NAVI beat FURIA to qualify for playoffs, G2 oust EG in IEM Katowice

Natus Vincere are slated to play Liquid in Group B's upper bracket final, while G2 will take on Gambit in a do-or-die match in Group A's lower bracket final.

Natus Vincere have secured a spot in the IEM Katowice playoffs after beating FURIA 2-0 to send the Brazilian side to Group B's lower bracket, while G2 survived a tough series against Evil Geniuses to eliminate the North American side from the tournament in joint-ninth place.

Natus Vincere opened their series with a hard-earned victory on Mirage, where several key plays from Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev made all the difference. The superstar's three multi-kills gave his team an early advantage after a forcebuy back-and-forth that lasted for five rounds, which led to a 9-6 CT half.

s1mple & co. march on to Group B's upper final unbeaten

NAVI extended their lead after sides switched with a pistol round win but struggled in the opening gunrounds, with FURIA equalizing the score at 12-12, before s1mple stepped up again with two triples to get NAVI out of the rut and close the map 16-13.

Nuke was a much simpler affair for Natus Vincere once they got ahead after another early blow-for-blow exchange in forcebuy rounds. With Deagles in hand in the tenth round, the Russian side managed to tilt the economy in their favor and stabilize, winning a few close scenarios to pick up another 9-6 half. FURIA secured the second pistol, but another forcebuy upset gave NAVI all the tools to close the series with ease at 16-8, 2-0.

Over in Group A's lower bracket, G2 secured Train and Dust2 in narrow fashion against Evil Geniuses despite Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte's best efforts, as the American went 33-16 and 29-20 only to see his team lose both maps by the smallest of margins, 14-16 and 14-16.

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 FURIAMatchpage 0 2 20th February 2021 Natus Vincere 13Mirage 16 8Nuke 16

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	39 - 40	-1	83.8	1.11
Paytyn 'junior' Johnsonjunior	35 - 36	-1	63.7	0.94
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	30 - 37	-7	67.0	0.89
Vinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoVINI	31 - 41	-10	64.8	0.81
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	25 - 37	-12	55.6	0.76

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	60 - 28	+32	104.3	1.79
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	39 - 29	+10	78.7	1.24
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	38 - 36	+2	87.5	1.19
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	30 - 31	-1	61.6	0.91
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	23 - 37	-14	59.4	0.85

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 Evil GeniusesMatchpage 0 2 20th February 2021 G2 14Train 16 14Dust2 16

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	62 - 36	+26	105.0	1.53
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	36 - 42	-6	64.2	0.92
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	32 - 39	-7	60.5	0.86
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	30 - 44	-14	66.3	0.83
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	25 - 42	-17	50.0	0.75

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	46 - 32	+14	78.5	1.28
François 'amanek' Delaunayamanek	41 - 34	+7	72.4	1.13
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	46 - 40	+6	81.9	1.13
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	44 - 39	+5	72.8	1.12
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	26 - 40	-14	63.7	0.84

Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 22 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1035 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.66 Natus Vincere #1 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Evil Geniuses #9 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Gambit #19 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov G2 #10 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković FURIA #11 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoPaytyn 'junior' JohnsonKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 23 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 1311 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.64 Liquid #7 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipMichael 'Grim' Wince