Counter-Strike made its return to the esports spotlight for the first time this year as the European Minor of IEM Katowice commenced earlier today.
Europe easily has one of the most competitive Minors in the entire Valve Major tournament series, and ENCE and Team Vitality emerged as today’s victors. They went undefeated in their group stage matches with 2-0 records, putting them in the playoffs of the eight team event before many big names like Mousesports and OpTic Gaming.
Related: Road to the IEM Katowice Major: Everything you need to know before the main event
ENCE breezed through the group stage with two convincing wins against ex-Space Soldiers and Windigo. It was a much different story for the Vitality, since they went to three maps against Valiance after taking down OpTic in their initial match. Unsurprisingly, French prodigy Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut carried Vitality to victory in both of their matches, dropping 23 frags per map.
Group A
Initial Matches
- Valiance won Dust II 16-14 vs. Mousesports
- Team Vitality won Dust II 16-8 vs. OpTic Gaming
Winners’ Match
Team Vitality vs. Valiance
- Vitality won Mirage 19-15
- Valiance won Inferno 16-11
- Vitality won Dust II 16-4
Group B
Initial Matches
- Windigo won Overpass 16-6 vs. North
- ENCE Esports won Train 16-6 vs. ex-Space Soldiers
Winners’ Match
ENCE Esports vs. Windigo
- ENCE won Mirage 16-12
- ENCE won Inferno 16-3
The EU Minor will return tomorrow at 10:15am CT with losers’ matches featuring OpTic vs. Mouz and North vs. ex-SS. From there, Windigo and Valiance will try to fight off the winners of those matches for a spot in the playoffs.
