Mousesports has secured the final spot in IEM Katowice 2021’s group stage after beating Complexity in a close, three-map encounter. With mousesports securing the last spot, Complexity will be watching the rest of the event from their couch.
Mousesports hit the ground running on the first map, Dust II. Overcoming the initial frustration of losing the pistol round, the European squad quickly advanced to an 8-4 lead. Spurred forward by an outstanding performance from David “frozen” Čerňanský, they seemed on track to a win on their opponent’s map pick. Complexity wasn’t going to just accept defeat, though. Justin “jks” Savage started to show glimpses of the star he was on 100 Thieves and Valentin “poizon” Vasilev proved that his recent surgery did not deteriorate his explosive AWPing style.
Complexity won the final three rounds of the half and followed that up by winning the pistol round, but they didn’t stop there. The international squad went on a 12 round winning streak to close out the first map with a comeback win.
Mousesports was clearly shaken by that momentum swing and carried that into the second map. Complexity smelled blood and ran away with the first half. A 9-1 lead suggested that Complexity was set to seal the deal, but Mousesports steeled itself towards the end of the half to narrow Complexity’s lead. Complexity sprinted towards map and series point and advanced to match point quickly, but Mousesports clawed its way back and tied the game 15-15. In the ensuing overtime, Robin “ropz” Kool’s antics were enough to secure his team the victory and complete Mousesports’ comeback.
In the last map of the day, Mousesports finally managed to hold onto its momentum for an entire map. The team played surprisingly strong as terrorists and kept their form going after the halftime break. With another strong performance from ropz, Mousesports won the map and series in a decisive 16-3 fashion to seal the 2-1 series victory.
With Mousesports getting the final ticket to IEM Katowice, we now know all the teams playing in the event. The 16 teams are split into two groups, and the opening matches for each were revealed.
Group A matches
Group B matches
The action kicks off on February 18 with Gambit vs. Evil Geniuses and G2 vs. Team Spirit. Those matches will be followed by the other matches from group A.
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