Author:
Sophie
Publish Date:
11/02/2022
Experiences:
Esports enthusiast with plenty to offer!
Experiences:
Esports enthusiast with plenty to offer!
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Starting with the first Major event in 2022, the CS:GO professional scene is expected to blow as the IEM Katowice tournament is starting. Namely, this is a really big tour that opens the whole ‘’Pro Tour’’ season.
Whoever wins this tour is on a really good path to achieving great success in the upcoming year. Therefore, plenty of fun and creativity in play is guaranteed! To top it off, the prize pool of this tournament is $1 million which is definitely ready for the taking.
This is one of the biggest tournaments in the CS:GO professional scene and therefore, it’s considered a top event! That’s why many teams are putting extra effort into qualifying for this tour. There are teams that are directly qualified as well as those who have to battle it out in the Play-In stage.
When it comes to the format and tournament schedule, we’re in for a treat as the IEM Katowice CS:GO tour starts in less than a week. The first phase of the tournament, the “Play In’’ stage, is going to take place on the 15th and 16th of February. Here, 16 teams will battle out in a double-elimination bracket where only the top 8 teams advance into the group stage. The Play-in stage will start with BO1 matches for the first round, and BO3 for the second round.
After that, the group stage will start on February 17th where directly invited teams will have the chance to play against the top 8 from the Play In stage. This tour will use the GSL group format where all matches are BO3. This is perhaps the best and the fairest way of deciding who’s going into the playoffs.
Playoffs will be simple as in any other tournament. Group stage winners will go directly into the semifinals, and runner-ups will go to the quarterfinals as high-seeds. This leaves us with 3rd place teams who will go into the quarterfinals but as low-seeds. All matches are going to be BO3 and the grand finals are BO5.
As we all know, directly invited teams such as Navi and Gambit Esports have the best chances of winning this tour. However, there are other contestants that are equally strong and disciplined. For example, FURIA Esports is looking like a really interesting pick for a winning candidate, especially because they are coming from a different region. Namely, FURIA qualified for the main event as the best NA team. On top of that, Team Liquid is also hungry for success as they finished second in the Road to Katowice ranking for North America.
However, it’s known that Navi is probably going to take the trophy home since their best player Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev also known as ‘’S1mple’’ is in his prime! This guy is able to clean the map against 5 enemies in a blink of an eye. So, when it comes to IEM Katowice betting, be sure to check some of our bookmaker reviews. There is a complete list of all eSport betting casinos you can visit and see what are the odds for specific matches and overall tournament winners. Navi is the favorite in the majority of online eSport casinos, that’s why some are offering such low odds (around 1.8x) of them winning the tour.
Now, since this is the start of the season, it’s not unusual to see some underdog claiming the throne at the IEM Katowice 2022 CS:GO tournament. There are a lot of potential teams that can reach the semifinals with all odds pointing against them. Some of them include OG, NiP, and even G2 esports. To be perfectly clear, G2 Esports is positioned 3rd at the Road to Katowice in the EU, but they are certainly lacking something since the last 3 big tournaments they lost against Navi without a single map taken.
All in all, we will shortly see who’s going to get the trophy and rise up to expectations. And, for those who are looking to bet on underdogs, it might be a good idea to check our 22bet review, you can find everything you need there in terms of bonuses, odds, promotions, and more!
As we already said, the Play In stage is going to have 16 teams from all over the world. First, we have 7th, 8th, and 9th positioned teams in the EU Road to Katowice ranking. Second, there are SA and NA Road to Katowice teams that qualified successfully. The rest of the remaining teams were selected from the ESL World Ranking. Most of these teams are in great shape and are able to offer quite a lot, but it’s not clear whether they are able to claim the throne.
With everything we mentioned so far, it’s clear that this is going to be a really interesting tournament to watch, both game and betting vise. We’re in for a bloodbath the same moment the Play In stage starts.
In that light, prepare for some good games and exhilarating matches as this is a top CS:GO scene. Also, it’s a good idea to prepare for your betting as well, you can use some of our betting guides.