What to expect from the upcoming CS:GO IEM Katowice 2021

The traditional IEM Katowice 2021 will be hosted on February 16-28, which will be carried out in two stages this year. The first stage, IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In will be made to qualify eight teams, which will advance to the main stage of the championship 16 best teams of the current part of the season will perform at IEM Katowice 2021. So we offer to divide the preview of the championship into two parts: IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In and IEM Katowice 2021.

The tournament in the guise of qualification

Very few can argue that IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In looks more like a qualification. However, ESL decided to refuse a common qualification and give some charm to the qualifying stage, bringing a bit more attention to the tournament. But the attention is focused not on the format but the line-up of participants of the first stage of IEM Katowice 2021.

Only eight teams out of sixteen participants of the Play-In stage will receive invites to the group stage. Considering the number of teams, famous representatives of the scene, which are too many now, will leave behind the tournament for sure. It will be enough to understand that fnatic, BIG, OG, Team Liquid, mousesports, Virtus.pro, Complexity, and Ninjas In Pyjamas will be fighting for eight spots. Furthermore, Gambit, Team Spirit, Cloud9, and Movistar Riders should not be written off because they have good chances to move any of the favorites away.

It is also interesting that the first matches will be hosted in a bo1 format and it means that there might be sensations at the very beginning of the championship. So it is worth detaching a few clusters of the favorites, the hidden favorites, and the obvious outsiders, due to which it will be easier to analyze the opportunities and perspectives of different teams.

Beyond reality or the main outsiders of IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In

If we take a look at the list of participants, Wisła Kraków, Renegades, Team One, and MIBR will stand out among the others.

The Poles have recently started practicing in the new season, demonstrating not the most outstanding results. The loss in the qualification to European Development Championship Season 2 is not the best start of the season. What is more, the team is participating in ESEA Season 36: Premier Division – Europe with a result of 1-1, having lost to Winstrike. The play by Wisła Kraków leaves not the most pleasurable impression. And considering that the team will play with Virtus.pro in the first round, it will be very difficult for the Poles.

Things are way more obvious with Renegades. First of all, the team was playing in Oceania for a year, having forgotten about the European scene. The example of the return of the North American team in Europe is a pretty prominent example – the difference between the regions is drastic. We should understand that this difference between North America and Oceania is way bigger. Secondly, dexter who moved to mousesports left Renegades, the Australians will them face at the beginning of the championship. So, it is not fun to be Renegades.

Team One does not avoid the regional story too. Having spent a year between two continents (North and South America), the team is obviously in a losing state beforehand. And considering that the Brazilians will play with Gambit, almost the main dark horse of the tournament, at the start of IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In, their stepping down to the lower bracket is almost inevitable. There will be lots of top teams, which will try to rehabilitate and outplay the weaker teams in the loser’s bracket after the first round.

Everything is a bit more complicated with MIBR. First of all, the Brazilians have tried to make a statement on the tier-1 scene twice but they failed at cs_summit 7 and BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 after all. The team has not just experience but insolence, however, it is still too early to talk about MIBR as the contender to achieve big results. Definitely, the team will be able to make a competition to any of the favorites but the Brazilians are just getting used to The Old World, about which they have talked after losses for a number of times.

The hidden favorites: Who are they?

Gambit, Team Spirit, Cloud9, and Movistar Riders – these teams have the biggest chances to upset the favorites of the tournament.

First of all, we should talk about the CIS teams, which have started the season with big victories. Gambit achieved victory at Vulkan Fight Series 2020 at the beginning of January. It can’t be said that the team failed at two other championships, having entered the top 4 and top 2 at DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe and Snow Sweet Snow 1, respectively. The other thing is Team Spirit, which revealed degster and won DreamHack Open January 2021 Europe immediately. What is more, the team will have a comfortable opponent in the first round – Cloud9.

Regarding Cloud9, the team still leaves mixed impressions. First of all, regular reshuffles and multimillion expanses have devastated the market. Secondly, the results of Cloud9 can’t be called decent now because the team has recently reached the quarterfinal of cs_summit 7. However, the team has the full right to pretend to make a sensation before every new tournament.

Movistar Riders almost became the best team on the tier-2 scene, having achieved victory at ESL European Championship Winter 2020, One Tap League 2020 Finals, and OMEN WGR European Challenge 2021. It can be stated confidently that smooya who has been considered to be a promising player for numerous years is the main playmaker of Movistar Riders. And now, the Briton has the real chance to prove that it is too early to write him off. Movistar Riders will play its first match at the tournament against BIG, from which smooya was kicked in the past. So the Spanish will have chances even in the first bo1.

