Who will become the champion of the first tournament after PGL Major Copenhagen 2024? IEM Chengdu 2024 Preview
After PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, teams received a minimum of time to rest and prepare for future championships. A week after the grand final of the first CS2 major, a major tournament will start in China – IEM Chengdu 2024. It will be held from April 8 to 14, 16 teams from around the world will compete for a prize pool of $250 thousand. Unlike PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, the tournament will take place according to the classic double-elimination (GSL) system. FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, MOUZ, Cloud9, Virtus.pro, HEROIC, FURIA, Steel Helmet, Astralis, Lynn Vision, Team Liquid, FlyQuest, Nemiga, Wildcard, 9z and TYLOO will take part in the championship in China. In this article we will discuss the main favorites of IEM Chengdu 2024, as well as teams that may surprise.
The main favorites of IEM Chengdu 2024
Despite the fatal defeat from Natus Vincere in the grand final of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, the main favorite of the Chinese tournament is FaZe Clan. Finn karrigan Andersen is not one of those people who can be undermined by such offensive games, and he clearly will not allow his team to lose heart. On the contrary, defeat in the final will give additional motivation to the team to play even better. FaZe Clan has a huge chance of winning the title of IEM Chengdu 2024 champions, because Team Vitality, Team Spirit and the same Natus Vincere will not be there, but strong rivals are still present. In the first matches, FaZe will have an easy walk against the main outsiders of the tournament – Nemiga Gaming, and then they will have to play with the winner of the Steel Helmet vs Astralis pair. Each of the opponents is unlikely to be able to impose a fight on Finn karrigan Andersen’s roster, and the real test awaits them in the finals of the upper bracket against Cloud9 or Virtus.pro.
Cloud9 will also be one of the favorites. The team was able to perform well at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 despite all its problems and has a chance to prove itself at the championship, where some grandees are missing. The team still does not have a sniper and perhaps this is one of the last tournaments where we will see a team with such a composition. During the week, Cloud9 did not have the opportunity to agree on a transfer and prepare for the championship. Especially considering that the club’s potential new player, Ilya m0NESY Osipov, is also participating in IEM Chengdu 2024 along with G2 Esports. If C9 performs like it did in the group stages of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, it could easily reach the grand finals and deal with FaZe Clan, who are having problems in the last final matches. But first, Kirill Boombl4 Mikhailov’s roster will have to defeat the former Grayhound roster, which moved to the FlyQuest organization, and the winner of the Wildcard vs Virtus.pro pair.
MOUZ also has a chance of winning at IEM Chengdu 2024. But to do this, the team will have to cope with the pressure of playing on the big stage and finally prove themselves in the playoffs. Before this tournament, they had failed to perform well in the decisive stage, despite great prospects. The team has two strong shooters in Ludvig Brollan Brolin and Jimi Jimpphat Salo, but even they cannot overcome the fear of playing in front of spectators. However, MOUZ should qualify for the playoffs without any problems. Her opponents in the group will be TYLOO, the winner of the FURIA vs Lynn Vision meeting and potential G2 Esports if they can handle the winner of the Team Liquid vs HEROIC pair.
Outsiders IEM Chengdu 2024
Despite the support of the local public, the Chinese representatives TYLOO, Lynn Vision and Steel Helmet, who will replace Monte, have practically no chance of a successful performance. Also outsiders at IEM Chengdu 2024 are representatives of lagging regions – FlyQuest, Wildcard and 9z. Nemiga is in a similar situation, despite successful qualifications. Getting to such a big tournament is progress for the club, but the roster is clearly not capable of challenging the strongest teams. Apart from the main outsiders, there is no faith in FURIA, Astralis and HEROIC.
The Brazilian team performed poorly at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 and was supposed to fly out to the Opening Stage, but they faced easy opponents who allowed Gabriel FalleN Toledo’s roster to advance. In the main group stage, FURIA expectedly finished the performance with statistics of 0-3. It is quite possible that the team will not be able to cope even with their first opponent at IEM Chengdu 2024 in the person of Lynn Vision, who clearly want to show themselves in front of the local public. FURIA should not leave the group at the Chinese tournament and go to well-deserved reshuffles.
IEM Chengdu 2024 will also be the first test for the updated Astralis roster and Nicolai device Reedtz as captain. Initially, this roster does not look competitive and does not inspire much confidence. He should not lose to the Chinese team Steel Helmet, but will further experience great difficulties in a group with FaZe Clan, Cloud9 and Virtus.pro. Astralis is unlikely to make it to the playoffs and will go to prepare for ESL Pro League Season 19, which will be key for the roster.
Another Danish club, HEROIC, will also experience problems. At first, the new composition of the organization performed with varying degrees of success and could surprise the favorites, but it was unable to move to the next stage and become a strong tier-1 team. The failure in the Elimination Stage at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 clearly greatly damaged faith in the team and the team is unlikely to be able to perform at the same level.
Who can surprise at IEM Chengdu 2024?
Three clubs can surprise at IEM Chengdu 2024, from which it is difficult to expect success, but if everything goes well, they can climb quite high. These teams are G2 Esports, Virtus.pro and Team Liquid. Ilya m0NESY Osipov proved that he can almost single-handedly drag the team into the semi-finals of a major and even had a chance to play in the grand final of PGL Major Copenhagen 2024. The G2 Esports roster is still one of the weakest tier-1 teams on the professional scene, but if they turn on Nikola NiKo Kovac and Nemanja huNter- Kovac, against the backdrop of the teams participating in IEM Chengdu 2024 G2, can surprise everyone and even himself. This tournament will most likely be the last for Ilya m0NESY Osipov for the club and he will clearly want to give his best.
Now it is difficult to predict the moral state of Virtus.pro after the fatal departure of Jami Jame Ali from the server. The team may get angry and try to show their strongest game, or, on the contrary, lose faith in themselves and the desire to win. In any case, to qualify for the playoffs, VP will have to defeat FaZe Clan or Cloud9, which in the current realities looks like an impossible task; in these matches, the roster of Jami Jame Ali will clearly act as an obvious outsider.
Once again, we want to believe in Team Liquid, who assembled a strong roster with Casper cadiaN Meller, but failed in all the international tournaments in which they participated. The team also failed to overcome the American RMR. IEM Chengdu 2024 will clearly be the last opportunity for the roster and in case of another failure, drastic changes await it. Team Liquid has strong players and if the roster manages to show itself against the other team, it has a good chance of making it to the playoffs. Casper cadiaN Meller and Russell Twistzz Van Dulken are clearly eager to play on the big stage again after moving to the North American region.
Predicting the results of the first tournaments after the majors is always difficult due to ongoing negotiations about transfers within the teams. Even the biggest favorites can fail at IEM Chengdu 2024, knowing that they will then play with other teammates, and the Chinese tournament is not a priority for most clubs. But we still expect FaZe Clan and Cloud9 in the grand finals. Betting on MOUZ’s success in the playoffs is quite risky, given the insane passion of the Chinese fans. It will still be difficult for the team to cope with nerves and pressure.