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PGL MAJOR STOCKHOLM CHALLENGERS STAGE FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS DRAWN

An all-Danish clash will start the tournament, followed shortly by a match between BIG and Virtus.pro.

The initial matchups for the first Swiss stage of PGL Major Stockholm have been unveiled by the tournament organizer. A game between Astralis and Copenhagen Flames will start the action on the main stream while FaZe and Spirit face off on the secondary one. However, the most interesting initial match is expected to be the one between Virtus.pro and BIG as the

IEM KATOWICE ROUND-UP: SPIRIT AND GAMBIT QUALIFY FOR MAIN EVENT, CLOUD9 OUST MOVISTAR RIDERS TO STAY ALIVE

mousesports and BIG have fallen to the lower bracket of the Play-in and will have another chance at qualification.

Spirit and Gambit are the first two teams to qualify for IEM Katowice after winning their upper bracket quarter-final series against BIG and mousesports, respectively. Meanwhile, Movistar Riders have been eliminated from the Play-in at the hands of Cloud9.

Having dispatched Cloud9 in the opening match with ease, Spirit entered their encounter with BIG with wind in their sails, putting up a big opening half on Overpass on the Terrorist side to secure a series lead despite the German team's respectable attempts to salvage the map.

Big performances from Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov then helped the Russian side lock down the series in two, this time on the back of a strong defensive half and some resilience on the T side as Spirit denied BIG another, even closer attempt at a comeback.

OMAKEN SPORTS ACQUIRES HEROIC

The Danish team have been handed a timely boost ahead of their opening match in IEM Katowice on Thursday.

Omaken Sports announced on Tuesday that it has acquired Danish organisation Heroic for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition comes just a week after the Norwegian esports organisation, which has strong ties to the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds scene, raised NOK150 million ($17.7 million) as part of a strategy to become "a Nordic powerhouse within global esports."

Omaken was founded by Youtube star Joachim "NoobworK" Haraldsen, initially with the goal of reaching the top in PUBG. Heroic will be Omaken's competitive branch, under which all of the organisation's esports teams will compete.

IEM KATOWICE ROUND-UP: LIQUID DEFEAT FIERY MIBR; OG CLAIM VICTORY OVER FNATIC

Liquid took out MIBR in a competitive 16-12 map on Vertigo while Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's men secured an upper bracket berth with a 16-9 win over their Swedish rivals.

The last round of IEM Katowice Play-In opening matches has come to an end with Liquid and OG moving to the upper bracket, where they will play for a spot at the main event, while MIBR will face fnatic in a do-or-die lower bracket series.

The last time Liquid and MIBR played at BLAST Premier Spring Groups the Brazilians took a thrashing on Vertigo, losing by ten rounds (6-16), but this time around Gustavo "⁠yel⁠" Knittel and company came out swinging, kicking the map off with a five round streak on the CT side. Liquid were then able to get into the game midway through the half and flipped the switch by winning the last three rounds after a timely 1vs2 clutch by Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic to lead 8-7 before going on the defense.

IEM KATOWICE ROUND-UP: NIP OUTCLASS COMPLEXITY; MOUSESPORTS, VIRTUS.PRO WIN

The 'Juggernaut' cut a frustrating figure against the red-hot Ninjas, while Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong was able to beat his former team on his debut for the European side.

Three more teams have moved on in IEM Katowice Play-In's double-elimination bracket as NIP dispatched Complexity, while mousesports and Virtus.pro picked up close victories against Renegades and Wisla Krakow.

NIP came into the game looking sharper than their opponents but couldn't get a stranglehold on proceedings because of some shocking errors. William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba and Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke kept Complexity in it and prevented the game from getting away from their team, but then a quad-kill by Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson destroyed the Juggernaut's economy and set the Ninjas up for a 9-6 lead.

DEXTER: "I CHOSE MOUSESPORTS BECAUSE OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW WITHOUT PRESSURE [RIGHT AWAY]"

We spoke to the Australian player ahead of the IEM Katowice Play-In and heard about his expectations for the event.

Stepping into the shoes of Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen is no easy task, especially for an in-game leader coming from outside of Europe, isolated from top-tier competition for a year. But Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong is looking to take on that challenge, parting ways with the team he represented the last four years.

FIVE KEY STORYLINES OF IEM KATOWICE PLAY-IN

With 16 teams looking to brawl their way to the main stage of the $1 million IEM Katowice, what are the crucial narratives fans should look out for?

The 2021 edition of IEM Katowice is the first one to feature a massive play-in tournament, which effectively makes the championship a two-week affair with a total of 24 teams in the competition. The coronavirus pandemic has stopped ESL from holding the event on LAN and in front of the Spodek arena crowd, with teams and fans contending with online action once more.

IEM KATOWICE ROUND-UP: SPIRIT BRUSH ASIDE CLOUD9; BIG, GAMBIT OUTCLASS OPPONENTS

The CIS team made light work of the 'Colossus' in a best-of-one affair.

The opening trio of matches in the IEM Katowice Play-In stage has come to a close, with favourites Spirit, BIG and Gambit all moving on in the upper bracket following convincing victories over Cloud9, Movistar Riders, and TeamOne.

Spirit came out the livelier of the two sides and would have cruised to a 5-0 lead if it wasn't for two great individual rounds from William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman. Cloud9 never got into their stride defensively and won just two opening duels throughout the entire half as the CIS giants went 10-5 up, with Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov leading the charge with 17 frags.

MEET MALBSMD, WHO IS PUTTING GUATEMALAN CS ON THE WORLD MAP

The TeamOne youngster dreams of leading by example and inspiring other players from his country to pursue professional careers in esports. But first, he must carve out his own path.

"I remember I was rehearsing a choreography for a school play, and a friend of mine messaged me saying HLTV had published a highlight of one of my plays," Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa recalls. "At first I assumed he was joking, I didn’t even think they published highlights from open qualifiers, but then he sent me the link. I stopped rehearsing and stepped aside, not caring about what the teacher was saying anymore, and I watched it. I couldn’t believe it, I was so happy! I started getting a lot of notifications on my phone, a lot of people were tagging me and congratulating me. I disappeared [from the scene] after that, but the thought was already in my mind: 'I want to become a professional and I can make it, so let’s give it a go."

ISURUS SIGN NIKOM, TOM1JED

Isurus once again have a full Argentinian lineup and will compete in Europe in 2021.

Isurus have announced that they have completed their team with the double signing of free agents Nicolas "⁠NikoM⁠" Miozzi and Tomas "⁠tom1⁠" Rivero. The Argentinian pair will fill the vacant roster spots created by the departures of Jonathan "⁠JonY BoY⁠" Muñoz and Caike "⁠caike⁠" Costa.

This will be NikoM's second stint with Isurus after previously donning the organisation's colours between June 2017 and May 2018. He was last seen playing for x6tence's Argentinian lineup, which disbanded in June 2020.