Two de_cache games closed out matches for four teams in Group B of IEM Katowice, with Astralis taking down Tempo Storm 16-12 and E-frag.net winning in double overtime against EnVyUs, 22-19.

The following two games had admittedly less at stake then the face-off between Virtus.pro and FaZe, as Envy and E-frag.net were both out of the tournament.

However, the game between Tempo Storm and Astralis had quite a bit going for it as the winner would top the Group and therefore move straight into the semifinals while avoiding playing the quarter-finals entirely.



karrigan helped his team secure top seed in Group B

Despite a dominant 13-2 CT-sided half on de_cache shepherded by Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen, Astralis suddenly found themselves facing against the indomitable will of a Brazilian resurgence as João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos and his teammates began to steadily pick up rounds on the second half.

With the score at 14-12 for the Danes, Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen helped his team win the match point with a crucial two kills in a midround moment. The following round saw Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth work together to secure five kills and give the Danish team the map at 16-12.

IEM Katowice 2016 Best of 1 Astralis Matchpage 16 12 Tempo Storm 16 Cache 12

Astralis K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan 25 - 17 +8 91.8 1.27 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh 17 - 18 -1 73.0 1.15 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x 21 - 19 +2 79.2 1.11 René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb 20 - 17 +3 81.6 1.05 Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice 14 - 20 -6 51.6 0.77 Tempo Storm K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 João 'felps' Vasconcellosfelps 24 - 19 +5 90.1 1.34 Ricardo 'boltz' Prassboltz 17 - 18 -1 79.4 1.08 Lucas 'LUCAS1' TelesLUCAS1 18 - 21 -3 79.3 0.97 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesHEN1 17 - 19 -2 60.0 0.92 Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesSHOOWTiME 14 - 20 -6 51.8 0.74

The second match had very little on the line as both E-frag.net and Envy were out of the tournament and was merely played for the $1,000 bonus that is awarded to each victory in the group stage.

The first half was the Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt show as the current member of nV leading the team was a big part in his squad's 10-5 CT defense against the Bulgarian side.



v1c7oR had a phenomenal game against nV

Viktor "⁠v1c7oR⁠" Dyankov helped get the ball rolling for E-frag.net with a pistolround ace and despite EnVyUs winning a crucial early second-half round to reset the Bulgarian team's economy and then powering ahead to a 15-8 scoreline, E-frag somehow brought the score to an overtime result.

In overtime, the two teams traded blows with both favouring their CT-sides and the match progressed towards 18-18, double overtime. In the second overtime, v1c7oR and Nikolay "⁠pNshr⁠" Paunin put in crucial plays to help give the Bulgarian team their first victory of the tournament, and complete Envy' humiliation.

IEM Katowice 2016 Best of 1 Envy Matchpage 19 22 E-frag.net 19 Cache 22

E-frag.net K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Viktor 'v1c7oR' Dyankovv1c7oR 38 - 24 +14 95.8 1.40 Emiliyan 'spyleadeR' DimitrovspyleadeR 27 - 31 -4 81.8 1.07 Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinovbubble 25 - 27 -2 75.6 0.95 Nikolay 'nkl' Krastevnkl 28 - 33 -5 59.8 0.87 Nikolay 'pNshr' PauninpNshr 22 - 28 -6 59.1 0.84 Envy K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK- 38 - 31 +7 94.9 1.27 Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS 29 - 26 +3 76.5 1.11 Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX 28 - 29 -1 79.7 1.07 Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy 30 - 27 +3 79.6 1.02 Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa 18 - 28 -10 61.4 0.83

Group B standings:

# Team W L Diff Points 1. Astralis 5 0 +41 15 2. Tempo Storm

3 2 +12 9 3. Virtus.pro

3 2 -5 9 4. FaZe FaZe 2 3 -4 6 5. E-frag.net E-frag.net 1 4 -29 3 6. EnVyUs EnVyUs 1 4 -15 3

As a result, Astralis have advanced directly into the IEM Katowice semifinals while Tempo Storm and Virtus.pro will be playing quarter-final matches come tomorrow.

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter