G2 or FaZe will come out of the best-of-five grand final at the Spodek Arena with the first big trophy of 2022.
22:11 FaZe win IEM Katowice!
Dust2 came all the way down to the thirtieth round with both teams tied in round 28 and FaZe taking match point with a solid B defense. Up against two AKs, three Desert Eagles, and scarce utilities, FaZe put the final nail in the coffin to sweep G2 3-0 and become IEM Katowice champions.
The final IEM Katowice standings are:
1.
FaZe - $400,000
2.
3-4.HEROIC - $80,000
3-4.Natus Vincere - $80,000
5-6.
5-6.Virtus.pro - $40,000
7-8.
7-8.Ninjas in Pyjamas - $24,000
9-12.FURIA - $16,000
9-12.
9-12.
9-12.Vitality - $16,000
13-16.
13-16.Liquid - $10,000
13-16.
13-16.
22:04 G2 and FaZe tied up after 26 rounds
A strong five round streak put FaZe on the path to victory as they went up 13-10, but G2 came back to life on the attack in time to bring things back to a tie, 13-13, going into the late stages of Dust2.
21:50 G2 hit double digits on attack
Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač and Audric "JACKZ" Jug cleared the CTs in the second pistol round of Dust2, propelling G2 to take the lead in the early stages of the second half, hitting double digits before FaZe tallied their first round on the defense to make it 9-10.
21:40 FaZe take slight lead at half on Dust2
With Robin "ropz" Kool, Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Helvijs "broky" Saukants leading the way with over 80 ADR each, FaZe managed to take a slight lead at the half, going into the CT side ahead by a single round.
21:34 G2 bring it back even after 12 rounds
G2 brought their slow start around with Nikola "NiKo" Kovač starting to show up bigger than in the previous maps, downing over a player per round in the first 12 with 108 ADR to get his team even with FaZe, 6-6.
21:26 FaZe remain ahead early on
G2 struck after going down 0-3 to get within one with rifles in play, but were denied the tie as FaZe, with Desert Eagles and a Scout, pushed back to stay ahead, increasing their lead to 6-2 before Finn "karrigan" Andersen called a timeout.
21:14 The third map, Dust2, is underway
FaZe and G2 are back in the server and on Dust2, where Justin "jks" Savage took down three in the first pistol round on a B hit that he and his team managed to win to take a 1-0 lead.
20:54 FaZe take map two, Mirage, after 58 rounds of play
jks won a 1vs2 afterplant situation, killing Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov and Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen on the B site before defusing the bomb to get Mirage in the bag for FaZe, dealing another brutal blow to G2 after the comeback on Inferno. karrigan and company will now go into their second map pick, Dust2, to try and sweep G2.
20:17 Overtime continues on Mirage
Two rounds of overtime have not been enough as G2 and FaZe are mired in an exciting back-and-forth that has seen individual plays by the likes of jks, huNter- or Twistzz put fans on the edge of their seat at the Spodek.
19:48 Mirage goes to overtime!
G2 pulled off a comeback of their own on Mirage, going from a 10-15 deficit to bring it back even by the thirtieth round in a reverse situation of their defeat on Inferno. Topping the board for his squad in regulation was huNter-, with 29 kills and 119 ADR.
19:41 jks' heroics get FaZe on map point
NiKo missed two AWP shots while having ropz in his sights before jks got two crucial frags in a 2vs3 to turn the round around and get FaZe on match point, 15-10, prompting commentator Jason "moses" O'Toole to remind viewers that the Australian stand-in deserves to be bought out of Complexity after his showing in Katowice.
19:24 G2 win second pistol round on Mirage, Twistzz strikes back
Doubles by JACKZ and m0NESY in the second pistol round put G2 right back in the mix as they made it 6-11, but a 1vs2 clutch by Twistzz in the third round of the half broke the CTs' precarious economy, giving FaZe a chance at darting ahead on the scoreboard.
19:14 G2 fans reach for copium as FaZe leads at the half
FaZe reached double digits on the Mirage CT side as all players showed up, going up 11-4 before the switch — the same situation G2 was on before choking on Inferno.
19:00 NiKo is struggling to find impact early on
FaZe are dominating the early stages of Mirage, taking a 7-1 lead and denying G2's Bosnian star NiKo a single frag in the process, with huNter- downing three CTs and m0NESY getting a double in their only round won.
18:50 FaZe strike first on Mirage
Starting G2's map pick on the defending side, FaZe have taken the lead first on Mirage with a three-kill pistol round by Twistzz to keep momentum going, following it up to 3-0 before the first full buy round.
18:25 FaZe converted the comeback in overtime to take a 1-0 lead in the series
Everything pointed towards G2 winning Inferno out when they took a 15-7 lead early on the attacking side of Inferno, but FaZe mounted an incredible comeback by winning 12 straight rounds during regulation and added to it a 4-0 in overtime to secure their map pick of Inferno. Up next is G2's first pick, Mirage.
18:13 FaZe mount comeback to take Inferno to overtime
The CTs were put up against match-point early on in the half, falling 7-15 as G2 were bound for an early victory in the first map of the grand final, but Aleksib and company then choked on the attack, losing eight rounds in a row concluding in a stellar ace by ropz to push the map to overtime.
17:51 G2 start to run away with rifles in play
G2's healthy economy from early bomb plants ended up with the Berlin-based organization's team running towards victory, going up 13-7 after their first two rifle rounds.
17:45 FaZe win second pistol round to keep hope alive
A creative pistol round by FaZe, who won map control early in apartments, ultimately worked out in the favor of karrigan and his men as they were able to take out NiKo in a 3vs1 afterplant situation on B to win the round.
