IEM Katowice 2024 Play-in Preview - Part 2

Part 2 of my preview for IEM Katowice 2024 Play-in Preview is here. Just as in part 1 there is a prediction at the end of the article, so feel free to scroll down if you'd like to see that!

Furia:

The Brazilian powerhouse team ended last year in a.. Well, up and down matter. They managed to win Elisa Masters Espoo but only came 5th-6th at BetBoom Dacha after losing to Spirit twice. They did take down Astralis however, but it was a newly formed Danish side that they faced so that was a game that they should have won regardless at the time. They have not played any games so far this year so it is hard to gauge where their current level is at. This is their first event of the year and even though they are not at the level that we have previously seen they are still a team to be reckoned with and should be able to go through to the main event.

TheMongolz:

The Asian powerhouse team that we have seen win so many upsets is back in action in Europe. They are back for blood and more upsets after dominating in Asia and landing a 3-4th place at the ESL Challenger event in Atlanta. But can you really call them upsets at this point? This is a team who have been playing on an exceptional level and going on toe-to-toe with multiple top tier teams in the past so it would not come as the biggest surprise if they’d manage to qualify to the main event. The main core of Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren and Sodbayar "Techno4K" Munkhbold have plenty of experience. Usukhbayar "910" Banzragch and Ayush "mzinho" Batbold came in not long after that and do also have some experience of playing and taking upsets against better teams, on paper at least. Azbayar "Senzu" Munkhbold is the newest addition to the team but still boasts the best adr of them all with a 1.15 rating over 48 maps, which is impressive. Recently they won eXTREMESLAND 2023 over teams such as Tyloo, Team NKT and Lynn Vision.

Can the best team in Asia continue on their previous runs in Europe and make waves? We’ll have to wait and see.

Spirit:

The Russian team led by Danil "donk" Kryshkovets has been the topic of many discussions within the CS scene lately. The young superstar has been dominating the past few months and has led Spirit to success. They ended off last year by taking home the trophy at the BetBoom Dacha event and by qualifying for the RMR. After losing the initial match to KOI they bounced back and with some close OT wins over Entropiq and Preasy they managed to take it home with a convincing 2-0 win over MOUZ. They played without donk at BLAST Spring Groups but put up a good fight against Liquid with a stand-in and their coach. He had to sit on the sidelines after not being able to get a visa in time and if he’s able to get to Poland then they will be a team that many people will look towards. 

This is the true dark horse of the tournament, but it all depends on whether or not donk will be able to travel with the team. 

Apeks:

After the magical fairytale run in Paris they have not reached quite the same heights with the new team. Justinas "jL" Lekavicius went to NAVI and they lost their coach Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński not long after that. With bringing in Aleksandar "CacaNito" Kjulukoski as JL‘s substitute they failed to reach the expectations that many people had on them for the Major. Martin "STYKO" Styk was benched for Ådne "sense" Fredriksen at the end of last year and the team managed to get silver medals at ELISA Masters Espoo 2023 and ESL Challenger Atlanta 2023. With the new season just around the corner the team lost their IGL Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski to Heroic and decided to bring back STYKO into the lineup. The Katowice play-in will be the first event for this new Apeks lineup but if they can reach close to the same level as they achieved last major then the future is looking good. Their opponents are a very tough Spirit and will be a good test for the international side.

GamerLegion:

The biggest surprise at the major in 2023. Managing to reach the final where they sadly fell to the home crowd heroes Vitality. But what a run they had before that. However, after the major we have not really seen the side get the results that many would think a Major finalist team would have. And as we have seen so many times in the past - their roster was torn apart by the bigger birds. Ivan "iM" Mihai decided to go to NAVI and Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek went back to MOUZ where he reunited with his old academy graduates Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás and Dorian "xertioN" Berman. Sebastian "volt" Maloș was brought in as iM’s replacement and the team tried to play with Sanzhar "neaLaN" Iskhakov, with limited success however. Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski came into the lineup and the team has been looking more solid after that. Isak "isak" Fahlén is still a world class support, volt is putting up decent numbers sometimes and Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand is their superstar AWPer. Nicolas "Keoz" Dgus may not have had the best individual results the past 3 months but we all saw what he was capable of at the major. They showed some promise at BLAST Spring Groups where they took down FaZe in their opening game, lost to Liquid and then played a close game in the rematch against FaZe where they lost with the scoreline being 1-2. Now is the time for GamerLegion to show up and prove that they still have some of that magic that we saw in Paris and continue the momentum they built in Copenhagen. And what’s a better way to do so than in Katowice?

