Sonic made a strong case for his signing today, ending up with a 1.48 rating over four maps

Cloud9 and Complexity make strong debuts in IEM Katowice 2020 Closed Qualifier; FURIA and Riot Squad eliminated

The two organizations were out for blood as they breezed through their opening matchups.

The first day of IEM Katowice 2020 North America Closed Qualifier has concluded, seeing Complexity and Cloud9 make their way to the upper bracket finals while FURIA and Riot Squad were eliminated.

The first series of the day saw the newly signed Cloud9 make quick work of Riot Squad in their debut for the organization. Starting on Dust2, Ian "motm" Hardy and company smashed Riot Squad as they won their CT-side 10-5 before securing the map 16-7.

Moving onto Overpass, the one-sided series continued to be heavily in Cloud9's favor as they secured the map 16-4 without much trouble.

Cloud9
2 - 0
Riot Squad
All maps
Cloud9 K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek 40 - 21 +19 100.6 79.1% 1.62
United States Ian 'motm' Hardy 44 - 23 +21 95.3 74.4% 1.50
United States Ricky 'floppy' Kemery 39 - 24 +15 94.0 83.7% 1.47
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou 31 - 18 +13 74.4 83.7% 1.29
United States Josh 'oSee' Ohm 26 - 22 +4 74.4 74.4% 1.13
Riot Squad K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Mitch 'mitch' Semago 26 - 35 -9 74.2 67.4% 0.88
United States Peter 'ptr' Gurney 27 - 36 -9 66.9 62.8% 0.85
Canada Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey 22 - 37 -15 64.0 51.2% 0.72
United States Austin 'crashies' Roberts 15 - 35 -20 54.1 55.8% 0.53
Canada Pujan 'FNS' Mehta 18 - 37 -19 44.4 51.2% 0.48

Continuing on, Complexity also managed to find a win in their official debut, securing a close series over Gen.G.

Complexity launched into their CT-side on Train, overpowering Gen.G to secure a dominant 11-4 lead heading into the second half. After winning their T-side pistol, Complexity stumbled a bit, allowing Gen.G to string together six rounds in a row, with Damian "daps" Steele's side managing to narrow the round deficit to just two rounds. However, Gen.G were unable to take the lead in the second half as, thanks to a massive performance from in-game leader Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, Complexity won the next four rounds in a row to take the map 16-10.

On Mirage, a CT-side pistol round win helped Gen.G  on their way to a strong 9-2 lead before Complexity began to close the gap, fighting back to end the half down 6-9. After switching sides, the first half played out in an almost identical fashion, with Gen.G getting to fifteen rounds first before Complexity forced overtime by winning the last five rounds in a row. In overtime, Complexity were quickly carried to a 19-15 win thanks once again to a standout performance from blameF. 

Complexity
2 - 0
Gen.G
All maps
Complexity K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Denmark Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer 49 - 37 +12 95.2 78.3% 1.32
Valentin 'poizon' Vasilev 51 - 34 +17 85.9 73.3% 1.28
United States William 'RUSH' Wierzba 50 - 39 +11 85.3 78.3% 1.24
Denmark Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke 44 - 33 +11 75.0 71.7% 1.22
United States Owen 'oBo' Schlatter 30 - 41 -11 60.1 76.7% 0.91
Gen.G K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Sam 's0m' Oh 51 - 43 +8 88.5 66.7% 1.20
United States Timothy 'autimatic' Ta 39 - 43 -4 65.2 60.0% 0.94
Canada Damian 'daps' Steele 35 - 44 -9 59.2 65.0% 0.80
United States Kenneth 'koosta' Suen 29 - 50 -21 66.5 58.3% 0.74
United States Hunter 'SicK' Mims 29 - 45 -16 56.1 56.7% 0.71

Continuing onto the third series of the day, Chaos managed to take down FURIA on razor-thin 16-14 margins on Train and Mirage.

With Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman standing-in, Chaos managed to win their T-side on Train 9-6 — even after conceding the first four rounds in a row. On their CT-side, Chaos immediately climbed up to thirteen rounds after winning the second pistol round. FURIA retaliated, winning eight out of the next ten rounds in a row, but Chaos rallied and managed to prevent overtime, securing the map 16-14.

A similar scenario played out on Mirage as the two squads were neck-and-neck, with FURIA narrowly winning their T-side 8-7 after a five-round rally at the end of the half. After switching sides, Chaos began clawing back, winning the first four rounds in a row before FURIA answered  with five rounds of their own to retake the lead. Once again, the game came down to the closing round as Chaos managed to win five out of the last six rounds to secure the map.

