IEM Katowice 2023: Heroic qualify playoffs with a victory over OG

Heroic thrashed German team OG 2-0 in the upper-bracket semifinals to qualify for the playoffs of the IEM Katowice 2023.

Heroic overcame OG 2-0 to advance to the Spodek Arena in Group B’s upper bracket finals. The Danish team dominated OG’s selected map, Inferno, winning it 16-10, then won their own choice, Mirage, 16-12, to secure their place in the IEM Katowice playoffs.

The team will face Vitality on Tuesday in the upper bracket championship to determine their playoff seed. If they prevail, they will begin their playoff run in the semifinals; if they lose, they will begin in the quarterfinals.

Heroic vs OG Match Summary

Vertigo

The Danish team got off to a strong start in the best-of-three series, picking up an 8-4 lead early on to push OG on the defense. Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller stepped up for Heroic, not only with his brilliant decision-making and leadership skill but also with his fragging prowess.

Abdul “degster” Gasanov and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan grabbed key rounds for the German team, enabling OG to launch an all-out counterattack to reduce the deficit to 7-8 at the half.

Despite all their efforts, they failed to boost their team to victory as the Danish team put all the defense in place efficiently to quickly stopped the bleeding and steal OG’s momentum. CadiaN rescued his team by pulling off 24 kills with a high HLTV rating of 1.57 to help Heroic secure a 16-10 victory on Inferno.

Mirage

Heroic picked Mirage to settle the dispute but OG spoiled their plans with a solid showing in the first half. The German squad handily won four consecutive rounds thanks to fragger Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar, who appeared to be in excellent form. OG expanded their lead to 9-6 before the game reached halftime, displaying every indication that they would mount a comeback and force a decider.

However, CadiaN and man quickly rebounded with an all-out counterattack to cut the deficit to 10-12. Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard and René “TeSeS” Madsen led the team’s onslaught, repeatedly breaching OG’s defense to tip the balance in Heroic’s favor. The Danish team won six consecutive rounds to win the map 16-12 and secure their spot in the playoffs, which will take place at the Spodek Arena, Katowice.

With this humiliating defeat, OG, on the other hand, got relegated to the lower bracket, where they must win the next two games to guarantee their place in the playoffs. They will face the Russian side Outsiders in the knockout match tomorrow.