What can we expect from the IEM Katowice 2021 playoffs?
general information
Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2021 started on February 16 and has eliminated 18 participants since then, leaving the six strongest teams that made it to the playoffs. Ahead of us are very interesting, intriguing matches, the outcome of which will most likely not be the most obvious.
As a result of the meetings, Team Spirit and Team Liquid reached the semifinals. The four other participants represented by Gambit Esports, NAVI, Virtus.pro and Astralis will start their journey from the quarterfinals.
Only the laziest did not speak about the interim results of IEM Katowice 2021. Each media personality spoke about the dominance of the CIS teams in the championship with a positive attitude or not. Gambit Esports, NAVI, Virtus.pro and Gambit Esports have today become the embodiment of the hope of the entire CIS division, and according to various experts, in the final of this championship with a prize pool of $ 1,000,000, we will be able to watch the grand final with the participation of exclusively natives of the CIS countries, which happens very rarely.
NAVI vs Gambit Esports
In the first confrontation of today's game day, Natus Vincere and Gambit Esports will fight against each other. The winner will secure himself a minimum cash prize of $ 80,000 and will have the opportunity to compete with Team Spirit for the right to become the first grand finalist. This fight will be very interesting, as the giants of the CIS-scene, represented by s1mple and the company, will clash in the fight, and sh1ro with his comrades will be in the other corner of today's ring. The latter has already received universal recognition more than once and is referred to as a talented young esportsman showing great promise. For this reason, it cannot be said that if NAVI wins, then the game will be “one-card”.
Nevertheless, Natus Vincere still retains its status as one of the strongest CS: GO teams in the world and the most powerful CIS team. Recently, NAVI was at the top of the world rankings from HLTV, and now they are in second position, which is also not bad. Recall that the same Kostylev completed his participation in the group stage with the highest individual rating, which means he is in excellent shape and is ready to win.
During the tournament, NAVI defeated such opponents as FaZe Clan, Virtus.pro and FURIA Esports, but were defeated in a battle with Team Liquid.
Gambit, in turn, is in 15th place and is not even included in the top ten. A sensation may occur, but the likelihood of this is not as high as the fans of the Russian club would like. However, we should not forget that Sh1ro showed excellent results in the group stage. He became the best in six indicators, which you can read in more detail here. Matches with Natus Vincere are famous for their unpredictability, and therefore even Sh1ro may not show the best result.
You can read a more detailed forecast for the match between NAVI and Gambit Esports here.
Astralis vs Virtus.pro
Astralis and Virtus.pro will play against each other in the second quarterfinal match. In this confrontation, we will give our preference to the players from VP, despite the fact that Astralis, for objective reasons, looks like a more obvious favorite to win.
This championship is extremely unusual and the CIS-teams, as mentioned earlier, performed in the first rank, and therefore this attitude can remain until the end of the event. Virtus.pro showed an excellent result during the group stage, defeating Renegades, NiP, Vitality and FURIA along the way. The team could not beat only Natus Vincere and the match, unfortunately for the Russians, turned out to be unsuccessful. So much so that in total the team was unable to take more than 20 rounds on two maps. VP entered the top six CS: GO teams in the world. Before the start of IEM Katowice 2021, the team saw a decline in results, but now the team is already in good shape and is ready to try to defeat Astralis in this battle. If VP was able to defeat Vitality, then their triumph in the duel with the Danish squad does not seem to be some kind of fantasy.
Astralis recently faced various troubles, as a result of which the team stopped one step away from winning the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020, and at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 took 7-9 place in the standings. As part of this championship, gla1ve and his teammates defeated such teams as OG, mousesports and Evil Geniuses. The victories over the above lineups cannot be called impressive results, and if you consider that Astralis did not concede in the fight against BIG with a score of 0-2 and could not beat Team Spirit, having managed to take one map from the latter, then the confidence in Virtus.pro's victory will be even greater...
We invite you to read a detailed forecast for this match from one of our analysts.
Team Spirit and Team Liquid
The teams reached the semi-finals and will now rest until they meet with the winners of the quarterfinal match. On the one hand, they performed well in the group stage, and therefore have a chance of reaching the grand final, and on the other hand, an extra day of rest can go to the detriment rather than the good of the teams. If they want to win, then they shouldn't relax, they should train and watch their opponents in the quarterfinals.
Spirit will have to face the winner of the NAVI vs Gambit match. If Gambit wins there, then Spirit has a very good chance of reaching the final. If NAVI triumphs, then for Chopper and his teammates this match will most likely be the last one within IEM Katowice 2021.
Team Liquid will face the winners of the Astralis vs Virtus.pro meeting. If the Danes make it to the semifinals, Liquid will have serious problems, since everyone has long known about the regularity of the American team's defeats in the fight against gla1ve and his teammates. In the case of Virtus.pro reaching the semifinals, the situation will be easier.
4606Lord Matus
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