What to expect from IEM Katowice? Preview of one of the main tournaments of the year
Already on January 31, one of the most important tournaments of the CS2 eSports season – IEM Katowice 2024 – starts in Katowice, Poland. 16 of the strongest teams from around the world will collide in the battle for a prize pool of $1 million. But first, ESL will need to determine the last participants in the championship – for this, a Play-in stage. In this material, we propose to discuss what to expect from IEM Katowice 2024, which teams may surprise and who is the main contender for an important title in the new version of Valve’s shooter.
Play-In stage: main contenders
Before the start of IEM Katowice 2024, we only know about eight participants in the group stage of the championship. The remaining slots will be drawn from January 31 to February 2 right at the venue. A distinctive feature of the upcoming Play-In stage will be the list of participants: such giants as Cloud9, Heroic, Astralis, Virtus.pro and other strong teams that qualified for PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen did not receive a direct invitation. The teams and spectators will face a fierce struggle for 8 tickets to the main stage of IEM Katowice 2024, and in terms of the intensity of passions, these matches will clearly not be inferior to the group and playoff stages. But the favorites will have enough chances to grab the opportunity to get to the Spodek Arena – the Play-In is held in a double-elimination format with a lower bracket.
Cloud9, who found their game in the past qualifications for the major, the updated roster of Heroic and Virtus.pro, should get the coveted slots without any problems. There are big questions about the remaining participants in IEM Katowice 2024: in the upper bracket meetings it is difficult to identify a clear favorite.
Judging by the current game form, you can expect Team Spirit, GamerLegion, Astralis, FURIA and BetBoom Team at the championship. But there are big concerns about the latter: the Russian team will have to play the first match against Ismailcan XANTARES Durtkardes, which means that Vladislav nafany Gorshkov’s team may have to get out of the lower bracket.
Of course, all these teams will be able to fight back against the teams that received a direct invitation to IEM Katowice 2024 and we will have an extremely interesting group stage of the tournament in Poland.
Predictions for the IEM Katowice 2024 Play-In stage:
- 1-4 places – Cloud9, Heroic, Team Spirit and Virtus.pro;
- 5-8 places – BetBoom Team, Astralis, FURIA and GamerLegion.
The main favorites of IEM Katowice 2024
Direct invitations to the tournament went to Team Vitality, FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, MOUZ, G2 Esports, Complexity, Monte and Team Falcons. Among these teams there are both title contenders and teams that have already lost their potential.
The main threat to all championship participants is Team Vitality. At the last BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024, the club proved that it is not going to give up its position and plans to strengthen its dominance on the professional scene. Natus Vincere also has great ambitions, having had a great start to the year with performances in the qualifiers for RMR and the BLAST tournament. The updated composition of the Ukrainian organization has finally found its game without Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev and is ready to fight with the strongest teams. Cloud9 can also claim the title if it passes the Play-In stage without any problems.
The remaining invited teams can hardly be called championship favorites. Their recent performances have not been consistent and sometimes they have unobvious difficulties with opponents below their level. FaZe Clan stands out the most – the team is still coping with the loss of Russell Twistzz Van Dulken, but against the backdrop of the problems of MOUZ and G2, the roster looks like a team that has every chance to once again show what it is capable of.
Outsiders of IEM Katowice 2024
The most questions about the upcoming tournament arise for Team Falcons. Initially, the club assembled a star-studded squad, but Nikola NiKo Kovac refused to join the team, as did some other famous players. After the announcement of the final roster of the organization, there was a feeling that it was assembled from those who remained. The first performances of Team Falcons also did not inspire confidence – the team was able to beat OG and even take the map from Team Vitality, but showed nothing against Astralis. Perhaps the roster needs time to open up, but for now you shouldn’t expect them to play well at IEM Katowice 2024.
Complexity looks like the most lackluster invited team. At the end of 2023, the series of successful performances of the American club ended, and the team again cannot oppose anything to the European giants. At BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024, the roster lost to Natus Vincere and Ninjas in Pyjamas and left the tournament in last place. If the defeat from NAVI should not be surprising, looking at their latest results, then problems with inconsistent NIP cause concern even among the most devoted fans of Complexity.
Who can surprise?
Like any big tournament in Counter-Strike, IEM Katowice 2024 cannot do without sensations. The biggest surprises can be expected from the Play-In teams – they will have more time to feel the tournament atmosphere and will play more matches on LAN, which will allow them to enter tournament mode faster than invited teams.
The greatest hopes are placed on teams from the CIS – Virtus.pro, BetBoom Team and Team Spirit. VP’s latest results have shown that the team is working more and more carefully on its own playing style, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for opponents to adapt to Dzhami Jame Ali’s slow and sticky tactics. If everything goes well for the team, it will be difficult to stop it, for example, as was the case at the triumphant IEM Rio Major 2022. At BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024, the team defeated BIG twice and Cloud9.
Due to visa difficulties, Team Spirit was unable to show the strength of the updated roster at the last BLAST, but they have another opportunity at IEM Katowice 2024. After strengthening in the person of Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov, the team managed to successfully qualify for PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Europe RMR, where they dealt with MOUZ, Preasy and Entropiq. We expect that at the first full-fledged LAN the team will be able to fully reveal its potential and take a fairly high place.
BetBoom Team assembled its star lineup last year, but it is only now getting the opportunity to fully realize itself. The team brought together some of the most promising players in the region under the leadership of experienced captain Vladislav nafany Gorshkov. Based on the results of the RMR qualifiers and matches in other online tournaments, BB Team looks like a serious contender for being among the best teams in the world. But IEM Katowice 2024 may turn out to be a turning point championship for this roster – the team needs to realize their potential here and now in order to gain experience at a big tournament and approach PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 as a strong team.
G2 Esports may also surprise. Despite the controversial transfer decisions and the team’s recent failures, we must not forget about the duet of Nikola NiKo Kovac and Ilya m0NESY Osipov. Sometimes this couple can cope without the help of a team and win even the most difficult match. G2’s success at IEM Katowice 2024 will depend entirely on the individual performances of these two star players.
Predictions for the playoff stage of IEM Katowice 2024:
- 1st place – Team Vitality;
- 2nd place – Natus Vincere;
- 3rd-4th places – Cloud9 and Team Spirit.
Every year, IEM Katowice manages to surprise fans of esports Counter-Strike with its beauty and exciting matches. The 2024 championship should be no exception, because for the first time it will be held in a new version of the shooter. Every professional player strives to play at the legendary Spodek Arena in front of crowds of fans from all over the world. A colorful battle awaits us for an impressive prize pool and the status of the first champion of IEM Katowice in CS2. We look forward to many sensations and unexpected revolutions even in the most predictable matches. And we’ll see how we really do it very soon!