The Intel Extreme Masters: Katowice 2020 opener began on Vertigo – NiP’s pick. On the other side, Vitality went forward with Nuke and Inferno was left over to be the decider.
Ninjas bagged the pistol round with A-site execute, all props to Plopski’s quad-kill. NiP moved forward with a quick 3-0 lead. Frenchmen got an early two-men advantage in the first buy round and picked up their first round. nawwk with a double-kill early into the fifth round towards B-site, secured 4-1 lead for the Swedes.
NiP added a couple of more rounds against Vitality’s eco and following force-buy. Vitality finally picked up around all credits to early aggression by Alex and Shox. NiP picked up tenth round as the Frenchmen fell against upgraded pistols and nawwk picked up three kills. Pistol and armour buys overpowered rifles a couple of times here and there while the first half ended 8-7 slightly favouring NiP.
Team Vitality rushed B site and ZyWoo picked up a triple-kill to tie scoreboard at 8-8. Vitality picked up following two rounds to lead 10-8. NiP and Vitality traded a couple of rounds, scoreboard turned 12-10 inclined to Vitality. Ninjas then went on a spree to grab two crucial rounds to tie the scoreboard 12-12.
Shox clutched the twenty-fifth round 1vs2 in a post-plant situation to finally grab 13-12 lead for his side. NiP crumbled further and Vitality picked the first map 16-12.
NiP picked CT side and grabbed the pistol round on the back ofq Lekr0 and twist’s double-kills on the upper bombsite. Vitality forced in the following round though NiP merely secured the second round. Vitality forced once again rushing the upper bombsite and ZyWoo got a quad-kill and 1vs2 clutch to put the first round on the board, breaking NiP’s economy. Vitality picked up a 3-2 lead after winning against NiP’s force-buy and following eco round.
NiP finally had their rifles out, though Vitality’s chaotic outside execute stunned the Swedes. Vitality picked anti-eco round making no mistakes and secured 5-2 lead on T-side. Ninjas finally picked up a round on the back on Plopski’s triple-kill at ramp. Both teams traded rounds and scoreboard favoured French 6-4. NiP picked up another round and the French economy was in shambles. Scored tied at 6-6 as NiP picked yet another round on the defence. Rounds were further traded back and forth as Vitality slightly won the first half 8-7 on the offense.
Vitality eventually moved to the defensive side and swiftly secured the pistol round on the back of ZyWoo’s triple-kill. Vitality secured 11-7 lead on a four-round winning spree. NiP came back with a force-buy in the nineteenth round and destroyed French economy. NiP bounced back grabbing a couple of rounds against force-buys and the scoreboard turned 11-10.
Alex got a triple and a quad-kill in the following rounds to extend their lead 13-10. NiP tumbled down against the fierce Frenchmen. The Swedes couldn’t grab around further. Vitality grabbed the serious 2-0 and advanced to Group A upper bracket semi-finale against Astralis. Vitality’s IGL Alex led the squad upfront with 1.43 rating and +18 K/D difference. NiP, on the contrary, is relegated to lower-bracket of Group A alongside Cloud9.