M80:

The new kid on the block - M80. Formed 3 months ago the core of Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa, Marcus "maNkz" Kjeldsen, Ethan "reck" Serrano and Michael "Swisher" Schmid are back in Europe after dominating North America during the end of the last season and beginning of this season. After adding Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich for Adam "WolfY" Andersson the team has managed to win some tournaments back home in NA and most recently they pulled off a massive upset against Liquid’s new star-studded lineup to qualify for IEM Chengdu 2024. They also qualified for the NA RMR after winning against Liquid, prior to the IEM Chengdu qualifier. They should be coming in with lots of confidence and a team like that is very, very dangerous. However we will not be able to see their lineup as maNkz is taking a break for personal reasons with coach Rory "dephh" Jackson stepping in. This is a big hit in terms of firepower, but not in experience. This might impact the confidence that they have built up until now. Will they be able to continue the momentum that they have had to kick this year off and how will they play without their in-game leader?

Rooster:

The Aussies have had a lot of success back home in Oceania against the lower ranked teams in the region, often qualifying to the closed qualifiers. But that’s about it. They have stumbled before the finish line when going up against the powerhouse that is Grayhound. While they did qualify for the event from the ESL ranking you just can’t help but think if the team will be able to replicate the same success that they have had back home in the open qualifiers and the likes. It will be a massive learning experience for the Oceanic team and hopefully they’ll be able to show as much as they possibly can.

Virtus Pro:

The Rio Major champions are back in Katowice, well the core at least. After having some roster changes they have decided to stick with this one and they have had a successful past 6 months since adding mir into the team. Placing 1st or 2nd in almost all tournaments that they placed last year, except for ESL Challenger Jönköping 2023. They also kicked off the year by qualifying for the RMR. After going against NAVI in the 2-0 game and losing they quickly bounced back in the next game against fnatic and booked their ticket to Romania after a 2-0 win. At BLAST Spring Groups they sailed through their groups after wins against BIG and Cloud9. They should be seen as one of the favorites to qualify for the main event and there is not much stopping them from that when you take a look at the bracket. The Russians are, just like Spirit, one of the underdogs if they manage to get there and can grab wins against some of the teams who they may face there.

Prediction:

So what is my prediction for this side of the bracket? Well, if Spirit manage to win their game against Apeks then I think that they'll grab a ticket to the main stage, no matter who they play. However, if Apeks wins then it's more 50/50 and up in the air. I can see both them and Furia win that game and it will come down to individual performance and which team is having a good day. GamerLegion and VP should be able to win their games but GamerLegion is facing an unknown entity in M80 who will be playing with their coach as a stand-in. Might be a bit tougher for them as there is no info to go on with dephh and they just have to hope that they'll continue with the strats that they have shown off in matches prior to the event.

I forgot to mention the lower bracket in my previous post so I thought I'd just post it all here, short and concise.. The loser of BetBoom and Eternal Fire should be able to win against Rooster, who they will most likely play against. If Cloud9 would make it to the lower bracket then they'll win the games if not then it's going to be another close game, but this time in a BO3. The bracket underneath them is a bloodbath, to say the least. 4 tier 1 teams fighting for a ticket to the Hall of Legends. I suppose that we'll see ENCE and Heroic face off, considering BIG's performance at BLAST Spring Groups... But who knows. Each and every single team there can win so it's pretty much a toss-up between them all. Furia and Spirit should make it through to the upper bracket where I'd take Spirit to win and Furia facing off against Apeks. in the lower bracket final. Yes, I am underestimating TheMongolz, but they have not had that much practice in Europe and only played in China recently. I'll be happy if they can prove me wrong though. And lastly, we should see GamerLegion face off against Virtus Pro in their upper bracket final. A rematch from BLAST Spring groups, where I think Virtus Pro will exit as victors with GamerLegion beating M80 in the lower bracket final.