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Spirit put on an impressive display on the CT side of Dust2, the series' decider map, to defeat Astralis 16-1 and secure a spot in the semi-finals.

The CIS squads are continuing their show of strength at IEM Katowice as Spirit and Gambit won their last group stage matches against Astralis and G2, respectively. Spirit are therefore through to the IEM Katowice semi-finals following their clean run in the Group A upper bracket, while Astralis will have to start their playoff run from the quarter-finals as the Group A runners-up.

Gambit and G2 both reached the Group A lower bracket final after losing their opening matches in the tournament. In their last group stage match Gambit came out on top in two maps, winning their map pick Vertigo and then besting G2 on Dust2 to seal the deal with 16-11 scorelines on both maps, knocking their European rivals out of contention while booking a spot in the quarter-finals.

Spirit came out guns blazing on their map pick, Inferno, taking an early 5-1 lead on the terrorist side, but Astralis managed to turn it around by halftime, albeit just barely as the CIS squad kept it within one before switching sides. Spirit tied things up in the second pistol round, but after losing to the forcebuy found themselves in a spiral until Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov downed four CTs to give his team a lifeline at 9-13. Spirit fought to swing momentum back in their favor, but finally faltered as the Danes closed out the first map 16-11.

Spirit kicked off Train on the preferred CT side, taking an impressive 9-2 lead early on before Astralis started to close the gap with two more rounds, but degster downed three opponents in a pistol buy to hit double digits before switching sides. Having won the second pistol round Spirit kept on track all the way to a 14-5 lead, but Astralis started to mount a comeback on the defense, only giving the attacking squad one chance to plant in seven rounds. Spirit finally posted match point at 15-12 before closing out the map two rounds later, 16-13.

Spirit manhandled Astralis on Dust2 to win the series

The decider map, Dust2, started off with Spirit taking the lead after three USP kills on an A defense by Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev. From there on out they went on to dominate, not giving the Danish squad a chance to plant until the sixth round, then they were able to retake the A site to keep the slate clean, 6-0. The pounding continued as Spirit won the half cleanly, with Astralis only scoring one round to stave off the humiliation of a 0-16 loss before the CIS squad closed the map out.

Gambit started on the defending side of Vertigo, their map pick, where despite losing the three first rounds they were able to take complete control of proceedings in a team effort, losing only one more round in the half to a 1vs2 clutch by Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković. G2 also won the second pistol round, but even then they were quickly put on the back foot. Up against match point the European squad tried a late comeback linking four rounds in a row, but finally fell 11-16.

G2 and Gambit brawled early on in Dust2. Down by one in the ninth round Gambit had the equalizer in their sights, but a four-kill round by Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub kept his team ahead. G2 kept the lead all the way to the half, but only by one round, 8-7. With Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov leading the charge the CIS squad found the cracks in G2’s defense as they gave up just three out of 12 rounds to win the second map 16-11, securing a spot in the IEM Katowice playoffs.

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 AstralisMatchpage 1 2 21st February 2021 Spirit 16Inferno 11 13Train 16 1Dust2 16

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	42 - 50	-8	64.2	0.99
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	48 - 52	-4	67.6	0.98
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	46 - 51	-5	75.3	0.97
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	42 - 56	-14	63.4	0.84
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	25 - 50	-25	46.0	0.62

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	58 - 45	+13	88.0	1.30
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	55 - 40	+15	83.2	1.26
Abdul 'degster' Gasanovdegster	59 - 41	+18	76.3	1.22
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	45 - 36	+9	69.2	1.11
Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx	41 - 41	0	63.7	0.97

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 GambitMatchpage 2 0 21st February 2021 G2 16Vertigo 11 16Dust2 11

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	52 - 27	+25	91.2	1.50
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	48 - 31	+17	94.6	1.37
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	33 - 24	+9	55.4	1.16
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	33 - 33	0	79.1	1.13
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	25 - 42	-17	54.0	0.76

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	40 - 37	+3	73.9	1.13
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	34 - 34	0	68.7	1.06
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	32 - 40	-8	76.8	0.94
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	23 - 40	-17	51.3	0.78
François 'amanek' Delaunayamanek	28 - 40	-12	57.6	0.74

Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 26 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 891 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Spirit #16 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 23 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1039 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 Gambit #19 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov Age: 19 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 595 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.54 G2 #10 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Abdul 'degster' Gasanov Age: 19 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.20 Maps played: 452 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev Age: 17 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 406 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.63 Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 25 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1839 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.63