Right in the pocket or the favorites of IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In

fnatic, BIG, OG, Team Liquid, mousesports, Virtus.pro, Complexity, and Ninjas In Pyjamas – these teams are the main contenders to make it to IEM Katowice 2021. You can argue that such teams as Ninjas in Pyjamas, mousesports, and Complexity can hardly be related to the ranks of favorites, however, the recent results indicate otherwise.

For example, Ninjas In Pyjamas managed to beat Astralis and BIG at the recent BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021, which surprised the whole community. The situation is similar in Complexity, which, having returned poizon in the roster, became the first one at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021, beating Vitality, G2, and Evil Geniuses. You should not forget about mousesports, which will be just interesting to follow with a new captain. However, it is probably worth expecting the sensation by «the mice» in the form of the elimination, however, the team was reinforced a lot with the departure of chrisJ in the mid-season.

I guess OG, fnatic, and BIG do not require a long presentation. However, among these three, the biggest number of questions are related to OG, which has failed the recent BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021. However, this team was meeting the expectations during the whole year and did not fall below a particular level.

Team Liquid will probably rampage, trying to rehabilitate for the last losses to FaZe Clan. Virtus.pro even seems to be the main contender to proceed to IEM Katowice 2021 because the team prevailed at the recent cs_Summit 7 without losing a map for a reason.

A classic of the genre

After the qualifying stage, the teams will start their path in IEM Katowice 2021 where the fantastic eight is waiting for its opponents. But it can’t be said that all teams look like the favorites in the main stage. Instead, only a few teams, which will really pretend to win IEM Katowice 2021, can be noted.

The main favorites of the championship

First of all, it is Natus Vincere, which won BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 и BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021. What is more, «The Born to Win» has not lost eight matches in a row, which reflects the level of their preparation. If we talk about the structure, NAVI has the best attack on the scene, which reflects not just the work of their coach but the captain. Besides, the whole team is in nice shape, which together with keen tactics makes the team the main favorite of the tournament.

FaZe Clan, which has finally found the real captain, can be called another favorite. Karrigan’s return can be called the best transfer of the season beforehand. And if the team multiplies its results at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021 on well-made strategies, FaZe Clan will definitely take the provided opportunity and reach the semi-final or final.

Astralis, which was coming apart at the seams the last year trying to return the old guard, can’t be written off. However, the Danes had focused by the end of the year and won IEM Global Challenge 2020. However, the team is very unstable in the new season, which makes us closely follow the results of the Danes. But no one doubts that Astralis will be in the playoffs in its manner where everyone will forget the past losses.

More questions than answers

It is difficult to say what Vitality is. First of all, the team lost apEX, having left without a captain and mental leader both in the game and beyond. ZywOo has already suffered in this situation who spent one of the worst championships in his career. The team failed at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021, having lost to Complexity and Evil Geniuses. Honestly, shox seems to be an extremely weak captain whose decisions allowed G2 to part ways with the player in the past.

Talking about G2, the situation becomes simply horrible. Probably, the Balkan-French will become the main disappointment. Now, the play of this team looks like FaZe Clan in the times of the star roster when matches were won only with the help of individual skills. NiKo played his role in this situation, he started stealing the spotlight, making the team get used to the Bosnian’s individual performance. But the rest four players’ individual shapes became worse, which led to the absence of results at all. And if nothing changes, G2 will miss the playoffs after the first matches.

FURIA and Evil Geniuses deserve individual words. The Brazilians lost their positions a lot, having stopped winning with the help of pure aggression, Evil Geniuses obviously lack an in-game leader. Let’s begin with FURIA, which simply plays its Counter-Strike, to which all have already got used. The Brazilians suffer a lot from this and don’t try to improve something in a better way. Evil Geniuses demonstrate the signs of life, however, the team has not played with really strong opponents who have no problems. Besides, the North Americans definitely lack ambitions, which seems to be a significant disadvantage at such a prestigious championship.

Heroic has not played on a high level for a long time. The Danes had a decline in results in December, having stepped down to their spring shape. What is more, Heroic started losing to everyone, facing issues, not just with theoretical Vitality or fnatic but the lower-level teams. And we can hardly believe that the team will be able to fix the issues before the start of IEM Katowice 2021.