Astralis beat Vitality to secure playoff spot; NiP send Cloud9 packing

The second batch of IEM Katowice day two matches saw Astralis ascend to Group A's upper bracket final and secure a playoff spot, while NiP extended their tournament life at the expense of Cloud9.

The second set of series on day two featured a face-off between the No.1 and No.7 in the rankings, Astralis and Vitality. The two teams had last faced each another at DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019, where the Danes had convincingly bested Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin and company in two consecutive maps.

The overall result may have been the same as in Sweden, but today's series was much more competitive. While Astralis may have secured their opponents' map pick, Overpass, with confidence, the same couldn't be said about Vertigo, where Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and company had to sweat in double overtime to best the Frenchmen.

Astralis set off on Overpass with a successful CT-side start, having secured the first three rounds while denying Vitality bomb plants in the process. With a loss bonus accrued, the Frenchmen finally had rifles in hand and Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's triple kill turned the tide. This development created space for a lead to be established, as the Ts outpaced their opponents by two rounds.

Despite what seemed to be a slowly developing snowball effect, Astralis flipped the table and steadily converted the majority of the remaining rounds to secure a 9-6 half time score. A second pistol conversion furthered the Danes' dominant position, this time on the T side, and while Vitality retaliated in equal, Astralis put Overpass to bed with a convincing 16-9 scoreline, taking their opponents' map pick.

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz kept the pressure up on the T side of Vertigo with a Glock quad kill to put the Danes in the lead. A strong Deagle showing from ALEX and Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon yielded Vitality their first round, but Astralis kept on stomping, inspired by a spectacular 1v2 clutch from Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth. A team ace in round nine kicked off Vitality's comeback as the Frenchmen went on to not only equalize but assume a 9-6 lead after all remaining rounds had fallen in their favor.

Vitality further added to their lead after winning their CT pistol and the following two. It was on device's AWPing to bring the Danes back into the game, with a triple kill serving as the catalyst for their comeback. Over the course of the following nine rounds, only one was secured by Vitality, thanks to a solid 1v2 B site clutch from shox. A concluding back-and-forth had the Frenchmen on map point, but Astralis were able to push for overtime, where they came out victorious in the second set of extra rounds.

Over in the lower bracket series, Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson kicked off NiP's series against Cloud9 with a CT-side triple kill on Overpass, later defusing the bomb in a 1v1 situation. This kicked off a chain of success for the Swedes, who absolutely devastated the offense throughout the first half, with only a sinning round going Cloud9's way thanks to a 1v3 clutch by Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery.

A team ace in the second pistol round saw the North American team claim a second round, but NiP replied immediately and bagged two rounds to wrap up the one-sided affair.

Ian "⁠motm⁠" Hardy set Cloud9 on the right foot with a 1v2 clutch in the first pistol round of Vertigo, with the team holding off a rifle buy from NiP to build a solid lead. The North Americans' start was promising, but issues quickly resurfaced for the team as NiP picked up the pace and ran all over the defense in the remainder of the half, which ended with a 12-3 scoreline.

A glimpse of respite was seen for Cloud9, who lost just one of the first seven rounds of the half, but three consecutive retakes on NiP's part sealed the fate of the match and marked the end of the road for the North Americans in Katowice.