IEM Katowice 2023: Five incentives for the first major tournament of the year

Within hours of beginning his phase of play-inthe IEM Katowice 2023 The usual expectation is already generated. The huge Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament will kick off this February 1st and will do so in search of crowning the first winner of the year. From Poland, CS:GO will have its first major tournament in this new 2023, and expectations are as high as usual. The IEM Katowice You already know a lot of its formatbut also knows stories, which have been called to the stage to take the looks of the whole scene.

great teams, groups of death, transfer premieres and an unpredictable resolution. The seasonings of this first major CS:GO tournament of the year are ready to make IEM Katowice a tournament no one will forget. Embracing a narrative, a story or getting excited about a possibility makes each tournament unique. Katowice has never denied good CS, nor good stories to tell, which is why we will stand on five details that we should not lose track of in this IEM Katowice 2023.

Five incentives to see the IEM Katowice 2023

Known names and even a relative in the Play-In

Hard to believe, but it is, the IEM Katowice 2023 will have one of the phases play-in most charged in years. The historic tournament will begin precisely with this phase on February 1stbeing one of the play-in of which we should not lose footing. Not only the good level is guaranteed, we have names that you will love to follow on your screen. Although we will have teams that always stand out as Rage, BIG, complexity, fnatic Y ogIEM Katowice brings us some teams with more interesting details.

From the phase of play-in we will have to Cloud9, Ninjas in Pajamas Y ON, teams that bring something more than interesting to our delight. The ninth cloud will not only have its powerful quintet from the CIS, but will also debut its most recent signing Timur Tulepov «buster«. The Kazakh will wear the Cloud9 shirt for the first time and will do so trying to fulfill the aspirations of the team of fight titles. While another that will be released is Ninjas in Pajamas. The Swedish organization has had a new catastrophe in their quintet and has had to find a patch, and what a good replacement they have brought. Kristian Wienecke «k0nfig» will replace the outgoing hampus Poser, being IEM Katowice the ideal setting for the Dane to demonstrate his high level in a unique opportunity together with NiP.

And if we are already talking about more than recognized names that will be part of this play-in, We must talk about the one that makes us most proud. Our representative, Alvaro Garcia «SunPayus» will also make an appearance at this IEM Katowice with the set of ON. The Finnish squad will have a very tight key, possibly having to pass over the aforementioned Cloud9 to qualify directly. However, a lot of attention was paid to ENCE, which, if it advanced to the main phase, would put a Spaniard among the best in an IEM Katowice. Just thinking about it makes you revalidate if it is true that one of ours could make a presence in one of the tournaments suitable only for the largest.

FaZe Clan returns to where it all began

The IEM Katowice It is the setting for good CS and great stories, like the one about FaZe Clan in 2022. The European quintet returns with a smile, remembering that that same stage was where it all began a year ago. FaZe is in the work of raise a title again. Those led by Finn Andersen «karrigan» They have been in a ‘drought’ for more than 6 months, something that would be normal for many, but for these monsters it is unacceptable.

FaZe Clan wants to revalidate its position as the best team in CS:GO and for this reason it will be the main contender for the title. Although FaZe don’t just want to defend the title so as not to see anyone else celebrate at the Spodek. As of this IEM Katowice, FaZe Clan races against time to win the IEM Grand Slam and the prize of 1 million dollars. The organization cannot see the train go by and that the titles it won in the past calendar begin to fade in the Grand Slam race. Finally, the organization will not have it easy, there are multiple sharks around its title, and many closer than they think.

The Group of sharks, the A indicates the danger

If we were talking about FaZe Clan and the dangers that threaten their title defense, we are talking directly about the Group A. In the absence of 50% of its members, IEM Katowice Group A indicates dangeralthough the risk is short when we talk about an assured death. FaZe Clan will have companions to Natus Vincere (NaVi), G2 Esports Y Team Liquidstill remaining to know who will reach the group through the play-in. The signs that indicate this group are two and very noticeable: Insured matches and an exit ticket that no one wants to take.

Among these four high-calibre teams, and the other four that will arrive from the previous phase, Group A will only advance three to the playoffs. Although the names already promised high-level matches, the small window against so many big names will make everything more intense. While FaZe have a need to return to the Spodek, NaVi Y G2 They will not be in the work of fulfilling other people’s favors. The Ukrainian organization is looking forward to good results since his changes, so returning to a big stage will mean everything and even more when it comes to nurturing young Andrii Kukharskyi with experience «npl«.

For his part, G2 Esports also does not expect to miss the opportunity to return to Spodek. The stage already had the samurai in the 2022 Grand Final and this year they return with all the intentions of equaling or improving said result. The last team to lift a trophy will continue to charge for more, a mission that will always have footsteps close by Nikola Kovacniko«.

Premiere between Major champions

Although many teams will have players debuting at this IEM Katowice, the young Aleksandr Anashkin «KaiR0N-» will take many of the looks. The Russian player will debut in a major tournament at the age of 18 together with the champion squad of the last Major, Outsiders. KaiR0N- He arrives at the IEM Katowice, and in 2023, as one of the emerging figures to follow closely. The young Russian player took the big step to Outsiders after the recommendation and request of captain Dzhami Ali «James«. The MVP of the Major was full of praise towards KaiR0N- in the last HLTV Awards and he put him in everyone’s sights by joining his squad when it had just lifted the highest CS:GO title.

KaiR0N- It will not be easy, although Outsiders have avoided falling into the group of death, Group B is not free. Outsiders should be one of the three to advance in a group that currently has Vitality, heroic Y MOUZ. Anything can happen between these teams, adding that we can take to see a Cloud9 either NiP landing here to further adjust the contention. Even so, the premiere of KaiR0N- will be the fundamental thing to follow on the part of an Outsiders that seems to continue for a while longer, far from the colors of Virtus.PRO.

The first big step before looking for glory at home

Finally, the IEM Katowice will bring us one of the teams we will talk about the most in the near future, Team Vitality. The French team will have its first big test, one of many that it will have to face to get ready for the BLAST.TV Paris Major. Vitality will not only be local in the next Major, the bee team will have all the pressure on top of raising the first Major held in his country originally. But for this, many things are still missing, such as IEM Katowice 2023, in which Vitality must begin to give impressions according to the expectations of their names.

It’s been a year now since Vitality severed part of its French ties to unite the ex-Astralis core of magisk, dupreeh Y zonic. After so much change and the arrival of Lotan Giladi «Spinx«, the last piece that would crown the project, Vitality must begin to rebound high. The team already has counted with the fingers of one hand the opportunities that he has left to get ready for the BLAST.TV Major in Paris. That is why from here to the Major they must all be outstanding qualifications for a Vitality that has formed and has a Mathieu Herbaut «zywoo» who knows a lot and enough about outstanding.

IEM Katowice will start on February 1st with the phase of play-in. while the group stage shall from 4 to the February 7th resolve who will advance to Spodek. The imposing and historic Polish setting will host the best CS in the world on days 10, eleven Y February 12. The latter being the designated date where we will meet the IEM Katowice 2023 champion. You can follow the entire tournament through the official ESL channelsincluding the channel ESL Spainwhere the great tournament will be held with the most important voices of our community.