G2 secured a 16-14 victory against Vega Squadron on Cache while ENCE beat Spirit 16-10 on Nuke at IEM Katowice's New Challengers Stage.

The game between G2 and Vega Squadron kicked off with the French team on the CT-side where Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub defended the A-site with a quad kill to win the pistol round. Vega Squadron came back from 3-0 to take the lead and extended it to 6-3 as Dmitriy "⁠jR⁠" Chervak clutched a 1vs1.

G2's three round streak made it 6-6 but the French side were unable to go ahead as Igor "⁠crush⁠" Shevchenko won a 1vs1 post plant in the 13th round. The Russian team found two early kills by pushing Middle in the next round, picking up their eighth. Vega Squadron triumphed in the last round of the half, which they finished with a 9-6 lead.

kennyS was impressive against Vega Squadron

Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon & company won four of the first five rounds to start the second half, tying the game at 10-10. kennyS stepped up in the 27th round, putting G2 ahead with a triple kill in a 2vs3 (14-13). The French team closed it out in the 30th round by winning a 2vs2 post-plant on the B-site to take the 16-14 victory.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 1 G2Matchpage 16 14 13th February 2019 Vega Squadron 16Cache 14

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianarobodyy	26 - 19	+7	98.4	1.47
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	29 - 15	+14	85.7	1.41
Audric 'JACKZ' JugJACKZ	23 - 17	+6	92.1	1.28
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	20 - 20	0	73.5	1.05
Lucas 'Lucky' ChastangLucky	20 - 18	+2	67.9	1.03

Vega Squadron	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Igor 'crush' Shevchenkocrush	25 - 20	+5	79.6	1.27
Dmitriy 'jR' ChervakjR	22 - 22	0	81.6	1.21
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	18 - 27	-9	71.2	0.77
Pavel 'hutji' Lashkovhutji	14 - 25	-11	62.9	0.69
Anton 'tonyblack' Kolesnikovtonyblack	10 - 24	-14	38.0	0.46

ENCE and Spirit squared off on Nuke where the Finns managed to secure the first two rounds on the T-side. Spirit hit back in the first weapon round but ENCE made it 3-1 after Sami "⁠xseveN⁠" Laasanen picked up a double kill to prevent the defuse in the following round.

Spirit caught up to ENCE after a successful smoke defuse in the eighth round and took the lead as they shut down ENCE's A-site push a round later (5-4). Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli's team went on a five round streak to close out the half 9-6 ahead.

ENCE looked comfortable against Spirit

Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo picked up a quick triple kill in the second pistol to make it 10-6. Pavel "⁠COLDYY1⁠" Veklenko clutched a 1vs1 and got a double kill in a 2vs3 in consecutive rounds to keep Spirit in the game. ENCE earned five match points after extending their lead to 15-10 and finished it off quickly with allu's 1vs2 clutch in the 26th round.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 1 ENCEMatchpage 16 10 13th February 2019 Spirit 16Nuke 10

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sami 'xseveN' LaasanenxseveN	22 - 14	+8	75.2	1.25
Jere 'sergej' Salosergej	21 - 19	+2	94.8	1.24
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib	20 - 16	+4	87.7	1.17
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	18 - 16	+2	65.2	1.02
Jani 'Aerial' JussilaAerial	14 - 21	-7	73.2	0.94

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Vadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDavCost	21 - 15	+6	85.6	1.27
Dmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoS0tF1k	21 - 20	+1	93.5	1.18
Pavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoCOLDYY1	17 - 20	-3	84.0	1.05
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	18 - 20	-2	69.1	0.88
Dmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaDimaoneshot	8 - 20	-12	37.5	0.58

The New Challengers stage 1W - 0L Renegades TYLOO ViCi ENCE Cloud9 G2 0W - 0L FURIA Ninjas in Pyjamas NRG Winstrike 0W - 1L Vega Squadron Grayhound Spirit fnatic AVANGAR Vitality Sami 'xseveN' Laasanen Age: 24 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 738 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 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 Igor 'crush' Shevchenko Age: 23 Team: Vega Squadron Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 456 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.69 Aleksi 'allu' Jalli Age: 26 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 1257 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 Vega Squadron #53 Anton 'tonyblack' KolesnikovLeonid 'chopper' VishnyakovDmitriy 'jR' ChervakPavel 'hutji' LashkovIgor 'crush' Shevchenko Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 26 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1387 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67 Pavel 'COLDYY1' Veklenko Age: 26 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 835 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Jere 'sergej' Salo Age: 16 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 397 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.63 ENCE #11 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaSami 'xseveN' LaasanenAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenJere 'sergej' Salo G2 #19 Audric 'JACKZ' JugRichard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubAlexandre 'bodyy' PianaroLucas 'Lucky' Chastang Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 23 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1391 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.63