The Star studded G2 CSGO roster failed to pass their first test on LAN. They started their IEM Katowice 2022 campaign with a loss to fnatic as smooya and co. marched forward to the upper bracket semi final to meet FaZe Clan. fnatic were blown out of the water to start the series on Nuke but bounced back with a menacing Mirage and a dominant inferno to take the win 2-1 over G2.
MAP VETO
- fnatic removed Dust2
- G2 removed Overpass
- fnatic picked Nuke
- G2 picked Mirage
- fnatic removed Ancient
- G2 removed Vertigo
- Inferno was left over
MAP 1: Nuke (G2 16-2 fnatic)
Nuke started with all guns blazing for G2 as they won the pistol and the following rounds. It wasnt until round 8 that fnatic would break the ice. G2 then replied with another 3 as NiKo locked down yard and huNter- on the A site wreaked havoc on ALEX’s men. They lost a single round after it as the Kovac’s continued pummeling the fnatic squad, supported well by Aleksib. The half ended with a 13-2 score, and the lead was insurmountable.
Switching to the T side, G2 ended it as quickly as it started as they got the 3 rounds needed in the first 3 and absolutely annihilated fnatic 16-2 on their own map pick.
MAP 2: Mirage (G2 7-16 fnatic)
Switching to their own map pick of Mirage, it was expected that G2 would take it away with ease as NiKo and m0NESY are known to be absolute stalwarts on the map. But the start wasn’t all bells and whistles as fnatic put up a good defense. They took 5 rounds unanswered as G2 had to wait until the 6th to find their first. After a few back and forths, the score sat at 6-3 and it looked to be an even half, but veteran KRIMZ rolled back the years as he started popping heads left, right and center from the connector position. He finished the half with 20 frags as fnatic took a 10-5 lead.
The T side looked even better for the British-Swedish combo as G2 were left helpless. They couldn’t do anything until they gave up match point at 15-5 and even after winning a couple of rounds, they never had the money to keep it going and lost 16-7. huNter- and NiKo both went missing as we moved to Inferno for the decider.
MAP 3: Inferno (G2 11-16 fnatic)
Inferno started with a pistol win for G2 but that wouldnt be a sign of things to come. fnatic bounced right back as they won the force buy and the 3 following rounds. Throughout the half, ALEX called circles around Aleksib’s men as G2 were never able to string together more than 1 CT round. They found an odd round here and eventually thanks to a NiKo 1v2, they ended the half with a 10-5 score, on which a comeback could be mounted.
A strong T side start was needed for G2 and they delivered with 4 back to back. After trading rounds, fnatic took control of the map yet again as mezii locked down the B site while smooya and KRIMZ went ham on A. G2 were allowed a single round after the initial burst as the T side looked toothless and fnatic completed the monumental comeback after a 16-2 blowout to take Inferno 16-11.
LOWER BRACKET RUN FOR G2
G2 will play Team Liquid to remain in contention at IEM Katowice. Liquid lost their first game to FaZe Clan yesterday who were with a stand-in still. Only 1 of Liquid and G2 will remain in the competition as they meet at 17:00 IST tomorrow in a best of 3.
