We´re BACK in Katowice!
Topic: CS:GO IEM Katowice 2022
In this article we will look at the schedule of IEM Katowice 2022, the teams participating and some storylines going into one of the most legendary events of the year!
With a total prize pool of USD 1 Million and 16 participants, we´re heading into extremely exciting ten days of LAN CS:GO! The best of the best will compete for the first places and points for the Pro Tour, as well as the BLAST Premier World Leaderboard!
Schedule
While eight of the 16 participants of the main event are already qualified, 16 teams have the chance to secure one of the remaining eight places from February 15-16. In the IEM Katowice 2022 play-ins, underdogs such as Wisla Krakow, Movistar Riders, or Sprout as well as absolute top teams such as FaZe, NiP, OG, and Astralis will compete.
With NAVI, Gambit, G2, Vitality, Heroic, and Virtus.Pro six teams from the European "Road to Katowice" ranking, as well as with FURIA and Liquid two from the North American ranking, got fixed spots in the main event. The play-ins will start on 15.02.2022 at 11:00 a.m. CET and will be played in a double-elimination format over the next two days. While the opening games will be held as bo1, all further games will be played as bo3.
The main event starts on Thursday the 17.02.2022 at 12:30 p.m. CET with the first bo3 duels and will also be played in double-elimination mode. The 16 teams are divided into two groups and six teams will finally qualify for the single-elimination bracket! The grand final will take place on 27.02.2022 live at 5 p.m. CET.
Storylines going into the Play-Ins!
Three well known players are going to miss the event. While dev1ce is still being replaced by phzy at NiP, FaZe and MOUZ have had two short-term withdrawals! The team around IGL karrigan needs to prevail without star player ropz for the time being. He announced on Twitter that he was tested COVID positive and will therefore remain in a quarantine hotel in Katowice until 19.02.2022. The Estonian could possibly return to the team later in the event, but until then the Australian jks will play with the top international squad.
The second, quite bitter drop-out concerns MOUZ. The international lineup did not play an official game since 02.12.2021 and was more than motivated to show the progress of recent months with the new signing NBK- and young star torzsi. However, as with ropz, a Corona infection prevented bymas from participating, which is why the team has to compete with stand-in JDC at IEM Katowice.
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Even though NiP could already show some good performances together with phzy, they only managed a 7-9th place at the BLAST Spring Groups and thus did not qualify for the Spring Finals. FaZe on the other hand showed a convincing performance, but will miss some firepower without ropz! However, both teams have good chances to prevail in the play-ins.
Particularly convincing was OG, another participant in the play-ins. The team around the new IGL nexa showed great performances at their debut. Arguably, with Astralis, MIBR, and NiP they had not yet an absolute world-class team as opponent. Nevertheless a great start for nexa and his new team! While Astralis was probably one of the disappointments at the BLAST Spring Groups, BIG showed some surprisingly solid matches and also managed to qualify directly for the finals.
With particular excitement, I also await the performances of fnatic and Copenhagen Flames. While the team around IGL ALEX showed first solid performances at the end of last year, they have to work their way back to fixed places in the big events and will get the chance to do so in Katowice. It would be nice to see the Swedish organization amongst the best teams in the world again. The Danish team Copenhagen Flames was the big surprise at the last major in Stockholm. The young team showed unbelievable performances and at the turn of the year was also close to commitments with really big organizations. In the end, the team remained loyal to the organization and had a tough start in 2022.
With Complexity and TYLOO, two teams had to withdraw from the event in general. While the Chinese top team could not compete due to Corona restrictions, Complexity had to cancel due to numerous positive COVID tests. As replacements, Movistar Riders and Sprout will participate in the event.
Main Event
The main event of IEM Katowice starts on Thursday and the field of participants already promises great excitement. With Vitality, Heroic, Virtus.Pro and Gambit, Group A is already packed with great teams and players. I'm particularly excited about Vitality's further development. The team started with a first place in the BLAST Spring Groups and has the potential to become an absolute title favorite in the new year.
Group B currently includes NAVI, FURIA, Liquid, and G2. The team around star player s1mple was probably one of the biggest surprises at the BLAST Spring Groups. Unlike OG, however, in a negative sense. The reigning Major winners lost duels against MIBR, Astralis, and NiP and only just secured their place in the Spring Finals. All in all, however, by far not the dominant performance, many expected.
Especially eagerly awaited are also the performance of FURIA and Liquid. While the Brazilians have not played a Tier-1 event for months, Liquid was knocked out in an unfortunate manner at the BLAST Spring Groups. The team around IGL and returnee nitr0 showed potential but couldn't finish their games. In the end, the team, together with their NA colleagues Complexity and Evil Geniuses, finished in last place.
Conclusio
All in all, the spectators can expect an event packed with excitement. The IEM Katowice 2022 will take place as a LAN event and the best teams in the world will put on a great show over roughly two weeks! Who will win the event? Feel free to post your favorites on social media.
Live Streams:
ESL_CSGO
ESL_CSGO b
ESL_CSGO c
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