Things got emotional before the competition: NaVi captain Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev opened the knockout round of the IEM Katowice with a speech: “We have to stand together as a unit, with our fans, with our friends, with everyone who will be following this tournament .”
The Ukrainian organization NaVi is not only one of the best Counter-Strike teams in the world, but has also been competing with a mix of Russian and Ukrainian players for years. “Above all, we have to remain human,” emphasized s1mple in his speech.
This was followed by a spectacle for all CS:GO fans in the Spodek Arena. G2 Esports first defeated Virtus.Pro 25-22 after three overtimes. With a clear 16:5 victory in the second game, the Berlin organization then secured their place in the semi-finals.
In the second game of the day, FaZe Clan also defeated Gambit 2-0. Faze was initially able to win Gambit’s chosen card 16:5. It got a little tighter on the second map, but again the winner was Faze – this time with 16:11.