Renegades and Vitality are the first teams in the 1-0 pool at IEM Katowice after defeating ENCE and BIG, respectively.

Starting out as Terrorists on Inferno, Renegades took control of proceedings after winning the first pistol, which they followed up with the next round thanks to Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage turning a 2v3 situation around. ENCE responded with just pistols, but the Australian side still managed to take a 4-1 lead, forcing the Finns to call a tactical pause.

ENCE tightened up their defense and eventually equalized the score at 4-4. Renegades then picked up their fifth round, but they were immediately reset by their opponents, who kept winning rounds until half-time to go up 10-5.

Renegades kicked off their IEM Katowice campaign on the right foot

Renegades started the second half well, with a successful CT pistol followed by a quad-kill by Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad to counter ENCE's force-buy. Despite ENCE resetting Renegades after winning two of the next three rounds, Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward's men came fighting back, going on a massive run to close out the map at 16-13.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 1 ENCEMatchpage 13 16 20th February 2019 Renegades 13Inferno 16

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jere 'sergej' Salosergej	23 - 15	+8	74.8	1.28
Jani 'Aerial' JussilaAerial	18 - 17	+1	64.0	0.99
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib	19 - 22	-3	72.6	0.93
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	17 - 19	-2	65.4	0.91
Sami 'xseveN' LaasanenxseveN	14 - 22	-8	70.2	0.88

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	30 - 17	+13	103.1	1.50
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	20 - 17	+3	72.9	1.12
Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz	15 - 18	-3	67.5	1.05
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	18 - 20	-2	62.4	0.94
Sean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiGratisfaction	12 - 19	-7	53.5	0.73

On the secondary stream, on Mirage, BIG got off to a great start as CTs, stringing four rounds together, in part thanks to Tizian "⁠tiziaN⁠" Feldbusch and Johannes "⁠nex⁠" Maget winning two 1v2 clutches. However, Vitality responded in convincing fashion, quickly levelling the score at 4-4.

Despite not buying weapons in the next round, BIG saw nex come up huge with a triple-kill in a 2v3 situation. Still, Vitality did not back down and lost only two more rounds, securing a narrow 8-7 half-time lead due to a four-round winning streak.

apEX led the way for Vitality with 30 frags

Vitality won the second pistol with doubles from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy, and the subsequent anti-eco to hit 10 rounds. In the first gun round, nex and Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik found a triple and a double-kill, respectively, inspiring BIG to hit double-digits as well. That was not enough to stop Vitality, however, as the Frenchmen went on to seal the deal at 16-11.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 1 BIGMatchpage 11 16 20th February 2019 Vitality 11Mirage 16

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Johannes 'nex' Magetnex	22 - 20	+2	95.9	1.29
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	24 - 24	0	90.4	1.10
Fatih 'gob b' Dayikgob b	15 - 24	-9	67.2	0.76
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	11 - 26	-15	69.4	0.56
Tizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschtiziaN	12 - 22	-10	32.0	0.51

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	30 - 15	+15	115.0	1.81
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	27 - 15	+12	107.3	1.64
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	29 - 16	+13	105.6	1.59
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinALEX	19 - 18	+1	73.8	1.06
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	11 - 20	-9	54.0	0.69

The New Legends stage 1W - 0L Vitality Renegades 0W - 0L Astralis Complexity FaZe HellRaisers Liquid MIBR Natus Vincere NRG AVANGAR Ninjas in Pyjamas G2 Cloud9 0W - 1L ENCE BIG Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Age: 29 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1020 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.69 Aaron 'AZR' Ward Age: 26 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 732 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Tizian 'tiziaN' Feldbusch Age: 22 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 976 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.66 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 18 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.33 Maps played: 322 KPR: 0.91 DPR: 0.64 Justin 'jks' Savage Age: 23 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 729 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Age: 31 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.85 Maps played: 910 KPR: 0.57 DPR: 0.67 Johannes 'nex' Maget Age: 26 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 944 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.66 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Age: 24 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 768 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 BIG #14 Fatih 'gob b' DayikJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' MagetIsmailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Vitality #12 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Renegades #8 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas ENCE #9 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaSami 'xseveN' LaasanenAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenJere 'sergej' Salo