Virtus.pro among those to start strong in group play at IEM Katowice

Virtus.pro and Eternal Fire completed sweeps on Saturday to set up a meeting in the Group A upper-bracket semifinals of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice event in Poland.

Both teams got through the upper-bracket quarterfinals with ease, with Virtus.pro topping G2 Esports 13-9 on Inferno and 16-14 on Mirage and Eternal Fire prevailing 13-7 on Inferno and 13-5 on Train against Team Falcons.

Kaisar "ICY" Faiznurov of Kazakhstan finished with 36 kills and a plus-12 kill-death ratio in Virtus.pro's victory, while Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dortkardes and Samet "jottAAA" Koklu, who both hail from Turkey, each went for 34 kills and 21 deaths to lead Eternal Fire.

Group play has 16 teams split into two double-elimination brackets, with all matches best-of-three. The two group-phase winners will advance directly to the playoff semifinals, the two group-phase runners-up will move to the quarterfinals as high seeds and the two third-place teams will make the quarterfinals as low seeds.

The playoff will be single elimination, with best-of-three matches for the quarterfinals and semifinals ahead of a best-of-five grand final on Feb. 9. The champion will earn $400,000.

In other Group A action Saturday, Team Vitality blanked 3DMAX 2-0 and FaZe Clan edged BIG 2-1.

Team Vitality earned wins on Inferno (19-16) and Nuke (13-9). FaZe Clan split the first two maps with BIG, then took Nuke 13-7.

Only two Group B matches were held on Saturday, and both were 2-0 sweeps in the upper-bracket quarterfinals. Natus Vincere got the best of FURIA Esports, while GamerLegion tackled MOUZ.

Group-stage action continues Sunday with six matches:

--Virtus.pro vs. Eternal Fire (Group A upper-bracket semifinals)

--Team Vitality vs. FaZe Clan (Group A upper-bracket semifinals)

--G2 Esports vs. Team Falcons (Group A lower-bracket quarterfinals)

--3DMAX vs. BIG (Group A lower-bracket quarterfinals)

--Team Spirit vs. Astralis (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinals)

--The MongolZ vs. Team Liquid (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinals)

Intel Extreme Masters Katowice prize pool:

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3-4. $80,000

5-6. $40,000

7-8. $24,000

9-12. $16,000

13-16. $10,000

17-20. $4,500 -- Wildcard, paiN Gaming, MIBR, HEROIC

21-24. $2,500 -- Complexity, FlyQuest, SAW, Imperial Female

--Field Level Media