17:38 G2 are up 11-4 at the switch
FaZe were able to make mends late in the half, winning two of the last three rounds, but ropz and company will have an uphill battle after a slow start on the attack.
17:29 G2 hit double digits before the half
G2's CT side on Inferno is dominating, with Aleksib and his men going up 10-2 in a round in which m0NESY took out three players in mid with his AWP.
17:20 G2 in control early on the CT side of Inferno
G2 solidified their lead and economy early on in the CT side, hitting right back with a three-man stack to stop a B hit before following it up twice, forcing FaZe to call the first timeout of the series.
17:13 FaZe tally first round
The first rifle round for FaZe went the way of karrigan and company as a successful hit on the A site got them on the board for the first time in the match.
17:10 G2 win clean pistol round to kick things off
G2 took out all five attackers in the first round of Inferno to get the IEM Katowice grand final underway, following it twice against pistols to start 3-0 on the CT side.
16:55 The veto is out!
FaZe removed Vertigo and G2 took out Overpass, making Inferno, Mirage, Dust, Ancient and Nuke the maps picked for the best-of-five grand final. The full veto is the following:
1. FaZe removed Vertigo
2. G2 removed Overpass
3. FaZe picked Inferno
4. G2 picked Mirage
5. FaZe picked Dust2
6. G2 picked Ancient
7. Nuke was left over
16:50 One of FaZe or G2 will be crowned IEM Katowice champions today
Two organizations that have made the IEM Katowice grand final in the past, G2 in 2020 and FaZe in 2018, albeit with very different rosters —current G2 star player NiKo played the 2018 final with FaZe—, will fight to emerge victorious at the Spodek Arena for the first time at 17:00 .
The last time these teams met was at the PGL Major, where the previous iteration of the rosters that will clash tonight played a best-of-one on Mirage that went the way of JACKZ and company. Most notably, however, is that anytime the cores of these teams met in 2021, it was G2 who came out on top, with an overall 9-3 map record in their favor.
G2 come into this grand final in their first full fledged tournament with a new roster, having only played the BLAST Premier Group Stage before, featuring Finnish in-game leader Aleksib and young AWPer m0NESY, who has been proving his worth from day one as he currently holds a 1.16 rating at the event in Poland.
Coach Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam, also a novelty from 2021, will have to watch from the sidelines as he is with a Covid-19 infection, and substitute François "amanek" Delaunay will stand behind the team on stage.
Read more XTQZZZ: "It wasn't possible to have nexa, huNter, Aleksi, and NiKo — too many voices" The prime MVP candidate on G2’s side is none other than NiKo, however, as the Bosnian star sits second in the overall leaderboard with a 1.33 rating, having come down in the past two matches from 1.50 before the playoffs began as huNter- and m0NESY took center stage in the quarter-final and semi-final victories over Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere.
In the FaZe camp it’s broky who has been a stalwart for the team, averaging a 1.36 rating in the team’s 15 maps played in Poland. The 21-year-old has stepped up at a crucial time as FaZe had to play the play-in and first group stage match without star signing ropz and then the playoffs without Håvard "rain" Nygaard, both due to Covid-19 infections, with jks stepping up to the plate for the international squad as a stand-in.
The teams’ lineups going into the grand final are:
Nikola "NiKo" Kovač
Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen
Helvijs "broky" Saukants
Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken
Robin "ropz" Kool
Justin "jks" Savage (stand-in)
OG #10 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså
Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićNikolaj 'niko' Kristensen
Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan 
FaZe #9 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Håvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Robert 'RobbaN' Dahlström 
Age: 37 Team: FaZeC 
Ninjas in Pyjamas #6 Patrick 'es3tag' HansenFredrik 'REZ' SternerHampus 'hampus' PoserNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraLove 'phzy' Smidebrant 
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač 
Age: 26 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1408 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 Helvijs 'broky' Saukants 
Age: 21 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 622 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.61 
Justin 'jks' Savage 
Age: 26 Team: ComplexityB Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1181 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 
Vitality #3 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier François 'amanek' Delaunay 
Age: 28 Team: G2B Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1016 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.63 
HEROIC #8 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen 
Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 980 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.65 
ENCE #18 Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer
Pavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaOlek 'hades' MiskiewiczLotan 'Spinx' Giladi G2 #5 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken 
Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 1305 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.62 
Liquid #48 Richard 'shox' PapillonNick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' Ohm Audric 'JACKZ' Jug 
Age: 29 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1029 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.68 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač 
Age: 25 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1566 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67 Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov 
Age: 16 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.21 Maps played: 203 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 
FURIA #17 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu 
Astralis #7 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeAsger 'Farlig' JensenBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer 
Natus Vincere #1 
Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy Robin 'ropz' Kool 
Age: 22 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1051 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 
Virtus.pro #4 
Timur 'buster' TulepovEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Finn 'karrigan' Andersen 
Age: 31 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 1933 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.69 Jason 'moses' O'Toole 
Age: 35 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 18 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.71 
Gambit #2 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Håvard 'rain' Nygaard 
Age: 27 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1533 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Complexity #22 
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryMichael 'Grim' WincePaytyn 'junior' JohnsonJustin 'FaNg' Coakley 
MOUZ #19 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittChristopher 'dexter' Nong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras 
fnatic #14 Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinWilliam 'mezii' Merriman
Iulian 'regali' Harjău Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam 
Age: 33 Team: G2C 
Copenhagen Flames #15 Rasmus 'HooXi' NielsenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenJakob 'jabbi' NygaardRasmus 'Zyphon' Nordfoss
