CS 2
IEM Katowice is about to bring us action, featuring sixteen teams.
It starts with the play-in stage, which will be held from January 31 to February 2, with sixteen teams fighting for eight spots at the Main Stage, which will last from February 3 to February 11.
The main stage is going to have sixteen teams total to fight for the prize pool of 1.000.000 USD.
IEM Katowice Tournament Format
Play-In Stage:
- Double-elimination bracket
- Opening matches: Best-of-one (bo1)
- Subsequent matches: Best-of-three (bo3)
- Top eight teams advance to the Group Stage
Group Stage:
- 16 teams (8 from Play-Ins, 8 directly qualified)
- Two groups of eight teams each
- Double-elimination GSL format
- All matches are Best-of-three (bo3)
Playoffs:
- Six teams including two direct semifinalists
- Single-elimination
- Semifinals and Quarterfinals: Best-of-three (bo3)
- Grand Final: Best-of-five (bo5)
Main Event Teams
Group A
IEM Katowice Upper Bracket - Group AGroup B
IEM Katowice 2024 Play-In Bracket
IEM Katowice Play-in Bracket - ESL
Directly Qualified Teams
- G2 Esports
- MOUZ
- FaZe Clan
- Team Vitality
- Complexity Gaming
- Natus Vincere
- Monte
- Team Falcons
Play-In Teams
- Rebels Gaming
- Cloud9
- Virtus.pro
- Heroic
- FURIA Esports
- M80
- Rooster
- The MongolZ
- BIG
- GamerLegion
- Apeks
- Astralis
- Eternal Fire
- BetBoom Team
- ENCE
- Team Spirit
Play-In Teams Introduction
VP
It is one of the best CIS teams now, and they showed it on BLAST Spring Groups. They found their consistency, and they're one of the few teams who have yet to make any extensive roster changes recently, and it might be their main advantage.
Astralis
Team that almost won twice in a row against Vitality, which means a lot. The team is in good shape and has prepared for BLAST Spring Groups, and now the only thing they have to do is complete it with consistency. Especially if we talk about players. device was missing too many maps they played, which is unusual for a player like him. If device can bring his game here at IEM Katowice 2024 and the team will do the same, they might have a chance to become everyone's fear.
Cloud9
If you look at the team roster and forget about their past results, you would think they are likely crushing the top teams. But it doesn't work like this. At BLAST Spring Groups, we could see they still need to find their team game under the new leadership of Boombl4. Let's hope they find a solution in a few days' break.
Spirit
A team that unfortunately had to play with two stand-ins at BLAST Spring Groups since two of their main players had visa issues. Now they're in a full roster here to fight at Play-In for the spot at Main Stage. Let's hope the chance to play in a full roster gives them extra motivation.
BIG
German did well at BLAST and exceeded expectations, but they didn't find their way to close a final game against Astralis and lost in overtime. Overall, they did well. There is not much time between these two tournaments, but if they find a way to fix some mistakes in a few days, they can get their spot at Main Stage and maybe make some problems for the rest of the teams there since there's no main favorite yet, and most of the teams are far from being consistent.
Heroic
They are the best Danish team after Astralis, and not so long ago, they were even better. But now, after the roster changes they made, they're yet to find their style of play and how to use their players in different roles. Their roster seems good, but it needs time to get back to the top.
ENCE
The team's new roster has four players from Poland under the legendary leadership of gla1ve (leader of one of the best Astralis rosters back when they dominated the scene for a long time). It's going to be their debut game, and it's going to be on one of the biggest tournaments, so we will have to see how gla1ve is going to manage his new players under all the pressure they might have, and who knows, maybe we will see why he was the in-game leader of the legendary team. As we said, they got four players from Poland, so let's hope the home arena at IEM Katowice 2024 helps them get their trophy home!
BetBoom
The CIS team has a promising roster but has yet to prove themselves in a big tournament since they haven't played anything significant yet. They met good teams before, a few times in other games, but yet it's only one match result worth mentioning: a 2-0 score in a best-of-three over Cloud9. But considering how successful CIS teams and players have been overall in past years, let's see if another one will shine.
Eternal Fire
Everyone familiar with Counter-Strike 2 knows XANTARES. This guy even got some excellent memes around him for his insane mechanical abilities. The team is stuck to a full Turkish squad even though they tried to bring players from different countries. Not so long ago, they got a new to-the-scenes Turkish player, Wicadia, and this guy looks promising with his 1.18 rating for the past three months, which is second best in his team after XANTARES himself.
FURIA
They are the only team that represents Brazil here. KSCERATO is known for his ability to win games solo-handedly, but overall, they needed help finding their way to succeed as a team, judging by their past results. But they're still dangerous for their aggressive style of play and sometimes unpredictable moves they can make in the game. Let's hope they find their game again and become a fearful opponent for every team out there, just like they were some time ago.
Apeks & GamerLegion
Both of these teams are mainly known for their excellent run at BLAST Paris Major. Apeks lost their series to Vitality with a 2-0 score at the semifinal, and the same goes for GamerLegion, who lost their grand final game with a 2-0 score against Vitality. But since then, both of these teams have been considered dark horses at every single tournament. GamerLegion proved a few days ago that they can still surprise world top teams such as FaZe as they won their opening game against them at BLAST Spring Groups, but then they lost a rematch against them, yet it was a close score.
The other four teams, such The MongoIZ, M80, Rebels, and Rooster, are the main underdogs of this tournament, yet to show what they're capable of, and there's little to say about them. But we wish them good luck, and we're always happy to see new teams grinding it to the top!
The first matches start on January 31 at 15:30 CET time. Don’t miss the action!
Play-In Schedule
IEM Katowice Play-in Schedule - Group A and Group BDay 1: January 31
- Upper Round 1:
Eternal Fire vs. BetBoom, Heroic vs. Astralis starting at 15:30 CET,
Cloud9 vs. Rebels Gaming, and ENCE vs. BIG starting at 16:30 CET
- Upper Round 1 Continues:
Spirit vs. Apeks, Gamer Legion vs M80, starting at 17:30 CET
FURIA vs MongolZ, and Rooster vs VP starting at 18:30
- Upper Round 2:
Matches with teams TBD beginning at 19:30 CET
Day 2: February 1
- Upper Round 2 Continues:
MongolZ vs. Spirit, Gamer Legion vs VP, starting at 13:30 CET
- Lower Round 1:
Cloud9 vs. BetBoom, M80 vs Rooster starting at 16:30 CET
Astralis vs. Ence, FURIA vs Apeks starting at 19:30 CET
Day 3: February 2
- Lower Round 2:
VP vs. Cloud9, MongolZ vs ENCE starting at 16:30 CET
BIG vs. Apeks, Rebels vs M80 starting at 19:30 CET
After the play-in is finished, we will return with a Group Stage review and Predictions. Stay tuned!
