eUnited find a huge upset against Natus Vincere, bringing them up to the semifinals

IEM Chicago Day 1: eUnited finesse a win against Natus Vincere

While NRG fall short, Liquid and eUnited are through to the upper bracket.

The first day of IEM Chicago has come to a close, with four teams eliminated and eight teams set to duke it out in the upper bracket. Among the prominent contenders, eUnited and Liquid both survived their opening matches, with Renegades and NRG being relegated to the lower bracket.

Group A kicked off with a double Danish feature, with Astralis taking on MVP PK and North taking on NRG. Astralis were caught offguard by the Korean roster, but kept the lead at halftime with an 8-7 scoreline on the CT-side. MVP PK were unable to take on the Danish force despite the advantages of the CT-side, as Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen quickly wrapped up the map 16-8. 

Astralis
16 - 8
MVP PK
All maps
Astralis K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Denmark Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen 26 - 12 +14 106.2 87.5% 1.74
Denmark Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth 21 - 16 +5 105.1 83.3% 1.37
Denmark Nicolai 'device' Reedtz 18 - 13 +5 75.1 62.5% 1.18
Denmark Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander 18 - 15 +3 87.0 70.8% 1.09
Denmark Emil 'Magisk' Reif 13 - 13 +0 56.0 79.2% 0.90
MVP PK K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Min-Seok 'zeff' Park 16 - 17 -1 81.6 54.2% 0.99
Hyun-Pyo 'XigN' Lee 15 - 20 -5 73.6 58.3% 0.91
Seon-Ho 'xeta' Son 15 - 20 -5 61.2 62.5% 0.90
Min-Soo 'glow' Kim 13 - 20 -7 65.0 58.3% 0.66
Keun-Chul 'solo' Kang 10 - 19 -9 50.6 50.0% 0.64

North and NRG was a similar contested match, with both teams starting out neck-and-neck on Cache and Ethan "nahtE" Arnold just barely edging out the lead for his team at halftime 8-7. North rebounded in the second half, with Nicklas "gade" Gade cleaning up NRG to give his team the map 16-10, knocking the North American team down to the lower bracket.

NRG
10 - 16
North
All maps
NRG K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold 22 - 19 +3 82.5 65.4% 1.23
United States Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte 18 - 22 -4 82.9 69.2% 0.94
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov 12 - 18 -6 61.3 65.4% 0.91
Canada Damian 'daps' Steele 13 - 22 -9 66.4 65.4% 0.77
United States Jacob 'FugLy' Medina 14 - 17 -3 54.5 50.0% 0.73
North K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Denmark Nicklas 'gade' Gade 24 - 15 +9 96.4 84.6% 1.56
Denmark Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye 22 - 18 +4 97.8 96.2% 1.35
Denmark Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså 23 - 15 +8 87.0 65.4% 1.34
Denmark Casper 'cadiaN' Møller 16 - 14 +2 64.2 76.9% 0.98
Denmark Philip 'aizy' Aistrup 13 - 17 -4 59.2 69.2% 0.81

Hindered by the absence of their coach, Renegades were set to take on MIBR, who have made themselves out to be a world-class team in recent events. The Australians kicked off the map with a strong lead in the first half, putting them up 10-5 with Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad shining. MIBR turned up the heat in the second half, with Jake "Stewie2K" Yip pulling off a string to clutches to usurp the map 16-12, nearly going uncontested on the T-side.

MIBR
16 - 12
Renegades
All maps
MIBR K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip 25 - 19 +6 102.8 78.6% 1.44
Brazil Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo 24 - 16 +8 91.2 75.0% 1.41
Brazil Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga 21 - 16 +5 78.6 78.6% 1.20
Brazil Marcelo 'coldzera' David 17 - 16 +1 63.3 82.1% 1.05
United States Tarik 'tarik' Celik 14 - 15 -1 58.6 78.6% 1.00
Renegades K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad 23 - 21 +2 81.9 67.9% 1.19
New Zealand Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai 19 - 19 +0 76.5 71.4% 1.01
Australia Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas 16 - 22 -6 66.5 75.0% 0.97
Australia Aaron 'AZR' Ward 14 - 21 -7 61.4 60.7% 0.80
Australia Justin 'jks' Savage 10 - 18 -8 42.7 60.7% 0.63

Despite their shaky performance in the past few events, FaZe started out confident against LDLC, taking nine rounds in a row during the first half against the French team. The mixed European squad were soon met with difficulties in the second half, as Antoine "to1nou" Pirard went on a miracle run to nearly push the match into overtime 14-15, before FaZe finally closed the map 16-14, knocking LDLC down the bracket.

