MIBR pull Renegades apart for place in IEM Katowice semifinal
The final two North American-based teams faced off against each other as MIBR and Renegades played in the first of today's quarterfinals. The two teams vetoed down to Dust2, Train and Mirage.
MIBR opened Dust2 with the pistol and anti-eco, and although Renegades picked up the third round a masterful shot from Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo on the A-site prevented Renegades from initially planting the bomb and allowed his teammates to reinforce the site and then push on for a 5-1 lead. Although Sean "Gratisfaction" Kaiwai picked up three solid AWP kills on an attack and saw Renegades go onto a run of rounds, MIBR came back in and solidified their lead in the match. A 4k hold on the B-site by Epitacio "TACO" de Melo assisted this effort and saw the Brazilians head to the break with a 10-5 lead.
The second half started with Renegades taking the pistol round, but a force buy win from MIBR in the round immediately afterwards closed the Australians out of the match. From there MIBR just headed on for the win, taking a dominant 16-6 score to go 1-0 in the series.
Train was next, and it appeared from the outset Renegades felt comfortable on the CT-side with Aaron "AZR" Ward taking three in the opening pistol round. Renegades would then go on to take the next two rounds, and after losing the fourth round the Australians ramped up and went on a seven round run to go 10-1 ahead. The Brazilians would then claim three rounds towards the end of the half, but it would be Renegades 11-4 ahead at the break.
MIBR were certainly not out of it, now on the map's favored side. This was proved almost immediately, as MIBR picked up the pistol and anti-eco round in the second half. Renegades could've been about to close it out after a third round win where Gratisfaction picked up three kills to prevent a retake, but after that it was pretty much all over as MIBR instantly came back and reset their opponents. TACO secured a 3k to open the retake on the B-site to narrow the gap between the two teams' scores as MIBR kept climbing on their map pick. It was over not too long after, with Marcelo "coldzera" David taking a 4k to win the series.
MIBR remain the final North American-based team in Katowice, and will face the winner between Astralis and Ninjas in Pyjamas in the semifinals tomorrow, at 1:50 PM EST.