ALEX’s troops qualify for IEM Katowice Group Stage

ALEX’s troops from fnatic have secured qualification for the main event in Katowice, following a hard-fought 2-1 vcitory over BIG in the lower bracket.

The action began in the jungle on Ancient, where fnatic overturned a 3-12 deficit. KRIMZ and company knew they had a mountain to climb to overcome such a massive deficit, and they came into the second half filled with fire in hopes to spark a comeback. By stringing together the first 9 rounds of the second half, fnatic equalized the score at 12-12. BIG added another three rounds to the scoreboard to hit matchpoint, but weren’t able to close out things as fnatic went on to force overtime. Here, fnatic grabbed a 3-0 first half and put themselves just one round away from securing the victory, which they did at 19-17.

On BIG’s pick of Vertigo, the Germans ended the first half with double digits and looked very comfortable on the T side as fnatic couldn’t find the right answers to slow them down. ALEX’s troops woke up in the second half when the siedes switched and suddenly found themselves leading 13-11 on the scoreboard. However, the Germans managed to recover and picked up 5 rounds in a row to equalize the series, 1-1.

fnatic wrapped up the series on Overpass, where they completely dominated BIG in the first half. ALEX’s troops only allowed the Germans to grab two rounds on the attacking side, which meant fnatic went into halftime with a massive 13-2 advantage. BIG fought their way to add six rounds on the scoreboard, but that really didn’t mather as fnatic just needed one round at that point to close out things, which they did with a 16-8 scoreline.

Ancient: 19-17 | k1to – 34/26 K-D | 95.1 ADR | 72.2% KAST | 1.34 Rating
Vertigo: 13-16 | faveN – 21/18 K-D | 82.9 ADR | 75.9& KAST | 1.24 Rating
Overpass: 16-8 | Brollan – 23/17 K-D | 112.9 ADR | 75.0% KAST | 1.54 Rating

MVP: Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin – 69/61 K-D | 87.5 ADR | 66.3% KAST | 1.20 Rating