Spirit has had a stellar 2021 so far, with the Russian side having created an extremely exciting roster, especially after the acquisition of Abdul “degster” Gasanov from Espada. And today, they continued their great form by defeating Heroic at the upper bracket of IEM Katowice.
.@Team__Spirit end the day with a clean sweep ?
They take the series 2-0 against @heroicgg to secure their spot in the playoffs ?
16:12 on Inferno
16:14 on NukeGG #IEM pic.twitter.com/yK1E45kLqq
— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) February 19, 2021
It was also Spirits new signing degster who stood out as the highlight player after their 16-12 victory on map one of Inferno, as the lethal AWPer lit up the server and ended the map with a 1.39 Rating.
Spirit began the second map of Nuke on the same high note and the CIS team benefitted from several aggressive peeks and rushes, which gave them a solid 10-5 lead after a strong CT-side. Heroic stepped up in the second half and presented a better performance, however, it was all in wain, as Spirit closed the series 2-0, through a wonderful match-winning 1v3 clutch by Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov.
Spirit – Heroic (2-0) | IEM Katowice
16-12 (Inferno) | degster – 1.39 Rating / 26-15 K-D / 87.9 ADR
16-14 (Nuke) | niko – 1.53 Rating / 31-20 K-D / 111.9 ADR
MVP
Boris “magixx” Vorobiev | 1.18 Rating / 40-34 K-D / 72.4 ADR
Highlight of the match
The result means that Spirit will meet Astralis in the upper final, while Heroic are being sent down in the lower bracket where they will clash against Gambit.
Heroic vs Gambit – 15:30 (CET) Saturday 20/02
Spirit vs Astralis – 19:00 (CET) Sunday 21/02
