Cover Image Courtesy: Intel Extreme Masters
The second day of IEM Chicago 2019 continued on with the group stage as MIBR, Vitality and ENCE made their way onto the playoffs after a day full of some insane Counter-Strike action.
Image Credit: Liquipedia
MIBR Takedown G2
After Liquid was able to secure themselves a spot in the playoffs, most of us thought that G2 would be the second team to go through but in an exciting turn of events, it was the Brazilian giants, MIBR who walked away with the victory.
MIBR after going down to G2 in the opening bout survived the day after beating Envy ‘2-1’ in the elimination match. One best-of-three away from reaching the playoffs, they were once again facing G2 in the decider match.
The form that G2 was in made everyone side with the fact that they would be the ones going through but MIBR hit them hard on Inferno taking an early lead and although G2 were able to find their way back after equalising the score on Dust 2, it was MIBR that sealed the deal on Train.
They dominated G2 on the decider map and found victory by a score of ‘16-6’ to take the map and the series. Everyone from MIBR had a great day except for their coach Wilton ‘zews’ Prado who is standing-in for Coldzera, in spite of him having a rough day both LUCAS1 and FalleN did a fine job to take them through.
Image Credit: HLTV
ENCE & Vitality Through To The Playoffs
ENCE had a great time during the group stage as they took down both Renegades and Heroic to make it through to the playoffs. The Finns didn’t drop a single map squaring it up ‘4-0’ and finishing on top of their group.
Though ENCE were not up against the best teams at the moment they did a fine job and played even better than Liquid in the group stage, as the Americans had dropped one map against G2.
Vitality, on the other hand, had a rough time through the group stage. After losing to Heroic in their opening bout, the French squad had a pretty easy time against Renegades before once against locking horns with Heroic.
It was the best three-game series yet in the group stage with both Vitality and Heroic winning a map each before facing each other in the decider on Overpass. Vitality had a comfortable ride through the last map but the overall journey for them was quite draining, with Heroic being a big thorn in their way.
Catching up with @Vitality_ALEX as @TeamVitality qualify for the #IEM Chicago semifinals! pic.twitter.com/cXbFPy6rlN
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) July 20, 2019
Free Chipotle For EliGE
Also, at the end of the group stage, Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski was elected as the MVP of the IEM Chicago 2019's group stage for his incredible performance against both Envy and G2 Esports. He is currently holding an overall HLTV rating of 1.31 across 5 maps and has a K-D difference of +23, the old-timer has once again stood up for his side and won himself one year's free supply of Chipotle!
With this, the playoffs are all set for Chicago. The semifinals will be played out today as Liquid goes up against Vitality, will the French squad take the revenge for Cologne will be exciting to witness, also MIBR might just have another upset for all of us going up against ENCE.
