IEM Katowice 2022: event overview

The professional scene of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is starting to come to life, and the annual prestigious tournament IEM Katowice 2022 will start on February 15. At this event, the audience will see all their favorite teams, because all the top ten participate in the championship. The current champions of the tournament are «Gambit» and they will defend their title this year. Also, all those teams that changed their lineups in the offseason will come to the tournament. We have already seen some of them at Blast Premier Spring Groups, but not all of them. At the same time, IEM Katowice 2022 gives outsiders a chance, because not only partner teams participate in the tournament, but also those clubs that have passed qualifications and can shine at the highest level championship. What teams will take part? What is the tournament format? Who is the favourite? These questions are of interest to users of the site https://pro100bet.ru/.

Tournament format

Formally, the championship is divided into two large stages with different formats, so we will analyze them one by one.

1. Play-In stage (15.02-16.02)

A short stage in which the last eight teams that will participate in the main stage of the tournament will be determined. 16 teams will take part in the Play-In, and the stage will be held in the Double-Elimination playoff format (two losses for elimination). All matches of the first round will be held in the BO1 format (up to one win), while the rest of the matches will adhere to the classic BO3 format (up to two wins). To get into the main stage of the tournament, the team needs to win two matches, while each club has the right to make a mistake. As a result, half of the teams will get into the main stage, and the rest will leave the tournament, having received $4,500.

2. Main stage (17.02-27.02)

The main stage is also divided into two stages, which will take place on different dates so that this block will also be divided into two parts.

Group stage (17.02-21.02)

In the group stage, 16 participants will be divided into two parts. Each group will play in the Double-Elimination playoff format (two losses for elimination), all matches will be played in the BO3 format. In this case, only three out of eight teams will leave the group, and the place is important. The winners of the groups immediately go to the semi-finals of the play-off stage, when the second and third places start this stage from the quarter-finals. As in the Play-In stage, all clubs will have the right to make mistakes.

Playoff stage (25.02-27.02)

After a short break, the main stage of one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year will begin. At this stage, the teams will no longer have the right to make a mistake, and in total there will be 5 matches. All games will be played in the BO3 format, except for the final, which will be played in the BO5 long format (up to three wins). The champion will be determined on February 27th and, in addition to the title, the top team in the tournament will receive $400,000.

Tournament participants

List of participants in the Play-In stage:

1. «FaZe»
2. «MOUZ»
3. «NIP»
4. «Sprout»
5. «Renegades»
6. «Copenhagen Flames»
7. «fnatic»
8. «Wisla Krakow»
9. «GODSENT»
10. «OG»
11. «ENCE»
12. «Entropiq»
13. «BIG»
14. «Complexity»
15. «Astralis»
16. «MIBR»

Teams directly invited to the main stage:

1. «NaVi»
2. «Gambit»
3. «Vitality»
4. «G2»
5. «Virtus.pro»
6. «Heroic»
7. «FURIA»
8. «Liquid»

The main favorites of the Play-In stage

Despite the loss of their main star, «NIP» are still the favorites of the Play-In stage. At the Blast Premier Spring Groups, the Swedes showed a good game and were just a little short of a successful result, and in the Play-In the level of play is even lower.

«Entropiq» can definitely be considered a favorite, even though the CIS team is underestimated. «Entropiq» got into good shape and showed it last year, being one step away from making it to the playoffs of PGL Major Stockholm 2021. In the Play-In, the team will definitely have no problems.

It's safe to say that «FaZe» will also pass the Play-In stage without any problems, despite the loss of ropz, who, unfortunately, is in quarantine. However, even with the replacement, the team is head and shoulders above their rivals, which the club could potentially meet. And already on February 19, ropz will be able to return to the team and help the club show a good result.