The IEM Katowice playoffs were set up perfectly: two quarters with two storylines and another pair of young and talented teams waiting on the other side. So how’d we get three stomps and a heartbreak?

The Hall of Heroes had its opening played by its last two victors, G2 and FaZe.

We thought this would be an absolute barn burner, but instead, G2 just got burned. FaZe cleared the G2 hurdle with absolute ease going 13-9 and 13-6 across two maps. NiKo looked like he lacked confidence, which is far from what you want to see from the 2nd best player in the world.

m0NESY was the only G2 player who left the game with dignity, even if HooXi’s calling wasn’t poor. Although he did average his customary 0.67 rating.

Luckily, the other quarter delivered some heat, both in the storyline and the game. Falcons vs ENCE or dycha on home soil standing off with the traitors that jumped ship.

At first we thought this would be a walkover like the other match as Falcons cruised on Mirage to an easy win. But Overpass was a whole other story. ENCE managed to dominate on the T-side, which is harder than finding hay in a needle stack. Yes, we intended that, think about it. That dominance was converted to the map win, and so we went to Nuke.

The decider was a real toss-up. Both teams managed to win more T rounds than CT, but it wasn’t enough. Falcons crushed dycha and the rest of ENCE’s dream of winning Katowice on home soil.

Too bad it was for nothing.

Team Spirit absolutely wiped the floor with Falcons in the first semi-final, with the team in green only mustering a total of 11 rounds over two maps. Donk did what he does best – deliver insane stats – while SunPayus was the only player who managed to put up a fight. Unfortunately for the crowd in the Spodek Arena, this wouldn’t even be the only blowout of the day.

FaZe did more or less the same to MOUZ in the second semi. ropz delivered the goods on Nuke and the rest of the FaZe followed suit, taking a dominant 3-13 win. Map two was a masterclass from rain, and despite MOUZ mounting a “comeback”, the dominant 2-10 start to the map was enough for FaZe to close 11-13.

Katowice now had its finalists: the new challengers and the old kings.