Movistar Riders qualify for IEM Katowice Play

The team took down Endpoint to book their ticket to the Play-In stage of the Polish event.

Movistar Riders have completed the team list for the IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In stage, prevailing 2-0 over Endpoint in the grand final of ESL European Championship Winter. The team utilised Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield as a stand-in, with the British player being rumoured to be on the organisation's shortlist to replace Sebastian "⁠larsen⁠" Larsen.

Strong performances from Alejandro "⁠mopoz⁠" Fernández-Quejo Cano and Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet were key in Movistar Riders starting the grand final off on the right foot, with the Spanish duo helping drive home an 11-4 scoreline on the T side of Overpass before closing out the map in fast fashion in the second half, claiming a 16-10 victory.

Movistar Riders have claimed the final spot on offer at the Play-in stage

Endpoint's pick of Vertigo began in similar fashion as Movistar Riders held a dominant 10-2 lead on the defense, although Joey "⁠CRUC1AL⁠" Steusel and company managed to secure the final three rounds of the first half to close the gap to 10-5 by the break.

The map seemed set for a swift conclusion as Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes and smooya combined to extend Movistar Riders' lead to 13-5, but Endpoint ordered a stay of execution as they won eight rounds in a row to tie up the scoreline; however, a complete comeback was not to be as multi-kill rounds from the aforementioned pair ensured victory for the Madrid-based organisation, edging out a 16-13 victory to take the series.

ESL European Championship Winter 2020Best of 3 Movistar RidersMatchpage 2 0 19th January 2021 Endpoint 16Overpass 10 16Vertigo 13

Movistar Riders	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Canomopoz	50 - 39	+11	99.9	1.41
Owen 'smooya' Butterfieldsmooya	46 - 30	+16	77.7	1.25
Lucas 'steel' Lopessteel	40 - 32	+8	69.8	1.18
Alejandro 'alex' Masanetalex	36 - 36	0	76.5	1.13
Kristjan 'shokz' Jakobsonshokz	27 - 37	-10	57.4	0.84

Endpoint	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Joey 'CRUC1AL' SteuselCRUC1AL	38 - 37	+1	68.8	1.00
Thomas 'Thomas' UttingThomas	35 - 42	-7	78.9	0.98
Kia 'Surreal' ManSurreal	34 - 39	-5	66.9	0.95
Robin 'robiin' Sjögrenrobiin	34 - 39	-5	69.1	0.92
Max 'MiGHTYMAX' HeathMiGHTYMAX	33 - 42	-9	65.2	0.92

The IEM Katowice Play-In stage is set to run from February 16-17 in Poland and will offer eight spots in the main tournament. Both stages will be held as in-person competitions at an undisclosed location in Europe, provided that the coronavirus pandemic does not represent "a major barrier to the safety of our talent, players and staff", according to ESL.

The $1 million tournament would mark the first major international LAN since its predecessor in 2020, when the majority of tournaments moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The complete team list for the IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In looks as follows:

Complexity
fnatic
OG
Liquid
ex-Chaos
TYLOO
Gambit
Cloud9 MIBR
Renegades
BIG
MOUZ
Virtus.pro
Spirit
Illuminar
Movistar Riders Renegades #44 Simon 'Sico' WilliamsChristopher 'dexter' NongJoshua 'INS' PotterJordan 'Hatz' BajicLiam 'malta' Schembri MIBR #53 Ricardo 'boltz' PrassGustavo 'yel' KnittelMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesBruno 'shz' MartinelliDaniel 'danoco' Morgado MOUZ #10 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenChris 'chrisJ' de JongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýRobin 'ropz' KoolAurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano Age: 24 Team: Movistar Riders Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 787 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68 Movistar Riders #35 Lucas 'steel' LopesAlejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo CanoKristjan 'shokz' Jakobson Owen 'smooya' Butterfield Age: 21 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 574 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.64 Virtus.pro #11 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Spirit #19 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Liquid #8 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipMichael 'Grim' Wince BIG #4 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Endpoint #29 Robin 'robiin' SjögrenJoey 'CRUC1AL' SteuselMax 'MiGHTYMAX' HeathKia 'Surreal' ManShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Alejandro 'alex' Masanet Age: 25 Team: Movistar Riders Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 944 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 Illuminar Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'reatz' JańczakMikołaj 'mouz' KarolewskiTomasz 'phr' WójcikArek 'Vegi' Nawojski Cloud9 #21 Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinPatrick 'es3tag' HansenRicky 'floppy' KemeryWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Gambit #13 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Complexity #12 Justin 'jks' SavageWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeValentin 'poizon' VasilevBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Lucas 'steel' Lopes Age: 27 Team: Movistar Riders Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 1251 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.67 ex-Chaos #20 Edgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoErick 'Xeppaa' BachNathan 'leaf' Orf TYLOO #85 YuLun 'Summer' CaiYuanZhang 'Attacker' ShengHaoWen 'somebody' XuKelun 'SLOWLY' SunZhenghao 'DANK1NG' Lv Joey 'CRUC1AL' Steusel Age: 23 Team: Endpoint Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1087 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.66 fnatic #15 Jesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinJack 'Jackinho' Ström Mattsson Sebastian 'larsen' Larsen Age: 23 Team: Movistar RidersB Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 365 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 OG #6 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenIssa 'ISSAA' MuradMateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski