IEM Katowice 2024 is just two days away, with the first big CS2 trophy of 2024 now up for grabs. We’ve seen what some of these teams are cooking at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024, but now the real action begins.
Current holders G2 come into the competition in mixed form. Can they retain their title, or will a new story be written at the Spodek Arena?
Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL
IEM Katowice 2024 Favorites
Like many tournaments of late, Vitality are the team at the peak of our IEM Katowice 2024 power rankings. Given their dominant form at the tail end of 2023, it’s hard to see a situation where Vitality aren’t in the running for the big prize at the end of the tournament.
We want to draw attention to Astralis, too. Their new roster has already looked far stronger than anyone expected this early into its lifespan. They beat Vitality at the BLAST Spring Groups, even without dev1ce playing up to his usual standard. If this is a sign of things to come, then we expect Astralis might actually have a real chance at competing for IEM Katowice 2024.
It’s hard not to mention G2 in this category. As winners of IEM Katowice 2023, they’ll be desperate to retain their crown. Inconsistent form over the last twelve months has robbed G2 of an era, and a statement win in the Spodek would be the perfect way to announce themselves on the stage once again.
Finally, when you talk about favorites, we’ve got to give special mention to NAVI. It’s all starting to click for this international roster, with w0nderful filling the boots of s1mple admirably, and iM starting to look like a real star fragger on the server. They’ve got the building blocks in place, now they just have to piece them all together. They came so close to a tournament win at ESL Pro League Season 18, a few months back, but Katowice represents a great opportunity to show they’ve got what it takes to get it over the line.
Take a look at our full CS2 power rankings for the teams at IEM Katowice 2024:
Vitality
FaZe
Astralis
NAVI
G2
MOUZ
Falcons
Spirit
Virtus.pro
Complexity
Cloud9
Monte
GamerLegion
BIG
Heroic
BetBoom Team
FURIA
ENCE
Eternal Fire
M80
Apeks
The MongolZ
Rooster
Rebels Gaming
New Astralis can be a real challenger in Katowice. Credit: AstralisCS on Twitter
IEM Katowice 2024 Underdogs
Everyone loves an underdog, and with 24 teams in play, there’s always a chance for an upset. IEM Katowice 2024 has its fair share of teams you wouldn’t tag as winners at first glance, but have the chance to cause some real problems.
The first main underdog is Virtus.pro. After grinding online tournaments throughout 2023, VP are back. Their slow, tooth-pulling brand of Counter-Strike is frustrating for anyone to play against, which can result in some strange results. Individually, you can see how Virtus.pro have leveled up lately. FL1T and n0rb3r7 have been particularly impressive, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Virtus.pro make a deep run at IEM Katowice 2024.
Credit: Joao Ferreira | © ESL
Our second underdog that you should watch out for is Spirit. After winning BetBoom Dacha 2023, Spirit are back on the radar led by sh1ro and donk. With a solid fragging IGL in chopper and two reliable players in magixx and zont1x on top of its two stars, Spirit are a problem for anyone. Both donk and sh1ro are the kind of players that can win a single map alone, and as long as at least one of them is active on the server, Spirit can rock the boat for the other teams in Katowice.
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