Ninjas in Pyjamas, MOUZ, ENCE and Fnatic scored wins Wednesday to advance to the Group Stage of IEM Katowice 2022.
The four teams came out of the lower bracket of the Play-In Stage in Katowice, Poland. ENCE, MOUZ and NiP all rebounded from losses Tuesday to win and be part of the 16-team Group Stage.
Fnatic defeated BIG, ENCE beat GODSENT, MOUZ swept Entropiq while NiP bounced Movistar Riders in a sweep. Wednesday’s losers have been eliminated.
The Play-In Stage marked 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.
On Wednesday, Fnatic opened with a 19-17 win in OT on Ancient. BIG rebounded with a 16-13 win on Vertigo before Fnatic finished it off with a 16-8 win on Overpass. Sweden’s Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin led Fnatic with 69 kills and a plus-eight kills-to-deaths ratio. Florian “syrsoN” Rische led the all-German side with 66 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential.
ENCE routed GODSENT 16-5 on Nuke but dropped Ancient in OT, 22-19. ENCE then took Mirage 16-11 to clinch its spot. Israel’s Lotan “Spinx” Giladi led ENCE with 75 kills and a plus-24 K-D differential. Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer led the all-Brazilian squad with a plus-nine differential on 63 kills.
MOUZ had no such difficulties with Entropiq, winning 16-14 on Vertigo and 16-6 on Ancient. Germany’s Jon “JDC” de Castro led MOUZ with 53 kills and a plus-20 differential. Nobody on Entropiq finished on the plus side of K-D differential.
Ninjas in Pyjamas defeated Movistar Riders 16-9 on Vertigo and 16-6 on Overpass. Sweden’s Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora led NiP with a plus-17 differential while Swedish mate Hampus “hampus” Poser had a team-high 41 kills.
Earlier Wednesday, Entropiq swept Renegades and Movistar Riders swept MIBR to advance to Round 2 of the lower bracket.
Group Stage play begins Thursday with six matches:
Group A: Team Vitality vs. MOUZ
Group A: OG vs. Heroic
Group A: Virtus.pro vs. CPH Flames
Group A: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Gambit Esports
Group B: Astralis vs. Furia Esports
Group B: Team Liquid vs. FaZe Clan
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. BIG, GODSENT, Movistar Riders, Entropiq — $4,500
21-24. Wisla Krakow, Sprout, Renegades, MIBR — $2,500
–Field Level Media