Natus Vincere and FaZe are through to the 1-0 pool at IEM Katowice after beating G2 and HellRaisers, respectively.

On Inferno, Natus Vincere won their CT pistol on the back of a triple-kill from Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev in a 4v4 retake. G2 pulled off a force-buy in the next round, but the Ukrainians would still manage to take a 4-1 lead.

Natus Vincere have moved into the 1-0 pool in Katowice

The match quickly turned into a back-and-forth affair that saw G2 reduce the deficit to 4-6. From that moment, although Natus Vincere strung three rounds together fairly easily, they could not stop Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon's men in the final two rounds of the half.

Natus Vincere further added to their lead in the second half, winning three rounds in a row before G2 were able to buy weapons, 12-6. The Frenchmen then picked up their seventh round, but it was simply too little, too late, for them to stop Natus Vincere, who finished things off without much effort.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 1 Natus VincereMatchpage 16 7 20th February 2019 G2 16Inferno 7

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	23 - 10	+13	101.3	1.68
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	20 - 11	+9	104.0	1.59
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	22 - 12	+10	79.3	1.45
Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus	18 - 13	+5	84.2	1.22
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	13 - 11	+2	70.6	1.06

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	15 - 16	-1	79.9	1.04
Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianarobodyy	16 - 20	-4	76.0	0.81
Lucas 'Lucky' ChastangLucky	10 - 19	-9	62.1	0.66
Audric 'JACKZ' JugJACKZ	8 - 19	-11	55.6	0.63
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	8 - 22	-14	47.4	0.55

The match between HellRaisers and FaZe was played on Train, where the latter team picked up a 3-0 lead after winning their Terrorist pistol. HellRaisers responded well, eventually equalizing the score, but a successful 2v3 situation from Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács and Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard set their team up for a great run, losing just one more round to bag an 11-4 half-time lead.

In the second half, FaZe refused to take their foot off the gas, and quickly put the game to bed with a five-round winning streak, with Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač leading the way for his team with a 1.63 rating.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 1 FaZeMatchpage 16 4 20th February 2019 HellRaisers 16Train 4

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	20 - 9	+11	111.7	1.63
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	19 - 9	+10	75.7	1.35
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	14 - 11	+3	82.7	1.30
Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevAdreN	14 - 10	+4	67.8	1.28
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	13 - 11	+2	67.6	1.11

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	15 - 15	0	86.5	1.06
Issa 'ISSAA' MuradISSAA	12 - 13	-1	72.5	1.00
Özgür 'woxic' Ekerwoxic	11 - 15	-4	47.9	0.75
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	6 - 19	-13	42.5	0.44
Bence 'DeadFox' BöröczDeadFox	6 - 18	-12	39.0	0.34

The New Legends stage 1W - 0L FaZe Natus Vincere Vitality Renegades 0W - 0L Astralis Complexity Liquid MIBR NRG AVANGAR Ninjas in Pyjamas Cloud9 0W - 1L ENCE BIG G2 HellRaisers Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev Age: 31 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1303 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1331 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.62 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 24 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1027 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 26 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1396 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67 HellRaisers #21 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowAbay 'HObbit' KhassenovÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad FaZe #5 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 1001 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.67 G2 #17 Audric 'JACKZ' JugRichard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubAlexandre 'bodyy' PianaroLucas 'Lucky' Chastang Natus Vincere #3 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov