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This is the Final Lineup of IEM Katowice

After long days of fighting, eight teams have managed to qualify for the Group Stage (and thus main tournament... Fabio | 18. February 2021

After long days of fighting, eight teams have managed to qualify for the Group Stage (and thus main tournament portion) of IEM Katowice. NiP, Team Liquid, BIG, and mousesports are among the winning sides.

With so many high-profile teams in attendance, obviously not every squad could make it through the Play-Ins alive. Fnatic were amongst the losers. In a close Best-of-One, they lost out to OG, who had lost most of their matches versus the Swedes in the months prior. In the Lower Bracket, Fnatic were then overtaken by MIBR on an 0-2 scoreline.

THE FAVORITES TOOK A LITTLE LONGER

Teams like BIG and mousesports were expected to quickly win their matches and advance to the main tournament in no time. But BIG were stunned by a strong Team Spirit. As a stand-in for Sprout, Abdul “degster” Gasanov had previously shown to be competitive against the German forces. On Overpass, he proved his worth once again with a 20-16 performance and helped Spirit to a quick 16-11 win. Mirage got a little too close for comfort, but Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov stepped up with almost 30 kills. At the end, Spirit set themselves on top of BIG in a two map affair, thus throwing the German team into the Lower Bracket. There, Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and his men woke up to deliver a quick 2-0 striking blow to MIBR, in which the Brazilians only secured 10 round wins overall.

On a close 16-14 scoreline against Renegades, mousesports narrowly survived their first test. Christoph “dexter” Nong only managed to amass a 0.82 rating against his former teammates, but at least the calls were right and gave Robin “ropz” Kool a window in to find 28 kills. Afterwards, they met Gambit, who posed too strong a challenge on three maps. So mouz then headed down to the Lower Bracket, where Complexity were lying in wait.

Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and his boys shocked them with a a 16-8 win on the first map. When the team then mounted a 15-8 scoreline on Dust2, mouz stood with their backs against the wall. But dexter and his colleagues held it together and fought all the way through to overtime. On a 19-17 scoreline, mousesports stood victorious and sent the match onto a third map. There, they made quick work of Complexity and pulled through for a 16-3 victory.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF LIQUID, OG, MOUZ, AND THE REST?

The new mousesports lineup is growing with every match, but their performance should not be enough going up against the likes of Astralis and NaVi. The same holds true for Team Liquid, who may have qualified in two straight maps, but had changed their leadership structure just days ago. OG managed to take revenge on Fnatic for defeating them so many times before. But a loss to Team Liquid and a 2-1 over Cloud9 doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

The biggest question mark of the coming days will be the Eastern European trio of Gambit Esports, Team Spirit, and Virtus.pro. In recent months, VP have grown to be one of the strongest teams outside the Top 5, but they surprisingly failed to contend with the Ninjas in Pyjamas. A quick 2-0 over Renegades puts them back on the map. Despite facing teams like BIG, mousesports and Cloud9, Gambit and Spirit have made their way through to the main tournament. In G2, FaZe, Heroic, and stronger teams even, they will now have to compete with a different caliber and have to prove that they can actually keep up.