Copenhagen Flames, FaZe Clan, OG and Astralis punched their tickets to the Group Stage of IEM Katowice 2022 on Tuesday by sweeping through the upper bracket of the Play-In Stage in Katowice, Poland.
The four clubs each won their first-round, best-of-one match and a best-of-three Round 2 match to ensure they will continue in the tournament, while losing clubs proceeded to the lower bracket in the double-elimination format.
In the two lower-bracket matches played Tuesday, Fnatic beat Wisla Krakow 2-0 (16-4 on Nuke, 16-12 on Inferno) and GODSENT beat Sprout 2-0 (16-12 on Vertigo, 16-9 on Inferno) to survive and advance. The remainder of the lower bracket will be played Wednesday.
The Play-In Stage on Tuesday and Wednesday marks the first of three stages of IEM Katowice. The top eight teams from that stage join eight previously qualified teams in the Group Stage, another double-elimination bracket where all matches are best of three. The top three teams from Groups A and B reach the single-elimination Playoff bracket, with the best-of-five grand final set for Feb. 27.
Copenhagen Flames defeated Fnatic 16-7 to start their tournament before sweeping Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0. The Flames dominated the first map, 16-3 on Nuke, before closing out with a 16-12 win on Mirage.
Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen led the all-Danish Flames side with 41 kills against Fnatic. Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi posted a match-high plus-18 kills-to-deaths differential.
FaZe Clan defeated Sprout 16-12 in the first round, then got by MOUZ 2-1. MOUZ started with a 16-7 victory on Nuke before FaZe rallied, winning 16-10 on Inferno and 16-14 on Mirage.
Four players had at least 50 kills for FaZe, led by Canadian Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken (58 kills, plus-6 K-D).
OG got by Renegades 19-16 before sweeping ENCE in two maps, 16-10 on Mirage and 16-9 on Ancient.
Valdemar “valde” Bjorn Vangsa of OG had 40 kills and a plus-13 differential against ENCE, both match highs. Israel’s Shahar “flameZ” Shushan contributed 39 kills.
Astralis beat MIBR 16-11 before taking down BIG 2-1. Astralis started with a 16-9 win on Ancient before BIG controlled the second map, winning 16-5 on Dust II. On the decisive map, Overpass, Astralis pulled out a 16-13 victory.
Star player Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke of the all-Danish Astralis squad had 57 kills and a plus-11 against BIG.
The stage concludes Wednesday with six matches:
Renegades vs. Entropiq, lower bracket Round 1
Movistar Riders vs. MIBR, lower bracket Round 1
BIG vs. Fnatic, lower bracket Round 2
ENCE vs. GODSENT, lower bracket Round 2
MOUZ vs. (TBD), lower bracket Round 2
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. (TBD), lower bracket Round 2
IEM Katowice 2022 prize pool
1. TBD — $400,000
2. TBD — $180,000
3-4. TBD — $80,000
5-6. TBD — $40,000
7-8. TBD — $24,000
9-12. TBD — $16,000
13-16. TBD — $10,000
17-20. TBD — $4,500
21-24. Wisla Krakow, Sprout, TBD, TBD — $2,500
–Field Level Media