FaZe
16 - 14
LDLC
All maps
FaZe K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač 22 - 19 +3 92.9 63.3% 1.22
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács 23 - 18 +5 64.3 63.3% 1.06
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard 19 - 18 +1 65.9 63.3% 0.98
Denmark Finn 'karrigan' Andersen 17 - 23 -6 71.7 70.0% 0.94
Sweden Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer 13 - 18 -5 51.5 63.3% 0.83
LDLC K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Antoine 'to1nou' Pirard 26 - 17 +9 92.8 83.3% 1.50
David 'devoduvek' Dobrosavljevic 24 - 19 +5 89.1 70.0% 1.20
François 'AMANEK' Delaunay 16 - 15 +1 58.3 70.0% 0.97
Logan 'LOGAN' Corti 14 - 19 -5 55.6 70.0% 0.81
United Kingdom Alex 'ALEX' McMeekin 16 - 24 -8 57.5 53.3% 0.72

In the Group B opener, eUnited's fresh new roster took on Natus Vincere, who recently took a strong victory at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen. In the biggest upset of the day, the American roster dazzled on Mirage, with Chicagoan Will "dazzLe" Loafman dominating the Ukranian and Russian powerhouse to take their first map 16-6. The North American teeam move on to the upper bracket semifinals, as Natus Vincere experience an early demotion to the lower bracket.

Natus Vincere
6 - 16
eUnited
All maps
Natus Vincere K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov 20 - 16 +4 94.7 81.8% 1.26
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev 18 - 14 +4 84.5 68.2% 1.21
Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev 8 - 16 -8 59.7 59.1% 0.69
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev 9 - 16 -7 51.5 68.2% 0.67
Danylo 'Zeus' Teslenko 6 - 17 -11 37.1 54.5% 0.45
eUnited K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Will 'dazzLe' Loafman 24 - 13 +11 115.7 72.7% 1.69
Canada Kaleb 'moose' Jayne 18 - 11 +7 106.5 81.8% 1.49
United States Skyler 'Relyks' Weaver 16 - 13 +3 76.1 72.7% 1.28
Canada Pujan 'FNS' Mehta 9 - 12 -3 57.0 77.3% 0.94
United States Michael 'dapr' Gulino 12 - 12 +0 55.2 63.6% 0.90

Fnatic went big against BIG on Cache, taking a strong 11-4 first half with Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson and Simon "twist" Eliasson at the helm. Overwhelming the German core, Fnatic swiped away the map 16-9, moving them to the upper bracket.

fnatic
16 - 9
BIG
All maps
fnatic K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Sweden Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson 29 - 14 +15 119.8 84.0% 1.82
Sweden Simon 'twist' Eliasson 27 - 10 +17 97.8 84.0% 1.77
Sweden Jesper 'JW' Wecksell 14 - 12 +2 65.8 72.0% 1.13
Sweden Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin 13 - 14 -1 68.8 76.0% 1.10
Sweden Richard 'Xizt' Landström 13 - 13 +0 59.0 68.0% 0.92
BIG K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Johannes 'nex' Maget 17 - 19 -2 74.2 60.0% 0.90
Tizian 'tiziaN' Feldbusch 16 - 18 -2 76.9 52.0% 0.85
United Kingdom Owen 'smooya' Butterfield 12 - 20 -8 51.8 64.0% 0.69
Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz 12 - 20 -8 56.0 52.0% 0.67
Fatih 'gob b' Dayik 6 - 19 -13 49.8 44.0% 0.49

Looking to compete against world-class talent, AVANGAR were unable to contest mousesports on Train, as Martin "STYKO" Styk led his squad through the Kazakhstani team, taking the map 16-5 and moving them up the bracket, while the optimistic CIS team fall down the bracket.

MOUZ
16 - 5
AVANGAR
All maps
MOUZ K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Martin 'STYKO' Styk 24 - 7 +17 108.1 76.2% 1.89
Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi 24 - 13 +11 110.3 85.7% 1.86
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný 17 - 10 +7 81.2 76.2% 1.40
Robin 'ropz' Kool 13 - 12 +1 63.6 66.7% 1.03
Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong 7 - 11 -4 43.0 85.7% 0.91
AVANGAR K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Aidyn 'KrizzeN' Turlybekov 12 - 18 -6 75.2 47.6% 0.79
Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev 13 - 17 -4 74.1 71.4% 0.79
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali 12 - 16 -4 64.5 57.1% 0.76
Timur 'buster' Tulepov 10 - 16 -6 48.5 61.9% 0.65
Bektiyar 'fitch' Bahytov 5 - 18 -13 48.0 38.1% 0.42

In a clash of the Americas, Lucas "steel" Lopes led Luminosity against his old team Liquid on Cache. In spite of an outstanding performance from Henrique "HEN1" Teles, Luminosity fell short as Liquid took the best-of-one 16-11, knocking the South American team down to the lower bracket and moving Liquid closer to the grand finals.

