Vega Squadron edge past Spirit on Mirage; Vitality come back against Grayhound on Nuke

Vega Squadron beat Spirit 16-14 on Mirage to even out their record, 1-1, while Vitality came back from a 3-12 deficit to win Nuke in overtime against Grayhound.

Vega Squadron started the CIS derby off winning the attacking pistol round on Mirage with an A afterplant defense. The first gun round saw Vega Squadron win mid and play a split on A, which allowed them to take the site and plant the bomb to make it 3-0. Spirit were able to get on the board in the fourth round, and followed it up to get within one on the fifth. Winning against pistols, they then tied it up, making it 3-3. Spirit then kept their defense tight taking a 5-3 lead before Vega Squadron struck back to keep it within one.

With the match tied 5-5, Vega Squadron tried to get the lead back with a B play, but Spirit were able to hold on to get back ahead. They were able to win the half out, then, although just by the skin of their teeth, 8-7.

Vega Squadron were able to bring it back to win in-extremis

Spirit started the second half on the right foot, taking the second pistol round, and then kept stretching their lead after winning the first few gun rounds to make it 12-7, but then a pistol force by Vega Squadron got them on the board in the second half. A 1vs2 by Dmitriy "⁠jR⁠" Chervak against Dmitriy "⁠Dimaoneshot⁠" Bandurka and Pavel "⁠COLDYY1⁠" Veklenko to defuse the bomb on A kept Vega in the game. Slowly but surely Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov & co. started to mount a comeback, making it to 11-13.

Little by little, Vega Squadron were able to close the gap, turning the map around by giving up only one round in a match that went the whole way, ending it 16-14 to go 1-1 in the IEM Katowice New Challengers Stage Swiss group stage.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 1 Vega SquadronMatchpage 16 14 13th February 2019 Spirit 16Mirage 14

Vega Squadron	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitriy 'jR' ChervakjR	25 - 15	+10	79.9	1.31
Pavel 'hutji' Lashkovhutji	21 - 22	-1	87.0	1.09
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	21 - 22	-1	77.6	0.97
Anton 'tonyblack' Kolesnikovtonyblack	16 - 22	-6	53.6	0.78
Igor 'crush' Shevchenkocrush	15 - 19	-4	58.6	0.77

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Pavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoCOLDYY1	32 - 18	+14	100.7	1.52
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	26 - 20	+6	101.4	1.36
Vadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDavCost	16 - 17	-1	61.9	0.92
Dmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaDimaoneshot	14 - 23	-9	60.6	0.81
Dmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoS0tF1k	12 - 20	-8	45.3	0.68

Grayhound kicked Nuke off with a pistol win, and took the first gun round as well with a clean retake on B to make it 3-0. The Oceanian team kept the wall up, not letting Vitality find their game. The match became more and more troublesome as Grayhound increased their lead to 7-0 before triple opening kills by Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt, who hadn’t downed anyone until then, gave the French side their first on the board.

A four-kill round by Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire, including a clutch to stop Ollie "⁠DickStacy⁠" Tierney’s defuse gave his team their second round, but Grayhound tightened their hands around Vitality’s throat and closed the half out 13-2.

apEX & co. had a tense comeback on the CT side of Nuke

The second pistol round went to Vitality, who were able to defend the B bomb site with four players remaining alive to try and start the comeback. After the first couple gun rounds, Vitality were down 8-13, starting to see the light closing the massive gap left by DickStacy and company in the first half. With 11-13 on the board, it was finally time for Grayhound to get on the board on the attack after DickStacy opened on Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut on the lower site.

After hitting match point on the following round, Grayhound weren’t able to close it out as they got into a crossfire trying to enter through garage. Vitality managed to win the last four rounds in a row to take it into overtime, and then took the lead on the CT side, winning two of the three rounds to make it 17-16. The teams then traded rounds after the switch, giving Vitality map point going into the sixth round of overtime, which they were finally able to win after breaking into the upper bomb site late in the round, making it 19-17.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 1 VitalityMatchpage 19 17 13th February 2019 Grayhound 19Nuke 17

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	36 - 22	+14	94.7	1.45
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	33 - 24	+9	94.3	1.42
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	22 - 25	-3	66.0	0.91
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	15 - 23	-8	64.9	0.90
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinALEX	18 - 22	-4	52.8	0.83

Grayhound	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ollie 'DickStacy' TierneyDickStacy	30 - 24	+6	93.5	1.27
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter	23 - 26	-3	80.3	1.02
Liam 'malta' Schembrimalta	19 - 26	-7	67.3	0.87
Euan 'sterling' Mooresterling	23 - 22	+1	56.5	0.87
Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaerkaSt	21 - 26	-5	57.2	0.77

The New Challengers stage 1W - 0L Ninjas in Pyjamas Renegades TYLOO NRG ViCi ENCE Cloud9 G2 1W - 1L Vega Squadron Vitality 0W - 1L fnatic Winstrike AVANGAR FURIA 0W - 2L Grayhound Spirit Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Age: 24 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1470 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Spirit #17 Vadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaDmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoPavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoViktor 'sdy' Orudzhev Dmitriy 'jR' Chervak Age: 25 Team: Vega Squadron Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 431 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov Age: 22 Team: Vega Squadron Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 381 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.69 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 18 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.33 Maps played: 317 KPR: 0.91 DPR: 0.64 Vega Squadron #53 Anton 'tonyblack' KolesnikovLeonid 'chopper' VishnyakovDmitriy 'jR' ChervakPavel 'hutji' LashkovIgor 'crush' Shevchenko Grayhound #22 Christopher 'dexter' NongErdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaLiam 'malta' SchembriEuan 'sterling' MooreOllie 'DickStacy' Tierney Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 25 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1304 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.71 Pavel 'COLDYY1' Veklenko Age: 26 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 835 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Vitality #15 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Ollie 'DickStacy' Tierney Age: 21 Team: Grayhound Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 445 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Dmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' Bandurka Age: 24 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 895 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.71