FURIA
0 - 2
Chaos
All maps
FURIA K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Brazil Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles 43 - 36 +7 67.5 75.0% 1.12
Brazil Yuri 'yuurih' Santos 40 - 44 -4 78.3 63.3% 1.00
Brazil Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato 32 - 36 -4 66.5 68.3% 0.95
Brazil Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo 33 - 42 -9 56.6 65.0% 0.80
Brazil Andrei 'arT' Piovezan 30 - 49 -19 62.4 51.7% 0.72
Chaos K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Maxim 'wippie' Shepelev 48 - 34 +14 80.9 80.0% 1.31
United States Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman 43 - 26 +17 67.9 86.7% 1.23
United States Cameron 'cam' Kern 45 - 38 +7 85.0 78.3% 1.21
Canada Joshua 'steel' Nissan 36 - 38 -2 79.9 78.3% 1.07
United States Ben 'ben1337' Smith 35 - 42 -7 68.9 70.0% 0.96

The final upper bracket quarterfinal series was a Brazilian bout between MIBR and INTZ.

Starting the action off on Mirage, MIBR won without much trouble as they won their CT-side 12-3 before winning the map 16-4.

With INTZ down in the series, they managed to shock MIBR on their own map pick as they started off Train by winning their CT-side 10-5. Following the side swap, INTZ only allowed MIBR three more rounds before winning the map 16-8, forcing the series onto Vertigo.

On what looked like a launch-week Vertigo game, INTZ locked down both bombsites, winning their CT-side with a massive 11-4 lead. After switching sides, MIBR were keen to return the favor, but INTZ's massive lead proved too tall a hill to climb despite MIBR continuing to find rounds, leading to a 16-13 scoreline in favour of Gustavo "yel" Knittel's squad. INTZ's upset win over MIBR was in no small part thanks to Ricardo "boltz" Prass, who put in a vintage performance with a 1.57 rating on the map.

MIBR
1 - 2
INTZ
All maps
MIBR K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Brazil Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe 72 - 55 +17 95.8 71.6% 1.35
Brazil Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo 47 - 47 +0 72.7 70.3% 1.07
Brazil Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga 48 - 52 -4 83.9 67.6% 1.03
Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer 42 - 46 -4 64.0 73.0% 0.97
Brazil Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo 40 - 47 -7 52.7 67.6% 0.88
INTZ K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Brazil Ricardo 'boltz' Prass 55 - 43 +12 82.7 74.3% 1.24
Brazil Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes 56 - 47 +9 78.4 73.0% 1.17
Brazil Bruno 'shz' Martinelli 50 - 50 +0 72.4 64.9% 0.99
Brazil Alexandre 'xand' Zizi 47 - 57 -10 68.2 63.5% 0.85
Brazil Gustavo 'yel' Knittel 38 - 53 -15 58.9 66.2% 0.80

Continuing into the upper bracket semifinals, Cloud9 continued to make a statement with their new lineup as they crushed INTZ on Vertigo and Inferno.

On Vertigo, they put up a near perfect 11-4 CT-side before locking down the map 16-6. Inferno also turned out to heavily one-sided in Cloud9's favor as they won their T-side 11-4 before taking the map 16-7.

Cloud9
2 - 0
INTZ
All maps
Cloud9 K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou 32 - 22 +10 77.2 86.7% 1.36
Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek 35 - 23 +12 91.0 82.2% 1.36
United States Ricky 'floppy' Kemery 41 - 27 +14 92.1 66.7% 1.33
United States Josh 'oSee' Ohm 37 - 25 +12 79.9 75.6% 1.28
United States Ian 'motm' Hardy 25 - 23 +2 66.4 80.0% 1.11
INTZ K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Brazil Ricardo 'boltz' Prass 34 - 34 +0 92.2 60.0% 1.11
Brazil Gustavo 'yel' Knittel 29 - 32 -3 75.0 64.4% 1.02
Brazil Bruno 'shz' Martinelli 19 - 32 -13 45.0 62.2% 0.68
Brazil Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes 22 - 37 -15 54.7 57.8% 0.64
Brazil Alexandre 'xand' Zizi 16 - 35 -19 42.3 57.8% 0.58

Like Cloud9, Complexity also looked to make a statement against Chaos in their upper bracket semifinal series, with two strong wins on Dust2 and Nuke.

Starting on Dust2, Owen "oBo" Schlatter demonstrated why he is one of the most exciting young prospects in North America as he led the server with a 24-10 K-D ratio as Complexity swiftly secured the map 16-4.

After being dominated on Dust2, Chaos kept closer check against Complexity on Nuke, keeping the score within one as they trailed by a single round at the end of their defensive effort. However, after the teams switched sides, Complexity out-fragged Chaos as they only conceded three more rounds before taking the map 16-11.

Complexity
2 - 0
Chaos
All maps
Complexity K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Owen 'oBo' Schlatter 48 - 26 +22 104.5 83.0% 1.66
United States William 'RUSH' Wierzba 37 - 29 +8 77.6 78.7% 1.27
Denmark Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer 30 - 22 +8 83.3 80.9% 1.23
Denmark Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke 32 - 27 +5 73.5 78.7% 1.18
Valentin 'poizon' Vasilev 27 - 19 +8 61.0 85.1% 1.17
Chaos K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman 25 - 35 -10 66.7 66.0% 0.90
Maxim 'wippie' Shepelev 30 - 32 -2 68.1 63.8% 0.89
United States Cameron 'cam' Kern 29 - 38 -9 70.6 63.8% 0.88
Canada Joshua 'steel' Nissan 22 - 35 -13 49.5 55.3% 0.65
United States Ben 'ben1337' Smith 17 - 34 -17 52.2 59.6% 0.61

In the lower bracket, Gen.G sent FURIA packing after two hard fought wins on Train and Inferno.

On Train, Gen.G started the map in a heavy deficit as FURIA powered ahead to secure their CT-side 11-4. After moving onto their CT-side and with little room for errors, Gen.G shocked FURIA as they only allowed the Brazilian squad two rounds on to take the map 16-13.

After a massive comeback on Train, Gen.G managed to claim victory on Inferno in a more traditional way, winning their CT-side 8-7 before crushing FURIA on their T-side to take the map 16-9, eliminating one Brazilian squad from the qualifier.

Gen.G
2 - 0
FURIA
All maps
Gen.G K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Timothy 'autimatic' Ta 47 - 29 +18 85.8 70.4% 1.28
United States Kenneth 'koosta' Suen 48 - 40 +8 99.1 68.5% 1.26
Canada Damian 'daps' Steele 43 - 27 +16 65.6 79.6% 1.21
United States Hunter 'SicK' Mims 37 - 39 -2 85.1 75.9% 1.15
United States Sam 's0m' Oh 31 - 34 -3 67.1 70.4% 0.99
FURIA K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Brazil Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles 41 - 44 -3 87.7 72.2% 1.11
Brazil Yuri 'yuurih' Santos 40 - 38 +2 76.7 66.7% 1.00
Brazil Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato 37 - 38 -1 72.9 70.4% 0.97
Brazil Andrei 'arT' Piovezan 27 - 46 -19 67.2 57.4% 0.77
Brazil Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo 24 - 40 -16 48.9 64.8% 0.63

The final series of the day went the distance as MIBR managed to come out ahead of Riot Squad after a close series on Inferno, Mirage, and Train.

After Riot Squad started off the T-side of their map pick, Inferno, by winning the first five rounds in a row, MIBR managed to claw back the half, winning it 8-7. On their own offensive effort, MIBR continued to narrowly keep ahead of Riot Squad, winning the map 16-13.

Moving onto Mirage, Riot Squad once again began the map in the lead as they claimed five out of the first six rounds on their CT-side. However, their momentum slowly faded as MIBR's economy got going, with the Brazilians once again winning the half 8-7. Unlike map one, this time around Riot Squad managed to recover on their T-side as they won the first five rounds in a row before going on to force a third map with a 16-13 scoreline.

After a close opening two maps, Train ended up being relatively one-sided for MIBR as they started the map off by winning their T-side 10-5. While Riot Squad won their T-side pistol, MIBR converted an anti-eco win into five rounds to immediate secure map point. Riot Squad attempted to keep up the fight as they won four more rounds; however, MIBR finally secured the rounds they needed to take the map 16-10 and eliminate Riot Squad from contention for a spot at IEM Katowice.

Riot Squad
1 - 2
MIBR
All maps
Riot Squad K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
United States Austin 'crashies' Roberts 55 - 52 +3 73.6 67.5% 1.10
United States Mitch 'mitch' Semago 60 - 53 +7 70.2 69.9% 1.07
United States Peter 'ptr' Gurney 51 - 51 +0 72.2 66.3% 1.02
Canada Pujan 'FNS' Mehta 41 - 53 -12 58.9 65.1% 0.84
Canada Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey 44 - 66 -22 69.9 62.7% 0.83
MIBR K - D +/- ADR KAST Rating 2.0
Brazil Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe 73 - 51 +22 87.6 74.7% 1.33
Brazil Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga 68 - 50 +18 88.6 71.1% 1.26
Brazil Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo 41 - 47 -6 61.0 67.5% 0.96
Brazil Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo 45 - 47 -2 55.3 69.9% 0.93
Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer 46 - 57 -11 65.7 65.1% 0.89

With six teams remaining, the matchups for day two look as follows, with times in EST:

Lower Bracket
Brazil INTZ vs.  United States Gen.G 6:00 PM
Brazil MIBR vs.  United States Chaos 6:00 PM
Upper Bracket
 Complexity vs.  United States Cloud9 6:00 PM

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