Liquid
16 - 11
Luminosity
All maps
Liquid K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski 21 - 19 +2 88.9 77.8% 1.32
Brazil Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo 22 - 16 +6 81.4 66.7% 1.26
United States Nick 'nitr0' Cannella 20 - 19 +1 78.1 70.4% 1.12
Canada Keith 'NAF' Markovic 16 - 19 -3 79.7 74.1% 0.99
Canada Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken 17 - 18 -1 62.8 66.7% 0.94
Luminosity K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Brazil Henrique 'HEN1' Teles 26 - 15 +11 107.7 81.5% 1.56
Brazil Gustavo 'yel' Knittel 17 - 17 +0 75.0 77.8% 1.11
Brazil Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles 17 - 20 -3 72.2 66.7% 1.02
Brazil Lucas 'steel' Lopes 15 - 21 -6 63.4 70.4% 0.86
Brazil Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato 16 - 23 -7 50.1 55.6% 0.66

Down in the lower bracket, NRG went up against MVP PK, a team who has been steadily rising in the Asian scene. While the Korean team started with a decent 5-1 lead, NRG reversed the scoreline, taking a 9-6 lead at halftime. MVP PK struck a huge blow to NRG in the second half, as Keun-Chul "solo" Kang demonstrated his firepower capabilities, as MVP PK took the map 16-11 against the North American team.

NRG retaliated on Train, where Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov led the American squad to another strong 9-6 half, despite a stunning 1v5 clutch by Seon-Ho "minixeta" Son. NRG's conquest continued into the second half, as NRG tied the series 1-1 with a 16-9 victory on Train.

With the series tied on Inferno, minixeta continued to try to take back the series for his team, but was halted by Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte, who dominating the Asian team, giving NRG a massive 12-3 lead in the first half. MVP struggled to find footing in the second half, with NRG ultimately closing Inferno 16-8, giving them the series 2-1 and eliminating MVP PK from Chicago.

MVP PK
1 - 2
NRG
All maps
MVP PK K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Seon-Ho 'xeta' Son 66 - 50 +16 86.7 75.0% 1.25
Hyun-Pyo 'XigN' Lee 47 - 58 -11 69.4 71.1% 0.95
Keun-Chul 'solo' Kang 48 - 58 -10 71.9 59.2% 0.90
Min-Seok 'zeff' Park 36 - 60 -24 54.0 64.5% 0.74
Min-Soo 'glow' Kim 38 - 59 -21 56.8 63.2% 0.73
NRG K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte 67 - 47 +20 90.9 80.3% 1.36
United States Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold 65 - 50 +15 90.3 77.6% 1.31
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov 58 - 42 +16 74.8 78.9% 1.28
United States Jacob 'FugLy' Medina 49 - 46 +3 82.4 78.9% 1.16
Canada Damian 'daps' Steele 44 - 50 -6 59.6 72.4% 0.88

Danish rivals Astralis and North clashed in the first upper bracket semifinal of Group A, albeit there was little contest for North. dupreeh crushed North on Inferno and Nuke, with 16-5 and 16-4 scorelines knocking Casper "cadiaN" Møller's squad down to the lower bracket.

Astralis
2 - 0
North
All maps
Astralis K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Denmark Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen 42 - 20 +22 101.6 73.2% 1.65
Denmark Emil 'Magisk' Reif 33 - 16 +17 83.0 75.6% 1.36
Denmark Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander 33 - 23 +10 86.0 80.5% 1.35
Denmark Nicolai 'device' Reedtz 29 - 24 +5 79.4 85.4% 1.28
Denmark Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth 20 - 19 +1 55.8 68.3% 1.02
North K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Denmark Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså 21 - 31 -10 65.2 63.4% 0.81
Denmark Casper 'cadiaN' Møller 23 - 29 -6 53.2 56.1% 0.78
Denmark Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye 23 - 32 -9 69.8 51.2% 0.77
Denmark Philip 'aizy' Aistrup 18 - 34 -16 58.5 51.2% 0.68
Denmark Nicklas 'gade' Gade 17 - 31 -14 47.5 56.1% 0.60

In the second upper bracket semifinals of Group A, FaZe and MIBR duked it out for the second spot in the upper bracket finals. FaZe dealt a hard blow to MIBR in the first half of Cache, taking a clear 10-5 lead in the first half, lead by Håvard "rain" Nygaard. MIBR turned the map around in the second half, nearly tipping the map into overtime before before shut down by FaZe, who closed Cache with a tight 16-14 scoreline.

