IEM Katowice 2021: The Teams To Follow

IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) Katowice 2021 kicked off on the 16th February as the fourth major event of 2021 in the competitive CS:GO calendar, and marks the continuation of the third season of the Intel Grand Slam.

Along with Cologne, Katowice is arguably one of the most important cities in the world of CS:GO, having hosted annual IEM events in the game ever since 2013. IEM Katowice 2021 will be hosted in an online format, and started with a double elimination play-in between 16 sides hoping to make it to the main bracket. Eight sides from the play-ins will join up with the eight of the already qualified teams across two groups in another double elimination competition until only six sides are left for the final play-offs. The winners of IEM Katowice 2021 will enjoy the lion’s share of the $1 million prize pool, taking home roughly $400,000 for a first place finish.

Here are some of the sides you should be looking to follow.

Team Vitality

2020 was a year that saw Team Vitality redefine the CS:GO competitive scene, and subsequently soar up the CS:GO odds for the events they attended throughout the Autumn and Winter. Following the loss of their longstanding British-born IGL ALEX, Team Vitality became one of the first sides in the history of the game to introduce a sixth man to their roster with the addition of Nivera. They would become the first team to make an in-game substitution midway through a series, and the rotation between Shox, Nivera and Misutaaa on Dust II, Inferno and Nuke has become the best examples of the benefits of this set up at work.

On top of that, the results have so far been pretty telling on the whole. The side climbed to the top of the HLTV World Rankings for the first time in September, before enjoying another ten weeks at the summit across November 2020. The addition of Nivera took the pressure off the likes of Shox and Misutaaa for certain maps and seemed to rejuvenate the team as they broke their trophy drought twice in the year at the BLAST Fall Finals and IEM Beijing.

However, their loss to Astralis at the IEM Global Challenge in December ensured that they would miss out on closing 2020 on that fabled number one spot, and that inconsistency has spilled over into 2021 so far. Despite being once again nestled amongst the favourites, they missed out at the BLAST Global Final and BLAST Spring Groups in January, and are currently without their IGL Apex, who was put on a break due to a combination of burnout, stress and fatigue.

Whether Apex returns in time for IEM Katowice or not, this prestigious tournament marks a serious opportunity for Vitality to wrestle their inconsistencies and return to the heights they were beginning to hit earlier in the Winter.

Natus Vincere 

Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) arrive at IEM Katowice back at the summit of the HLTV rankings as the world’s best CS:GO side, and their form throughout 2021 has been impeccable so far. They recovered from a shock 2-0 sweep by Team Liquid to an unbeaten lower bracket run to the grand final of the BLAST Global Final in January, dismantling Astralis there and scooping up a cool $400,000 before winning their BLAST Spring Group earlier this month.

It was IEM Katowice 2020 last March that saw this current Na’Vi lineup really begin to flex themselves on the big stage, absolutely romping to the title with consecutive 16-5 wins over Astralis and a 3-0 clean sweep of G2 in the grand final. They rose to number one in the world for 11 weeks following the win last year, but were soon plagued by the chaos and inconsistencies that seem to follow the CIS org wherever they go. The presence of Astralis and Team Vitality, as well as the resurgence of the likes of Team Liquid, means nothing but a similar level of perfection is going to be acceptable for Na’Vi if they hope to retain their trophy in 2021.

Team Liquid 

Grand finalists at the 2016 ESL Cologne Major, Team Liquid rose to the summit of the world rankings in June 2019 and entered into an absolute golden age for the summer leading up to the StarLadder Berlin Major later that year, winning the second season of the Intel Grand Slam in a record sixty-three days. For the most part however, 2020 was a turbulent and transitional year for the NA side as they were left stranded in their online regionalised tournaments, which contributed hugely to their tumbling down the worldwide rankings and their decision to move on three year veteran Twistzz in December.

In their place have come two time Major winner FalleN and 20 year old prodigy Grim, as well as commentator and professional pundit Moses as the side’s new coach. Bootcamping in Team Liquid’s state of the art Alienware facility in the Netherlands, the team have found themselves back in the fold amongst the world’s best and their recent 2nd and 4th place finishes at the IEM Global Challenge and BLAST Global Final could be a sign of their progress.

The NA side made light work of a potentially hazardous couple of match ups against MiBR and OG in the play-ins and, with FalleN now firmly spearheading the IGL role, Liquid could be a potential dark horse to root for.