It was a surprising first day at the New Challengers stage at the IEM Katowice Major.
Swedish powerhouse Fnatic dropped down to the 0-2 elimination match, following two consecutive upsets to ViCi Gaming and Winstrike. Fnatic ruined the pick-em challengers of many fans who believed that ViCi would get knocked out of the Major without a win at 0-3. Now the Swedes will face the Australians of Grayhound Gaming in the first elimination best-of-three match of the day.
Related: What to expect at the IEM Katowice CS:GO Major
Other shocking upsets that occurred include TyLoo defeating Team Vitality and Cloud9 and Renegades stealing Mirage from Ninjas in Pyjamas in a tight 29-round game. Vitality also completed a shaky comeback from 13-2 to 19-17 to redeem themselves against Grayhound, who had a rough day overall.
Round One
- ViCi Gaming won Overpass 16-9 vs. Fnatic
- Renegades won Train 16-8 vs. AVANGAR
- Cloud9 won Mirage 16-11 vs. Grayhound Gaming
- TyLoo won Inferno 16-8 vs. Team Vitality
- ENCE Esports won Nuke 16-10 vs. Team Spirit
- G2 Esports won Cache 16-14 vs. Vega Squadron
- Ninjas in Pyjamas won Mirage 16-6 vs. FURIA Esports
- NRG Esports won Nuke 16-9 vs. Winstrike
Round Two
0-1 Matches
- Vega Squadron won Mirage 16-14 vs. Team Spirit
- Team Vitality won Nuke 19-17 vs. Grayhound Gaming
- Winstrike won Train 16-11 vs. Fnatic
- AVANGAR won Mirage 16-14 vs. FURIA Esports
1-0 Matches
- ENCE Esports won Overpass 16-6 vs. G2 Esports
- TyLoo won Overpass 16-3 vs. Cloud9
- Renegades won Mirage 16-13 vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
- NRG Esports won Overpass 16-6 vs. ViCi Gaming
Action at the IEM Katowice Major begins again at 6am CT, beginning with 1-1 matches featuring G2 vs. AVANGAR and Vitality vs. Vega.
