The first day of the IEM Katowice Europe closed qualifier has been brought to an end, with FaZe and G2 securing the two wins necessary to claim spots at the tournament in Poland.

FaZe kicked off their closed qualifier campaign against ARCY, and struggled on the CT side of Nuke in their first map after the winter break, securing just five rounds. However, they were able to bounce back on the offense and claim the win on their map pick, before displaying a similar T-side on Dust2 to take the series 2-0. Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer was the standout performer in the match, finishing with a 1.35 rating and 11 first kills.

With FaZe confirmed for Katowice, everyone from the current top 10 will be at the event

The international roster then faced ENCE, who previously overcame Illuminar 2-1. The series kicked off on Mirage, which went FaZe's way after their first strong CT side in the qualifier (16-10), while ENCE struck back on Dust 2 (16-12), seeing both teams lose their map picks. It was all down to Nuke, where inspired showings from Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David and Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač got FaZe over the line, 16-12, securing their spot in Katowice.

IEM Katowice 2020 Europe Closed QualifierBest of 3 FaZeMatchpage 2 1 9th January 2020 ENCE 16Mirage 10 12Dust2 16 16Nuke 12

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	64 - 56	+8	76.4	1.18
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	62 - 47	+15	68.4	1.15
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	48 - 49	-1	79.6	1.13
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	51 - 47	+4	66.4	1.03
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	40 - 49	-9	57.9	0.85

ENCE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jere 'sergej' Salosergej	59 - 48	+11	80.1	1.13
Jani 'Aerial' JussilaAerial	48 - 55	-7	71.6	1.01
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	56 - 58	-2	68.1	0.95
Sami 'xseveN' LaasanenxseveN	48 - 52	-4	63.6	0.95
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	36 - 53	-17	50.8	0.74

G2 had to work hard for a 2-1 win over AGO, while MAD Lions overcame HEROIC 2-0, adding another Danish scalp to their collection after outclassing North yesterday.

huNter will be joining his cousin NiKo in Katowice

Those results set up a G2 - MAD Lions semi-final, where the Danes edged out Train in Overtime 22-20, while G2 denied the comeback on Dust2 to claim it 16-14. The decider was Nuke, where Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen's men ran up a 10-5 lead on the defense thanks to mainly Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand and Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen. The Danes extended the lead with a pistol round win, but G2 replied with a force buy, and that is where MAD Lions' issues started. The French-Serbian roster gained momentum on the defense and completed the comeback to win Nuke 16-13 and the series 2-1.

IEM Katowice 2020 Europe Closed QualifierBest of 3 MAD LionsMatchpage 1 2 9th January 2020 G2 22Train 20 14Dust2 16 13Nuke 16

MAD Lions	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandacoR	75 - 64	+11	75.3	1.11
Lucas 'Bubzkji' AndersenBubzkji	68 - 63	+5	76.8	1.10
Fredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenroeJ	68 - 73	-5	85.2	1.07
Rasmus 'sjuush' Becksjuush	64 - 68	-4	65.7	0.99
Nicolai 'HUNDEN' PetersenHUNDEN	49 - 69	-20	48.2	0.73

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Audric 'JACKZ' JugJACKZ	72 - 66	+6	75.6	1.14
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	75 - 61	+14	77.0	1.14
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	67 - 69	-2	71.3	1.05
François 'amanek' Delaunayamanek	62 - 62	0	64.9	1.03
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	61 - 66	-5	71.3	0.97

ENCE and MAD Lions still have a chance to claim the last European spot at the $500,000 event tomorrow in the lower-bracket, starting with matches against Polish representatives AGO and Illuminar, respectively.

The team list for IEM Katowice 2020 is now as follows:

Astralis
MOUZ
Vitality
Natus Vincere
Ninjas in Pyjamas
FaZe
G2
EU Qualifier fnatic
Liquid
Evil Geniuses
100 Thieves
Virtus.pro
ViCi
NA Qualifier
Oceania Qualifier Marcelo 'coldzera' David Age: 25 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.19 Maps played: 1101 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 Evil Geniuses #5 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov 100 Thieves #7 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Fredrik 'roeJ' Jørgensen Age: 26 Team: MAD Lions Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 352 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.69 FaZe #8 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidHelvijs 'broky' Saukants ViCi #35 Zhuo 'advent' LiangWeiJie 'zhokiNg' ZhongZhiHong 'aumaN' LiuAndrew 'kaze' KhongYi 'JamYoung' Yang Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand Age: 22 Team: MAD Lions Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 757 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.64 AGO #41 Damian 'Furlan' KislowskiEryk 'leman' KocębaDominik 'GruBy' SwiderskiPatryk 'Sidney' KorabMiłosz 'mhL' Knasiak North #20 René 'cajunb' BorgPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeJakob 'JUGi' HansenNicklas 'gade' Gade Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1156 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67 Illuminar #30 Paweł 'innocent' MocekPaweł 'reatz' JańczakOskar 'oskarish' StenborowskiMichał 'mono' GabszewiczDaniel 'STOMP' Płomiński ARCY #49 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiKarol 'rallen' RodowiczMikołaj 'mouz' KarolewskiOlek 'hades' Miskiewicz G2 #11 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Ninjas in Pyjamas #10 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergSimon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora fnatic #4 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin ENCE #12 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJere 'sergej' Salo HEROIC #16 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferCasper 'cadiaN' MøllerPatrick 'es3tag' HansenJohannes 'b0RUP' BorupMartin 'stavn' Lund Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif MOUZ #2 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenChris 'chrisJ' de JongÖzgür 'woxic' EkerDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýRobin 'ropz' Kool Virtus.pro #17 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevSanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' Ali Natus Vincere #9 Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov Vitality #6 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1351 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Liquid #3 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Nicolai 'HUNDEN' Petersen Age: 28 Team: MAD Lions Rating 1.0: 0.81 Maps played: 1551 KPR: 0.55 DPR: 0.70 MAD Lions #21 Nicolai 'HUNDEN' PetersenLucas 'Bubzkji' AndersenFrederik 'acoR' GyldstrandRasmus 'sjuush' BeckFredrik 'roeJ' Jørgensen