fnatic have defeated Grayhound 2-0 at IEM Katowice's New Challengers Stage to avoid elimination (16-9 on Inferno and 16-11 on Overpass).

Grayhound and fnatic squared off in a best-of-three series with their tournament lives on the line. Grayhound kicked off Inferno by winning the first two rounds on the CT-side but fnatic responded in the first weapon round after Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin got a double kill. Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström picked up a triple kill in a 2vs3 in the fourth round to make it 2-2.

Xizt's impact in late-round situations persisted as the Swede picked up double kills in a 2vs2 and a 1vs2 in consecutive rounds (5-2). The first half ended 13-2 in favor of fnatic who went on an incredible run on the T-side after losing the first two rounds.

fnatic remained alive

Ollie "⁠DickStacy⁠" Tierney stopped fnatic's streak with a 1vs1 victory in the second pistol and Grayhound picked up two more rounds to trail 13-5. Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson got an AUG triple kill to give fnatic their 14th round but Grayhound hit back with four round wins (14-9).

fnatic earned six map points thanks to an AWP triple kill by twist in the 24th round. The Swedish team finished it off swiftly, coming out on top of a 2vs2 post-plant situation in the following round thanks to twist's double kill (16-9).

Grayhound had a disappointing campaign in Poland

The series continued on Overpass where the T-sided Grayhound secured the pistol round with DickStacy's triple kill. fnatic successfully stopped Grayhound's A-site push in the third round to get on the scoreboard. Two rounds later, DickStacy and Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong found opening kills to reclaim the lead (3-2).

Erdenetsogt "⁠erkaSt⁠" Gantulga and Euan "⁠sterling⁠" Moore won a 2vs5, extending their lead to 4-2. fnatic won seven of the last eight rounds in the first half to finish it 9-6 ahead. twist opened up the second pistol round with three kills and Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell closed it out with a double in a 2vs2, making it 10-6.

Grayhound's force buy in the second round of the half was a success but the Australian side were unable to tie the game as they lost a 5vs3 in the 20th round (11-9). fnatic managed to win the map 16-10 to take the 2-0 series victory, eliminating Grayhound.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 3 fnaticMatchpage 2 0 14th February 2019 Grayhound 16Inferno 9 16Overpass 11

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	43 - 27	+16	92.5	1.39
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	47 - 34	+13	94.3	1.38
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	38 - 27	+11	80.1	1.22
Simon 'twist' Eliassontwist	38 - 35	+3	74.0	1.13
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	28 - 34	-6	66.5	0.91

Grayhound	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter	37 - 36	+1	72.0	1.02
Euan 'sterling' Mooresterling	37 - 38	-1	73.8	1.00
Ollie 'DickStacy' TierneyDickStacy	33 - 38	-5	72.5	0.92
Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaerkaSt	28 - 42	-14	62.8	0.76
Liam 'malta' Schembrimalta	22 - 40	-18	56.2	0.66

The New Challengers stage 2W - 0L TYLOO NRG ENCE Renegades 2W - 1L Vitality Winstrike ViCi AVANGAR 1W - 2L fnatic Ninjas in Pyjamas G2 Vega Squadron Cloud9 0W - 2L Spirit FURIA 0W - 3L Grayhound Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin Age: 16 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 409 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Simon 'twist' Eliasson Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1084 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Richard 'Xizt' Landström Age: 27 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1443 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.65 Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' Gantulga Age: 23 Team: Grayhound Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 532 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.66 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 23 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1434 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Grayhound #22 Christopher 'dexter' NongErdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaLiam 'malta' SchembriEuan 'sterling' MooreOllie 'DickStacy' Tierney fnatic #6 Richard 'Xizt' LandströmJesper 'JW' WecksellSimon 'twist' EliassonFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin Christopher 'dexter' Nong Age: 24 Team: Grayhound Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 467 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.66 Ollie 'DickStacy' Tierney Age: 21 Team: Grayhound Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 447 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Euan 'sterling' Moore Age: 20 Team: Grayhound Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 330 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.60