Business almost as usual on the first day of IEM Katowice

Most things went as you would have expected in the first day of the IEM Katowice Counter-Strike group stage. But there were a few surprises.

The first day of IEM Katowice went pretty much as everyone expected. But only pretty much, as Fnatic had to settle for second place while Luminosity won the group and Na'Vi finished third.

Luminosity Gaming locked up their first place finish after four games, as they defeated Na'Vi, MongolZ, Mousesports and group favourites Fnatic. The latter happened in a closely fought match on Inferno, a map where Fnatic have been very strong historically, but the Brazilians had the Swedes figured this time. Mousesports came the closest to taking a game off the group winners but ended up throwing away a 14-8 lead, letting Luminosity fight their way back to a 16-14 win.

Surprisingly, Ninjas in Pyjamas were the only team to beat Luminosity. While their win could be chalked up to Luminosity having already won the group at that point, it was a remarkable game nonetheless, particularly because the Ninjas fought their way back from a 3-12 deficit and played an extremely aggressive CT half, ending the game at 16-13.

And Ninjas in Pyjamas were the big surprise of the group. While nobody would have batted an eye at a prediction of them going 2-3, few would have expected the kind of performance they pulled off today. They still have issues with confidence and misplays, but the Ninjas turned up ready for a fight, showing a deeper tactical game than we've seen for them in ages. And what the win-loss record doesn't show is just how close some of their losses were. They got an early 6-0 lead against Fnatic and pulled ahead again later in the game, and had victory within reach. Unfortunately, Fnatic showed just how beastly they can be when it counts, and turned the game in the final few rounds. Still, the final score of 16-14 was much closer than anybody would have expected. Similarly, NiP went 13-16 in their loss to Na'Vi, another game that was closer than you'd expect.

Ninjas in Pyjamas are still far from their old peak form, but their showing at Katowice was definitely a step in the right direction. Newcomer Pyth got to show his stuff, and coach THREAT has brought some much-needed tactical improvements to the team.

Fnatic turned out to be the dream crushers of the day. Both NiP and Mousesports came close to beating them, but in both games Fnatic overcame a deficit and won by just two rounds. Mousesports' NiKo ended up being the top fragger.

As Luminosity won the group, they get to skip the quarter finals and are seeded directly into the semis, which will be played Friday evening. Fnatic and Na'Vi move on to the quarter finals.

Tomorrow is group B, where Astralis, EnVyUs and Virtus.Pro will face off, among others. The games are scheduled to start around 11:00 GMT/12:00 CET. You can watch them on the Official Twitch stream.