Evil Geniuses broke Gambit’s Overpass winning streak before securing a 2-0 victory, while it took Spirit three maps to take down G2 in the other Group A opener.
Out of the two CIS squads coming into IEM Katowice Group A after qualifying from the play-in, only one was able to come out on top in their opening match, as Gambit fell to a superior Evil Geniuses while Spirit were able to rally on Inferno, the decider map in their series, to secure victory over G2.
Evil Geniuses won four very close rounds on the CT side of Overpass, but Gambit’s relentless pressure paid off as they won the fifth round and sent EG on a pistol buy and then an eco, which Gambit converted on the way to an 8-7 lead. A scrappy few rounds early on in the second half saw the match tilt in EG’s favor, however, as they ran away to end Gambit’s Overpass winning streak, which was up to 14 in a row.
With the wind in their sails Evil Geniuses ran circles around their CIS rivals on Inferno, going up 11-4 on the T side with Ethan "Ethan" Arnold leading the charge, just as he had done on Overpass. Gambit tried to gain control early on in the second half, but were neutralized by their more experienced foes as Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and company closed the map out 16-10 to continue through the Group A upper bracket.
G2 held firm on the CT side of Train, winning a second-round forcebuy to take a 5-1 lead, but little by little Spirit brought it back, in large part thanks to two 2vs5 rounds by Boris "magixx" Vorobiev and Abdul "degster" Gasanov, to win the half 8-7. The work on the attacking side paid dividends as Spirit struggled to close out the map on the defense, but finally did so in the last round, 16-14.
G2 felt at ease on the attacking side of Mirage, where they amassed a 10-5 lead powered by Nemanja "nexa" Isaković and Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač, after which they continued to manhandle Spirit, taking the map 16-8 to push the series to a decider map.
With everything on the line on Inferno the CIS squad put on an impressive performance on the attack, in large part thanks to multiple big plays by Nikolay "mir" Bityukov and Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev. Despite a slow start on the CT side, Spirit kept heir cool and rallied to close the map out 16-10 to stay on track in the upper bracket.
IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3
Evil Geniuses
Matchpage 2 0 18th February 2021 
Gambit 16Overpass 13 16Inferno 10 | Evil Geniuses | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan | 49 - 37 | +12 | 97.8 | 1.37 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq | 35 - 31 | +4 | 70.4 | 1.11 |
| Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze | 37 - 37 | 0 | 69.2 | 1.01 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik | 28 - 38 | -10 | 60.8 | 0.86 |
 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw | 21 - 41 | -20 | 51.7 | 0.69 |
| Gambit | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit | 44 - 30 | +14 | 75.6 | 1.36 |
| Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro | 36 - 30 | +6 | 75.9 | 1.19 |
| Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz | 35 - 33 | +2 | 69.4 | 1.04 |
| Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le | 31 - 36 | -5 | 82.2 | 1.04 |
| Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany | 36 - 41 | -5 | 73.7 | 0.96 |
G2
Matchpage 1 2 18th February 2021 
Spirit 14Train 16 16Mirage 8 10Inferno 16 | G2 | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter- | 60 - 54 | +6 | 81.4 | 1.20 |
 Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa | 51 - 55 | -4 | 78.9 | 1.08 |
| Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo | 59 - 60 | -1 | 79.0 | 1.04 |
 François 'amanek' Delaunayamanek | 41 - 53 | -12 | 63.5 | 0.97 |
| Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS | 38 - 53 | -15 | 43.9 | 0.75 |
| Spirit | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir | 57 - 53 | +4 | 84.5 | 1.24 |
 Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy | 62 - 47 | +15 | 84.0 | 1.20 |
| Abdul 'degster' Gasanovdegster | 57 - 47 | +10 | 70.4 | 1.07 |
| Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx | 52 - 47 | +5 | 66.3 | 0.98 |
| Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper | 45 - 56 | -11 | 63.9 | 0.90 |
Spirit #16 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev 
Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković 
Age: 23 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1033 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač 
Age: 25 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1209 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 
Evil Geniuses #9 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov 
Age: 25 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 828 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Gambit #19 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov G2 #10 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Abdul 'degster' Gasanov 
Age: 19 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.20 Maps played: 447 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev 
Age: 23 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 837 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz 
Age: 26 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 1212 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.66 Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev 
Age: 17 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 401 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.63 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold 
Age: 20 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 982 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 (责任编辑：case opening)
