Astralis keep their roll going by winning 16-5 against E-Frag.net on de_mirage, while EnVyUs got themselves back in the running by beating FaZe 16-12 on de_train.
Astralis have been off to a great start on their first day at IEM Katowice, by winning their first two matches against EnVyUS and Virtus.pro. They came into the match against E-Frag.net as the favorites, and got off to a great start winning the first pistol round.
Astralis quickly found themselves in a commanding lead as they were able to put up a wall on the CT side and quickly found themselves in a commanding lead with 6 uncontested rounds. Finally E-Frag.net were able to get on the board, but were then put back into a force buy losing the eighth round.
Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen was solid as can be on the A site, topping the scoreboard and stopping E-Frag.net’s futile attempts at breaching the site. Finall, E-Frag.net were able to get a plant on A, but Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth won a 1vs1 against Nikolay "nkl" Krastev in a show of superiority putting his team up 10-1.
dupreeh gave E-Frag.net absolutely no room on A
E-Frag.net weren’t quite ready to let the game slip away, though, putting in three solid rounds. A two kill by dupreeh in the last round of the half when both teams had four players alive put Astralis back in the driver’s seat in the round allowing his team to close out the half 11-4.
E-Frag.net kept the dream alive by winning the pistol, but a beastly dupreeh shattered those dreams by getting three desert eagle kills on the eco round to expedite the match’s outcome.
It wasn’t until 14-5 was up on the board that E-Frag.net were able to buy, although no AWP and few utilities were in play, but dupreeh was able to get the last two kills of the round in a 2vs2 to all but dig E-Frag.net’s grave. The game ended in the following round, 16-5.
IEM Katowice 2016Best of 1 
E-frag.net
Matchpage 5 16 3rd March 2016 
Astralis 5Mirage 16
| E-frag.net | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viktor 'v1c7oR' Dyankovv1c7oR | 18 - 17 | +1 | 91.2 | 1.21 |
| Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinovbubble | 17 - 17 | 0 | 81.5 | 0.97 |
| Nikolay 'pNshr' PauninpNshr | 7 - 17 | -10 | 61.4 | 0.66 |
| Nikolay 'nkl' Krastevnkl | 9 - 19 | -10 | 68.8 | 0.65 |
| Emiliyan 'spyleadeR' DimitrovspyleadeR | 6 - 19 | -13 | 58.8 | 0.48 |
| Astralis | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh | 26 - 9 | +17 | 125.7 | 1.98 |
| Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice | 20 - 11 | +9 | 89.5 | 1.39 |
| René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb | 14 - 9 | +5 | 68.9 | 1.26 |
| Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x | 16 - 12 | +4 | 79.0 | 1.24 |
| Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan | 13 - 16 | -3 | 74.5 | 1.03 |
The map for EnVyUs vs FaZe was de_train, and nV desperately needed a win as they lost their first two matches of the day against Astralis and Virtus.pro, while FaZe were off to a flying start with two wins.
The first pistol round went to EnVyUs on the CT side, following it up with wins against FaZe’s ecos. EnVyUs then followed it up with a win on the first buy round and the following eco to get themselves a 5-0 cushion in the early game.
Håvard "rain" Nygaard and Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad were finally able to breach the B site on the seventh round, following it up with one more frag each to put the European combine on the board for the first time. Ricardo "fox" Pacheco and Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer found themselves on a 1vs1 AWP duel in an after plant situation on A which the Portuguese player won to keep the momentum going and force the French side into a small pistol buy.
With 6-3 on the board, Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey got four straight kills in the B site to stop FaZe’s streak and give his team the economic advantage once again. Down 9-3, FaZe were able to take two of the last three round to give themselves an option at coming back in the second half given they could win the pistol round.
rain was the driving force for FaZe, but alas not enough
FaZe managed to win the pistol round and the first eco. EnVyUs bought pistols and armor and executed with speed on A, planting the bomb and getting three frags, but not enough to win the round. Mikail "Maikelele" Bill got a mid round double kill, running through fire on the first buy round to get his team the tally and put his team within one, 10-9, with the French team going into the 20th round in an eco.
Happy held strong against Maikelele and rain in a 1vs2 after plant on B, and was able to kill the former and keep the latter at bay long enough for the bomb to explode, giving his team the economic advantage and keeping the lead in the game.
After winning the eco, though, EnVyUs hit a wall on A, and FaZe stopped the French team cold, keeping themselves in the game and forcing a pistol and armor buy from nV. With the game all tied up at 12 even, EnVyUs slowed the tempo of the game, with the players spread out along the map trying to find information or picks before executing on A and taking the round with a triple by Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt and a double by Happy.
A double entry by kioShiMa on A in the following round gave EnVyUs an opening wide enough for the team to completely overrun FaZe and bag the round, 14-12, forcing the European squad to play for the tie as they lost the following full eco. EnVyUs would take the momentum they had gathered into the final round and close the map 16-12, keeping their tournament run alive.
IEM Katowice 2016Best of 1 
Envy
Matchpage 16 12 3rd March 2016 
FaZe 16Train 12
| Envy | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK- | 22 - 16 | +6 | 81.6 | 1.26 |
| Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa | 21 - 19 | +2 | 84.2 | 1.26 |
| Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy | 22 - 17 | +5 | 77.7 | 1.22 |
| Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS | 18 - 15 | +3 | 60.5 | 1.13 |
| Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX | 20 - 19 | +1 | 82.9 | 1.04 |
| FaZe | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain | 27 - 20 | +7 | 106.5 | 1.42 |
 Ricardo 'fox' Pachecofox | 16 - 19 | -3 | 63.1 | 0.89 |
| Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem | 16 - 23 | -7 | 71.0 | 0.89 |
 Mikail 'Maikelele' BillMaikelele | 13 - 22 | -9 | 68.4 | 0.81 |
| Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy | 14 - 20 | -6 | 38.5 | 0.67 |
| # | Team | W | L | Diff | Points |
| 1. | Astralis | 3 | 0 | +26 | 9 |
| 2. | FaZe | 2 | 1 | +10 | 6 |
| 3. |  Tempo Storm | 1 | 1 | - | 3 |
| 4. |  Virtus.pro | 1 | 1 | -8 | 3 |
| 5. | EnVyUs | 1 | 2 | -3 | 3 |
| 6. | E-frag.net | 0 | 3 | -25 | 0 |
Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt 
Age: 21 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 875 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Mikail 'Maikelele' Bill 
Age: 24 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 417 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.63 Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer 
Age: 24 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 734 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.65 Ricardo 'fox' Pacheco 
Age: 29 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 387 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen 
Age: 22 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 717 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.65 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard 
Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 303 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.71 Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad 
Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 240 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.71 Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth 
Age: 20 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 778 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.62 Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey 
Age: 21 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 674 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.63 Nikolay 'nkl' Krastev 
Age: 22 Team: E-frag.net Rating 1.0: 0.90 Maps played: 392 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.67