Vitality and Ninjas in Pyjamas have moved into the 2-1 pool in IEM Katowice's New Legends Stage after defeating Cloud9 and HellRaisers, respectively.

The Mirage match between Vitality, who were playing this map for the third consecutive time in this stage, and Cloud9 kicked off with Jordan "⁠Zellsis⁠" Montemurro finding a triple-kill to stop a retake from the defense. After building up their economy, the Frenchmen quickly levelled the score at 3-3.

Cloud9 still won two of the next four, but they simply could not capitalize on their successful rounds, with Vitality bagging a 9-6 half-time lead fairly easily.

Vitality are one victory away from qualifying for the next stage

Just like in the first half, Zellsis came up huge in the pistol round, this time around with a quad-kill, setting his team up for a three-round streak. The 20-year-old then could not stop a B execution with just pistols, however, and Vitality kept breaking through the defense after that, bringing the scoreline to 13-9.

Cloud9 did not back down and strung four rounds together to restore parity in the match. Vitality seemed set to take the lead in the following round with nothing but pistols, but Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist pulled off a 1v4 post-plant clutch. Still, Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt's men won the next round, leaving Cloud9 cash-strapped and ultimately unable to keep the French side from running away with the match.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 1 VitalityMatchpage 16 14 21st February 2019 Cloud9 16Mirage 14

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	26 - 21	+5	97.4	1.43
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	24 - 22	+2	96.7	1.13
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinALEX	22 - 22	0	70.9	1.00
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	17 - 17	0	56.8	0.90
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	17 - 21	-4	62.6	0.86

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	27 - 24	+3	105.7	1.37
Jordan 'Zellsis' MontemurroZellsis	24 - 20	+4	75.6	1.14
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	20 - 20	0	63.0	1.01
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	17 - 19	-2	59.4	0.94
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	15 - 23	-8	67.4	0.79

Starting out as Counter-Terrorists on Overpass, Ninjas in Pyjamas picked up the pistol round on the back of a clean quad-kill from Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner, with the Swedes following that up with the subsequent anti-ecos and the first gun round to go up 4-0. Even though HellRaisers then won a near-flawless round, they were immediately countered by Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman's troops.

It was only in the 13th round that HellRaisers managed to get their second round on the board thanks to a successful 1v2 from Bence "⁠DeadFox⁠" Böröcz, but Ninjas in Pyjamas would not let them win any more rounds until half-time.

NiP are one win away from the playoffs

Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker opened up the action in the second half with a quad-kill, inspiring HellRaisers to make a slight comeback, but that was simply too little, too late, as Ninjas in Pyjamas responded on a shoddy buy before putting together a string of rounds to wrap things up.

IEM Katowice 2019Best of 1 Ninjas in PyjamasMatchpage 16 5 21st February 2019 HellRaisers 16Overpass 5

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	25 - 8	+17	100.4	1.78
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	22 - 12	+10	102.6	1.53
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	16 - 12	+4	92.6	1.29
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	13 - 11	+2	80.1	1.16
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	10 - 7	+3	53.3	1.05

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Özgür 'woxic' Ekerwoxic	17 - 17	0	91.0	1.05
Bence 'DeadFox' BöröczDeadFox	15 - 17	-2	87.6	1.04
Issa 'ISSAA' MuradISSAA	8 - 17	-9	46.4	0.54
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	5 - 18	-13	38.5	0.42
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	4 - 17	-13	38.2	0.37

The New Legends stage 2W - 0L Astralis Natus Vincere Liquid Renegades 2W - 1L Ninjas in Pyjamas Vitality AVANGAR MIBR 1W - 2L FaZe Cloud9 G2 HellRaisers 0W - 2L NRG ENCE BIG Complexity Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Age: 24 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1476 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 412 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.68 Cloud9 #7 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistFabien 'kioShiMa' FieyWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaJordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro Ninjas in Pyjamas #6 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner Dennis 'dennis' Edman Age: 28 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 930 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 HellRaisers #21 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowAbay 'HObbit' KhassenovÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad Vitality #12 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Bence 'DeadFox' Böröcz Age: 24 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 802 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.66 Özgür 'woxic' Eker Age: 20 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 596 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner Age: 21 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 731 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Age: 25 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1441 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65