As reported, the playoffs of IEM Katowice 2020 will take place without any audience due to the impact of the coronavirus. This announcement was made less than a day before the playoffs began at the Spodek Arena, where thousands of fans from around the world traveled to Katowice just to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of high-stakes matches and witness their CS:GO idols in person. Unfortunately, their dreams could not come true as city authorities were concerned that large gatherings would trigger an outbreak in Poland.
Missing out on the playoffs, many fans took to reddit to share pictures expressing their disappointment.
The disappointment of the fans was further amplified as the two quarterfinal matches between fnatic vs. 100 Thieves and Na’Vi vs. Liquid were incredibly exciting, especially Na’Vi’s match. s1mple – the Ukrainian CS prodigy had a flawless day, shining brightly in both maps with his incredible AWP plays, helping Na’Vi defeat Liquid with a score of 2-0 (16-11 on Dust 2 and 16-13 on Mirage). Notably, s1mple’s 1v4 clutch on Dust 2 was widely discussed and considered one of the best highlights of the day.
Reacting to s1mple’s highlight plays, most fans worldwide expressed their disappointment as they lacked the enthusiastic cheers from the audience below. Here’s a collection of comments from reddit about s1mple’s shining moment:
“Damn, just imagine if there were cheers from the crowd after that play. I feel so sad.”
“If there were an audience, the stands would definitely explode. Watching without the lively crowd is just so strange.”
“I wonder how the audience would have reacted…”
“If there was a crowd, this moment would have been so much crazier.”
“I’m imagining the screams and the stands shaking after that play… Oh, the feeling right now is just unbearable.”
“Look at s1mple after the clutch, he instinctively looks up to see the crowd’s reaction, then remembers there is no audience…”
In addition to Na’Vi’s 2-0 victory over Liquid, fnatic also secured their spot in the semifinals after defeating 100 Thieves with the same score of 2-0. With this result, Na’Vi will face Astralis, while G2 Esports will go up against fnatic in the semifinals tonight.
Semifinal match times:
– 21:00 (02/29): fnatic vs. G2
– 00:55 (03/01): Na’Vi vs. Astralis
Fans can follow the matches of IEM Katowice 2020 with Vietnamese commentary on the 500Bros’ YouTube channel!