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Cloud9 live to fight another day in Katowice after defeating FURIA 2-1 in the fourth round of the New Challengers Stage.

The all-Americas showdown began on Cloud9's map pick, Mirage, which FURIA had played three times before this tournament. The gamble quickly backfired as the North American side struggled to break through the water-tight Brazilian defence and kept losing all aim duels, getting on the board for the first time only nine rounds into the game thanks to a trio of kills by Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta.

FURIA were completely unfazed by that round, though, and remained as focused as before. They won the remaining rounds of the half and rubbed salt into Cloud9's wounds by taking the following pistol round with a fast B execute. With their economy completely destroyed, the North American side were unable to prevent defeat, a nightmare performance, both collectively and individually, with none of their players ending the game with double digits.

The Brazilians were flying high after that convincing victory, but they were brought back to reality on Inferno. It was like watching a repeat of the first game, but with Cloud9 in control - just another sign of how frustrating the AUG-oriented meta has become. The first half ended with another lopsided 14-1 scoreline, with autimatic sitting at the top of the scoreboard with 23 frags, one more than FURIA's players combined.

Cloud9 came back from a 1-16 beating on the first map to win the series

After switching to the Terrorist side, Cloud9 piled more misery on their opponents with a successful apartments rush before putting the game to bed to equalise this strange series at 1-1.

It all came down to Cache, which began with a convincing CT pistol from Cloud9. After buying up in the third round, FURIA put together a string of rounds, eventually securing the lead off the back of a 1v3 clutch by Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato.

FURIA rode that momentum to a 6-2 lead before Cloud9 put their foot down to halt the Brazilians' momentum. The North Americans were, however, unable to reclaim the lead as KSCERATO pulled off another clutch, this time in a 1v2 situation. They still battled back, bringing the deficit to 7-8 - a moralising scoreline considering how T-sided the map had been at this event.

Cloud9 got off to a flying start as Terrorists, winning six rounds straight to put FURIA under an immense amount of pressure. The Brazilians still attempted a response, but C9 quickly regained control and locked down the map at 16-10 after reaching match point with a massive 1v3 clutch by Jordan "⁠Zellsis⁠" Montemurro.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 3 Cloud9Matchpage 2 1 16th February 2019 FURIA 1Mirage 16 16Inferno 1 16Cache 10

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	50 - 39	+11	89.5	1.25
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	52 - 39	+13	89.0	1.21
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	41 - 40	+1	84.1	1.10
Jordan 'Zellsis' MontemurroZellsis	39 - 37	+2	79.5	1.07
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	29 - 37	-8	50.6	0.82

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	42 - 44	-2	88.2	1.09
Vinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoVINI	46 - 43	+3	84.4	1.07
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	38 - 45	-7	65.0	0.90
Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda JuniorableJ	37 - 44	-7	64.5	0.87
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	29 - 36	-7	55.6	0.83

The New Challengers stage 3W - 0L NRG Renegades 3W - 1L Vitality AVANGAR ENCE 2W - 2L TYLOO Winstrike Ninjas in Pyjamas ViCi G2 Cloud9 1W - 3L FURIA fnatic Vega Squadron 0W - 3L Spirit Grayhound Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 407 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.68 FURIA #23 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior Cloud9 #8 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistFabien 'kioShiMa' FieyWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTimothy 'autimatic' TaJordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Age: 19 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.20 Maps played: 233 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.57 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 885 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67