Natus Vincere and FURIA defeated Virtus.pro and Ninjas in Pyjamas, respectively, to close out the opening round of play at IEM Katowice.

FURIA overcame Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 in Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson's first match with the team, while the CIS derby between Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere went the way of Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company with the same scoreline. The winners, FURIA and Natus Vincere, will face off in the Group B upper bracket, while the losers will play each other for survival in the lower bracket.

Virtus.pro set the pace on the attacking side of Dust2 by abusing mid splits and B executes, which Alexey "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev and company were able to exploit all the way to a comfortable 11-4, but Natus Vincere’s slow start didn’t stop them after the switch, when Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov and s1mple led the charge in a 12-round streak to snatch the map 16-11.

Virtus.pro had another early lead, this time on the CT side of Train, but Natus Vincere found a six round streak at the end of the half to turn the tides on their own map pick. Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and company then kept their lead in the second half, going up 12-8, until a clutch by Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov gave his team another lifeline. Virtus.pro tried to shift momentum, but unsuccessfully as NAVI closed the map and series out 16-9.

arT destabilized NIP with 16 opening frags

A strong early 5-0 lead by Ninjas in Pyjamas on the attacking side of Overpass was met by an equally strong defense by FURIA after they managed to get their economy in order, as the Brazilian squad went on a tear winning a clean ten rounds to hit double digits before switching sides. Ninjas in Pyjamas tried to hold their own on the CT side, but FURIA proved too much to handle and came out on top 16-12.

On Nuke Ninjas in Pyjamas were first out of the gate on the CT side, but FURIA immediately took the reins of the map with Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo both shining on the attack. Down 4-11 Ninjas in Pyjamas weren’t able to make a dent on the score, as FURIA cleaned house to end the map 16-4 and secure the series to proceed through the upper bracket.

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 Natus VincereMatchpage 2 0 19th February 2021 Virtus.pro 16Dust2 11 16Train 9

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	50 - 27	+23	88.0	1.44
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	47 - 33	+14	97.3	1.41
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	40 - 31	+9	76.1	1.17
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	28 - 33	-5	62.8	0.95
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	28 - 34	-6	71.2	0.93

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	36 - 38	-2	77.5	1.04
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	35 - 35	0	81.8	1.00
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	29 - 42	-13	66.2	0.92
Alexey 'Qikert' GolubevQikert	36 - 40	-4	67.2	0.89
Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievSANJI	20 - 40	-20	49.7	0.61

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 FURIAMatchpage 2 0 19th February 2021 Ninjas in Pyjamas 16Overpass 12 16Nuke 4

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	55 - 34	+21	115.1	1.72
Paytyn 'junior' Johnsonjunior	42 - 26	+16	91.7	1.46
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	34 - 24	+10	83.2	1.35
Vinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoVINI	34 - 28	+6	68.3	1.12
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	29 - 29	0	75.3	1.06

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraPlopski	36 - 39	-3	87.1	0.97
Erik 'ztr' Gustafssonztr	31 - 39	-8	61.8	0.78
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	26 - 38	-12	58.8	0.71
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus	25 - 43	-18	65.5	0.63
Tim 'nawwk' Jonassonnawwk	22 - 36	-14	47.2	0.58

Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 856 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 Ninjas in Pyjamas #15 Fredrik 'REZ' SternerHampus 'hampus' PoserTim 'nawwk' JonassonNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraErik 'ztr' Gustafsson Natus Vincere #1 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo Age: 21 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 765 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Timur 'buster' Tulepov Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1034 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.62 Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov Age: 22 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1056 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66 Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1028 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 Andrei 'arT' Piovezan Age: 24 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 771 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 Virtus.pro #5 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis 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: 1309 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.64 Paytyn 'junior' Johnson Age: 20 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 211 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.61