IEM Katowice Starcraft 2 Tournament – Who’s going to prevail?

As we all know, the IEM Katowice Starcraft 2 tournament is the big crown of the professional scene in this game. Therefore, yet another year has passed and it’s time to decide who’s the best player in Starcraft 2 today.

There was a lot of action going on in the qualifier tournaments throughout the whole year of competitive gaming. And it all comes down to the most skilled players, 24 of them. So, let’s take a closer look at what this tournament is all about and who’s going to take the trophy home.

Brief info about the IEM Katowice Starcraft 2 Tournament

Since this is the final tournament in the ESL Pro Tour for 2021 and 2022 year, it’s normal to see only the biggest names in the professional scene. Therefore, this tournament is also known as “Masters Championship 2022’’ and it’s definitely worth watching from the beginning to the end.

Group Stage & playoffs schedule

First and foremost, the group stage is going to take place on February 24th with the extreme action going on right at the beginning. There are 4 groups with 6 players, so the Round-robin system is going to be played in this stage of the tournament. Note that each group has a lot of diversity in terms of players’ origin, race, and EPT points.

The player positioned first in the group is going directly into the quarterfinals in the playoffs stage. Those who finish second and third are going to have to battle out in a round of 12. Therefore, the playoffs are going to be very interesting to watch. Furthermore, playoffs are going to kick in on the 26th of February and it will begin with the round of 12. The next day is going to be special because the winners of the first round are going to play against those who were first in the group stage. Players are going to battle in a single-elimination bracket to the end where early rounds are going to be BO5 while the grand finals match is BO7.

Top 3 players with the highest chances of winning

Those who were watching the Starcraft 2 pro scene throughout the whole year, know that Korea has an upper hand in the final tournament. Therefore, Maru, Rouge, and Trap, are players with the highest chances of winning this tournament.

Maru is an incredibly skilled Terran player with a lot of creativity and versatility in his play. Therefore, it’s not that strange to see him on the top of the EPT point board. Also, Bet365 is giving him 2.37x odds for winning the tournament.

Alongside Maru, there’s a very strong and disciplined player named Rouge. Everyone who plays Zerg knows that Rouge is a master of this race with a lot of “cheesy’’ strategies that actually work like a charm. So, it’s not that strange to see such low odds for him to win the whole tournament: 2.95x!

On top of that, there’s also the player who defined the whole meaning of the Protoss race. Of course, we’re talking about Trap. This player is definitely one of the top contestants for the throne. He just needs a bit of luck against Zergs in order to last until the end. That’s why he got 6.00x odds to win the whole tour.

Potential underdog winning

There’s always a Cinderella story following every big tournament. Therefore, we’re going to look out for some new blood and underdogs who are hungry for success and glory. From the given statistics and overall performance throughout the whole year, these are the potential underdogs who might have the chance of winning:

• Serral
• Time
• Zest

These players are actually quite good and have a lot to offer, especially when it comes to long BO5 matches. So, Serral definitely has the best chances of standing up to the before-mentioned trio. And, bookmakers are giving him pretty high odds for winning, 3.70. Besides that, highly skilled Terran player, Time, is definitely another underdog to look out for. He was performing well in professional tournaments last year, so it’s normal to think that he got the chance. Bookmakers are giving him unreal odds of 101x for winning the whole tournament.

Lastly, there’s a very successful and skilled player Zest that also comes from Korea, unlike Serral and Time who are coming from Finland and China. He is quite creative when it comes to expansion play and micro. That’s why bookmakers are considering him a pretty valid underdog to claim the throne with 15x odds.

Qualifier Tournaments

Since this is the crown of the season, all other tournaments were holding a slot for players. In that light, here’s a list of tournaments with qualified players.

• DH Masters – Maru, Reynor, Serral
• GSL Code S – Cure, Dark, Rouge
• South Korea Standings – Trap, Bunny, Dream, Zest, Solar
• Europe Standings – Lambo, Clem, Showtime, HeRoMaRinE
• NA Standings – Neeb and Scarlett
• Latin America Standings – Special
• China Standings – Time
• Combined Standings – Zoun.

As we can see, all these tournaments and standings are showing who qualified and how. Therefore, we recommend doing a bit of research before you make a bet. Feel free to check our bookmaker reviews.

Conclusion

All in all, this is going to be a blast! We’re looking forward to seeing who’s going to take the trophy home and which race is going to prevail. This tournament has a lot of matches and therefore, it would be a shame to miss out on this action and fun.

On top of that, IEM Katowice 2022 is offering such great odds to bet on and win a lot of money, especially if you know and follow these players.