Mirage played out in a similar fashion, ableit in reverse, with MIBR taking a strong 10-5 lead in the first half, this time with Tarik "tarik" Celik at the helm. FaZe mirrored the Brazilian's reverse sweep in the second half, but also fell short of closing the comeback, as MIBR tied the series 1-1, clutching the second map 16-14.

On the decider map of Train, MIBR repeated their 10-5 lead in the first half, with tarik once again leading the Brazilian core up to halftime. Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer confidently took the map in his team's hands, as FaZe mounted an incredible comeback on the CT-side, taking the first ten straight rounds of the second half, flipping the scoreline and putting them at match point. After one last round win from MIBR, FaZe closed the station 16-11, giving them the series 2-1 and advancing them to the upper bracket finals.

FaZe will take on Astralis in the Group A upper bracket finals, which will determine the seeding for the playoffs, while MIBR are set to take on NRG in the second round of the lower bracket.

FaZe
2 - 1
MIBR
All maps
FaZe K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Sweden Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer 67 - 54 +13 78.1 72.4% 1.19
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard 63 - 56 +7 76.7 70.1% 1.14
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač 59 - 54 +5 69.0 69.0% 1.07
Denmark Finn 'karrigan' Andersen 57 - 63 -6 74.3 67.8% 0.95
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács 46 - 54 -8 55.7 59.8% 0.87
MIBR K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip 60 - 60 +0 81.1 69.0% 1.06
United States Tarik 'tarik' Celik 56 - 56 +0 70.2 70.1% 1.02
Brazil Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo 58 - 54 +4 69.6 66.7% 1.01
Brazil Marcelo 'coldzera' David 57 - 58 -1 75.3 63.2% 1.00
Brazil Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga 50 - 65 -15 65.3 62.1% 0.90

After nearly mounting a comeback against FaZe, LDLC were set to take on Renegades, with the latter team nearing elimination without their coach. Aaron "AZR" Ward led Renegades to an incredibly dominant first half on Overpass, taking thirteen of the fifteen rounds in the first half. François "AmaNEk" Delaunay attempted to mount a comeback with LDLC, reaching the double-digits before Renegades were finally able to close the map 16-12.

With AmaNEk on his A-game, Renegades still retained their lead in the first half of Cache, only a sliver of a lead with an 8-7 scoreline. Despite Justin "jks" Savage's efforts to close the second map for his team, LDLC pounced on the Australians, edging out the second map 16-14, tying the series 1-1.

While Renegades seemed to be well-prepared to fight for their lives on Mirage, the Australian team were unable to anchor themselves on the decider map, as LDLC decimated Renegades, taking the third map 16-2. With the French squad taking the series 2-1, Renegades are eliminated from IEM Chicago while LDLC move on to the second round of the lower bracket, where they will take on North tomorrow.

LDLC
2 - 1
Renegades
All maps
LDLC K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
François 'AMANEK' Delaunay 72 - 44 +28 107.5 73.7% 1.54
Logan 'LOGAN' Corti 59 - 40 +19 72.0 73.7% 1.21
United Kingdom Alex 'ALEX' McMeekin 56 - 47 +9 74.4 72.4% 1.15
David 'devoduvek' Dobrosavljevic 47 - 46 +1 72.0 72.4% 1.09
Antoine 'to1nou' Pirard 45 - 44 +1 65.2 73.7% 1.05
Renegades K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
New Zealand Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai 47 - 55 -8 68.6 67.1% 0.92
Australia Justin 'jks' Savage 45 - 51 -6 60.5 60.5% 0.91
Australia Aaron 'AZR' Ward 50 - 58 -8 71.7 55.3% 0.86
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad 40 - 57 -17 66.4 57.9% 0.77
Australia Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas 38 - 58 -20 58.0 60.5% 0.77

The matchups and schedule for tomorrow's matches are:

Wednesday, November 7
1:00 PM Natus Vincere vs. BIG B Stream  BO3
1:00 PM AVANGAR vs. Brazil Luminosity A Stream BO3
4:35 PM United States eUnited vs. Sweden Fnatic A Stream BO3
4:35 PM Brazil MIBR vs. United States NRG B Stream  BO3
8:10 PM mousesports vs. Liquid A Stream BO3
8:10 PM Denmark North vs. LDLC B Stream  BO3

Also read

#1(With 0 replies)
November 7, 2018 08:42AM
Joe
Dust2 Birthday cake!
Rip the boys :(

Hopefully the NA teams can show up today! I'm looking forward to that eUnited v Fnatic match.
#2(With 0 replies)
November 7, 2018 10:08AM
MagicHelmetTV
Caster
Dust2 Birthday cake!
Didn't catch the Faze/MIBR match live, but damn looks like it was a banger.
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