The two European teams are now set to face each other for a spot in the group stage on Wednesday at 19:30 .

The penultimate round of the opening best-of-one matches has come to an end, with fnatic and OG getting wins to start their IEM Katowice campaigns. On the A stream Sprout and OG were embroiled in an overtime affair that ended up with OG taking a 19-16 victory on Inferno. Meanwhile, fnatic made light work of Evil Geniuses in a 16-8 victory on the B stream, a scoreline made even more impressive by the fact they lost both pistol rounds.

The results now mean that fnatic and OG are set to face off for a group stage spot later in the day, while Evil Geniuses and Sprout will face each other to keep their tournament dream alive on Thursday at 16:00 .

flameZ put up 31 kills in OG's win against Sprout

Sprout and OG met on Inferno, and it was the former who got off to a better start. They won the pistol round and looked comfortable throughout the opening exchanges, finding themselves in a 4-1 lead. OG then stabilized and soon tied up the scores at 4-4 after Maciej "⁠F1KU⁠" Miklas's anti-eco ace, and they showed no sign of stopping as the scoreline read 8-5. Sprout did find some success at the end of their offensive side, getting two in a row to go into the interval just one round behind.

OG won the second-half pistol to take an 11-7 lead before Adrian "⁠XELLOW⁠" Guță denied F1KU's 1vs3 clutch attempt with a flank from Banana. That put the wind in Sprout's sails and they started to rack up rounds to eventually take a 12-11 lead. Neither team was able to string two rounds together after that, as they engaged in a back-and-forth that ended with the map going to overtime.

OG made the most of their experience in overtime as they won all three rounds on the offense after a couple of aggressive calls by Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković. They needed just one round on their CT side, and they got what they needed after Adam "⁠NEOFRAG⁠" Zouhar posted a triple-kill in a B defense to close out the map 19-16.

Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte got his team an early lead with a triple in the pistol round on the B stream. That was as good as it got for Evil Geniuses, however, as the North Americans faltered against the fnatic forcebuy in the next round. The European combine then strung six together to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Evil Geniuses did get two more rounds in the half, but were otherwise unsuccessful in breaking fnatic's CT side, usually losing several members before even executing which resulted in a 3-12 score going into the interval.

The second half started exactly like the first, with Brehze getting a triple-kill in the pistol only for Evil Geniuses to lose the resulting forcebuy. That enabled fnatic to run away to match point, but Evil Geniuses didn't throw in the towel just yet. The North Americans got a four-round streak together before a quad-kill by Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson put the game to rest, with the scoreline standing at 16-8 in their favor. Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen finished on top of the scoreboard with a stellar performance, putting up 27 kills and 102 ADR to put fnatic one win away from a spot at the main event.

IEM Katowice 2023 Play-inBest of 1 SproutMatchpage 16 19 1st February 2023 OG 16Inferno 19

Sprout	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Victor 'Staehr' StaehrStaehr	20 - 22	-2	83.2	1.10
Adrian 'XELLOW' GuțăXELLOW	19 - 19	0	56.0	0.97
Ismail 'refrezh' Alirefrezh	18 - 23	-5	63.8	0.86
Rasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossZyphon	16 - 21	-5	59.8	0.86
Laurențiu 'lauNX' ȚârlealauNX	19 - 24	-5	48.9	0.84

OG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanflameZ	31 - 18	+13	92.8	1.42
Maciej 'F1KU' MiklasF1KU	23 - 21	+2	81.4	1.17
Adam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharNEOFRAG	21 - 18	+3	66.1	1.12
Abdul 'degster' Gasanovdegster	18 - 17	+1	48.9	1.09
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	16 - 20	-4	57.9	0.90

IEM Katowice 2023 Play-inBest of 1 fnaticMatchpage 16 8 1st February 2023 Evil Geniuses 16Inferno 8

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Fredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenroeJ	27 - 12	+15	102.7	1.77
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidinicoodoz	20 - 11	+9	99.5	1.60
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	21 - 11	+10	86.0	1.41
William 'mezii' Merrimanmezii	19 - 11	+8	81.0	1.38
Dion 'FASHR' DerksenFASHR	11 - 13	-2	62.7	1.01

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovneaLaN	11 - 18	-7	67.5	0.82
Jadan 'HexT' PostmaHexT	15 - 21	-6	68.5	0.74
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	13 - 20	-7	66.0	0.71
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	8 - 18	-10	45.4	0.61
Jerric 'wiz' Jiangwiz	11 - 22	-11	48.4	0.42

Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 24 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1213 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67 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: 1326 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.63 Fredrik 'roeJ' Jørgensen Age: 29 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 965 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas Age: 19 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 688 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Evil Geniuses #21 Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteTimothy 'autimatic' TaJerric 'wiz' JiangSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJadan 'HexT' Postma Sprout #20 Victor 'Staehr' StaehrRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossIsmail 'refrezh' AliLaurențiu 'lauNX' ȚârleaAdrian 'XELLOW' Guță Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Age: 28 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1847 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.64 Adrian 'XELLOW' Guță Age: 22 Team: Sprout Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1172 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.66 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Adam 'NEOFRAG' Zouhar Age: 21 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 754 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.68 OG #11 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharMaciej 'F1KU' MiklasAbdul 'degster' GasanovShahar 'flameZ' Shushan