IEM Katowice Play-In day two recap

After a day one to forget, the second day of competition brought some better results, but also came with the elimination of two Americas teams.

Complexity, FURIA, and MIBR still have a shot at going to the Spodek, but Evil Geniuses and paiN are already out and were not able to win a single map during IEM Katowice.

The second day started with a surprising loss from paiN against IHC. The series didn't start too badly for the Brazilians as they were able to somewhat defend against the Mongolians' attack on Inferno, with the half ending 8-7 for IHC. Then, things took a turn for worse, as paiN didn't have enough firepower on the T-side to win the map, and lost IHC's pick 16-12. It was time for Nuke, paiN's pick, which was even worse than the previous map. IHC got a superb CT-side, ending the half 10-5 in front. The series closed with a 16-11 score on Nuke in favor of IHC, as paiN couldn't mount a comeback to take things to a decider.

MIBR, on the other hand, was able to win their opponent's pick of Inferno, albeit not too comfortably. The series against Grayhound would see an Aussie team capable of bringing the game to the Brazilians, as Joshua "INS" Potter and co. were able to steal MIBR's pick of Anubis, meaning a third map would be needed. Both maps, Inferno and Anubis, were close - 16-13 and 16-14 scores - but Vertigo painted a different picture, as MIBR managed to win the map 16-2, with Grayhound not able to show anything on the T-side.

It was time for NA to enter the servers for the day, as Complexity took on the lesser-know Permitta. This series showed a rested Justin "FaNg" Coakley after the day before tech problems and an overall solid Complexity side. 16-8 on Nuke and 16-7 on Overpass quickly settled things, with Permitta going out of IEM Katowice.

To end the day, EG faced Sprout and, despite the 2-0 win for the Europeans, the series was close. Ancient, picked by Sprout ended on a 16-14 score after EG wasn't able to win a single pistol round. Close but not good enough. Then it was time for Mirage, and, once again, close but not good enough. EG managed to win the pistol this time and ended the T-side half on a 10-5 lead. But the second half showed an even better T-side from Sprout, as they won the map 16-13 with Eg only able to win three rounds on the CT-side.

With EG and paiN out, all hopes for more Americas representation on the main stage of IEM Katowice rest on Complexity, FURIA, and MIBR. But for that, Complexity will have to surpass ENCE, FURIA will need to stop IHC and MIBR has to take down fnatic. Today's games start at 10:00AM.