Heroic beat OG to qualify for Spodek Arena

OG will have another chance to qualify for the playoffs as they drop down to the lower bracket.

HEROIC have defeated OG and are the third confirmed team in the IEM Katowice playoffs, joining G2 and Natus Vincere in the top six. The Danes won the series with a 2-0 scoreline, taking Inferno 16-10 to start the series and closing out the job on Mirage 16-12.

HEROIC now move on to the Group B upper-bracket finals, where they will face either Vitality or fnatic on Tuesday at 19:30 . The winners of the match will advance straight to the semi-finals, while the losing team will secure a quarter-finals spot.

Meanwhile, OG are demoted to the lower bracket, where they will need two straight victories to book their spot in the IEM Katowice playoffs. Their first test comes against the winner of the game between Outsiders and Ninjas in Pyjamas, who they will meet on Tuesday at 12:30 .

jabbi topped the scoreboard with a 1.36 rating

The first map of the series was Inferno, where HEROIC have an underwhelming record. The Danish team previously lost eight in a row but recently turned it around with three out of four wins in 2023, showing improved form of late. They got off to a strong start against OG by negating their pistol round win and quickly tied up the scores at 3-3, eventually running away to an 8-4 lead. Maciej "⁠F1KU⁠" Miklas stepped up in the following eco round, hitting two crisp shots on the Deagle to give his team control of the A site. That round win provided OG with a much-needed resurgence as they won three in a row to go into their CT side one round behind.

OG won the second-half pistol to tie up the scores but immediately lost out to a HEROIC force-buy that spiraled into a five-round streak for the Danes. HEROIC didn't let off the gas for their entire offense, dropping just two rounds in the half as they exposed OG's lack of map control on both sites. Their 16-10 win means the Danes have seemingly left their Inferno struggles behind, their record now showing a three-map win streak on the map.

Next up was Mirage, where OG won their third pistol of the series to get off to a 4-0 start. The European combine continued to post rounds on the board from disadvantageous situations, such as a gamble in a 2vs3 situation and two 3vs3 retakes of the A site, taking a 7-2 lead. The close nature of the rounds meant that HEROIC needed just one to break OG's economy, and the Danes did just that and finished with six rounds on their T side.

A missed window smoke cost OG in the pistol before Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and company recovered with a forcebuy victory straight away. That forced HEROIC into an A stack that worked out as OG went for an A execute, tying up the scores at 10-10. OG re-took the lead and forced HEROIC onto an eco, but everything came crashing down for the European combine. HEROIC won the save round and strung six in a row to close out the map 16-12 as the momentum completely switched in their favor, booking their Spodek Arena ticket in the process.

IEM Katowice 2023Best of 3 HEROICMatchpage 2 0 6th February 2023 OG 16Inferno 10 16Mirage 12

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaardjabbi	43 - 32	+11	92.7	1.36
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	40 - 29	+11	73.4	1.24
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	36 - 35	+1	71.5	1.07
Rasmus 'sjuush' Becksjuush	36 - 32	+4	70.1	1.06
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	32 - 32	0	66.3	1.03

OG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanflameZ	33 - 36	-3	60.7	0.95
Abdul 'degster' Gasanovdegster	29 - 35	-6	69.9	0.94
Adam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharNEOFRAG	38 - 39	-1	71.7	0.94
Maciej 'F1KU' MiklasF1KU	33 - 38	-5	70.8	0.90
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	27 - 41	-14	58.3	0.78

fnatic #10 William 'mezii' MerrimanFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenDion 'FASHR' Derksen Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 25 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1331 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.64 G2 #2 Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačNikola 'NiKo' KovačIlya 'm0NESY' OsipovRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenJustin 'jks' Savage HEROIC #1 Rasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' NygaardMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenCasper 'cadiaN' Møller Outsiders #5 Dzhami 'Jame' AliPetr 'fame' BolyshevAleksandr 'KaiR0N-' AnashkinAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevEvgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas Age: 19 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 693 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Natus Vincere #6 Andrii 'npl' KukharskyiOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievValeriy 'b1t' VakhovskiyDenis 'electroNic' SharipovIlya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy OG #11 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharMaciej 'F1KU' MiklasAbdul 'degster' GasanovShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Vitality #7 Emil 'Magisk' ReifPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Ninjas in Pyjamas #17 Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinFredrik 'REZ' SternerDaniil 'headtr1ck' ValitovKristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke