helvijs “broky” Saukants and Estonia’s Robin “ropz” Kool each tallied 39 kills for FaZe, with broky posting a plus-17 kills-to-deaths differential and ropz finishing plus-16.
Russia’s Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov led Gambit with 33 kills and a plus-3.
The first map of the other quarterfinal duel needed plenty of time before G2 was declared a 25-22 winner over Virtus.pro on Mirage. G2 followed that with a much easier victory, 16-5 on Ancient, for the sweep.
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov of Russia had 58 kills and a plus-18, both game highs, to guide G2, while Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac posted 52 kills and a plus-13 differential. Virtus.pro was led by Russian Dzhami “Jame” Ali’s 53 kills and plus-10 K-D.
The Playoff Stage is the last of three stages of the $1 million event. The top eight teams from the Play-In Stage joined eight previously qualified teams for last week’s Group Stage, a double-elimination bracket where all matches were best-of-three, which concluded Sunday.
The Playoff Stage continues Saturday with two semifinal matches:
Heroic vs. FaZe Clan
Natus Vincere vs. G2 Esports
IEM Katowice 2022 prize pool:
1. TBD — $400,000
2. TBD — $180,000
3-4. TBD — $80,000
5-6. Gambit Esports, Virtus.pro — $40,000
7-8. Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis — $24,000
9-12. MOUZ, Team Vitality, Fnatic, FURIA Esports — $16,000
13-16. OG, Copenhagen Flames, Team Liquid, ENCE — $10,000
17-20. BIG, GODSENT, Movistar Riders, Entropiq — $4,500
21-24. Wisla Krakow, Sprout, Renegades, MIBR — $2,500
–Field Level Media