With the Challenger Stage now concluded, we move over to the second stage of the first CS:GO Major of the year, IEM Katowice Major 2019, where only the top eight teams will qualify for The Champions Stage. Which of the 16 teams will progress to latter stages? Read on for our IEM Katowice Major 2019 betting preview.
IEM Katowice 2019 is the first CS:GO Major of the year. Our What is a CS:GO Major? article covers in great detail everything you need to know about components of a major event. In short, the tournament is split into three stages; Challenger, Legends and the final Champions stage.
The Challenger and Legends stages are played with 16 teams using the Swiss format with eight teams progressing to The Legends Stage. The final Champions Stage is an eight-team single-elimination bracket under a best of three (Bo3) format.
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Follow Pinnacle EsportsKeep in mind, the outright odds that are listed below are only for teams that are playing in The Challenger Stage. For a complete list of outrights for the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, you will need to visit our specials board for CS:GO - IEM Katowice.
We already know the eight teams to automatically qualify for the Major based on their performance at the previous Major. Whilst they have already qualified, a fair bit of time has come and gone in between the two Majors so it would be worthwhile to review the teams individually.
Astralis (2.80*) start the Major in the Legend Stage, having already proven throughout 2018 to be the strongest CS:GO team of the current period. Having won last year’s FACEIT London Major and the first ever Intel Grand Slam, Astralis should be looking to continue their winning spree into 2019.
Another team that has proven to be a top contender is Na’Vi (13.12*), whok have had a bit of a bumpy ride since the last FACEIT Major. Having placed 5th – 6th place at ESL One New York 2018 and 13th – 16th at IEM Chicago 2018, they managed to find redemption at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2018 (bagging first place) and various other events throughout the end of 2018.
Pros and cons can be found with Na’Vi’s map pool, with their strongest being Mirage (73% win rate), Overpass (71%), Train (69%). Maps such as Nuke (33%) and Inferno (40%) appear to be their weaker selections.
MiBR (11.18*) started off in 2018 with an incredibly strong roster line up, but whilst they have had a fair share of success stories, they’ve also had their fair share of losses, more so to teams such as Team Liquid, Astralis, and Na’Vi. Their recent decline on HLTV ratings reflects these issues as well, peaking in fourth in October 2018 and now declined to ninth.
Probably one of the more underestimated groups comes in the form of Team Liquid (4.93*) who do not always make an appearance at as many events as the rest of the teams, but when they do turn up, they turn up in force. Having recently defeated Astralis and fnatic at the iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 as well at Na’Vi and BIG at ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, Liquid should be looking to turn a few heads.
IEM Katowice 2019 is the first CS:GO Major of the year. It is split into three stages, Challengers, Legends and the final Champions stage.
They also have impressive stats (as of the last six months) on maps such as Train (100%), Cache (77%) and Inferno (67%) and the majority of individual players (except Stewie2k) were reaching a positive K/D ratio of above 1.07.
FaZe Clan (9.14*) have an interesting approach to being consistent, you never know quiet know if they will turn up and perform on the day. However, over 2018, they have proven that they have what it takes, ending up as the winners in three huge finals against the likes of Na’Vi, mousesports and Astralis. FaZe now sit in an interesting position, and with the addition of AdreN to the roster, they should be looking at get out of their 51 win/52 loss on map pools.
Now we arrive at teams such as compLexity (204.35*), BIG (21.34*) and HellRaisers (51.85*). At the previous major, they surprised many with their performances - but in the build up to IEM Katowice 2019, haven’t really done much that is surprising.
BIG benched Smooya and replaced him with nex. compLexity benched ANDROID and acquired Rickeh and n0thing (stand-in) as the coach, and HellRaisers haven’t done or changed much.
We mentioned NRG Esports (15.24*) previously as being a team that, if underestimated, could make light work of the competition. After this, they went and won the Challenger Stage, going 3:0.
Keep in mind, a team that has directly qualified into the Legends Stage doesn't nessarrsily have an advantage over one that qualified through the Challenger Stage.
NRG have proven to be a real powerhouse of a team as of late. When we originally wrote the Challenger Stage preview, NRG were placed at ninth in the rankings, and are now sitting at fifth. As of the last six months, the team has achieved an impressive 80:43 win/loss ratio across 123 maps.
Renegades (34.57*) sat in a very particular position during the Minors and the Challenger Stage. The team mostly formed of Australian players have an interesting past six months, having made short work of AVANGAR, NiP and then finally ENCE (going 2:0). Keep in mind with Renegades, that not only do they have a positive win/loss ratio (32:15) but the players are also all sitting above 1.0 K/D ratio, with a team K/D ratio of 1.14.
ENCE Esports (21.34*) are starting to prove themselves on a much higher level of play. Since forming in 2018 they have won five competitions, including the IEM Katowice - Europe Minor 2019 against North and now have progressed to the Legends Stage of IEM Katowice Major 2019.
ENCE should be looking to cause a few upsets throughout the Legends Stage, as they appear to be a team able to learn from and capitalise on mistakes made previously. What makes the team stand out more is their lack of roster changes, and an impressive map win rate of 85:43 out of 128 maps.
Vitality (10.17*) looked as if they were off to be a bad start during the early stage of the Challenger Stage, having lost overwhelmingly to TYLOO, and then won through overtime against Grayhound Gaming. After this, it seems they got their equipment together and knew what needed to be done, going 16:1 against Vega and defeating Vici Gaming 2:0. Although they had a rough start, Vitality still have pretty noteworthy stats, having won 75:27 out of a total of 102 maps.
AVANGAR (39.94*) is the only team from the CIS region to qualify for the Legends Stage. Much like Vitality, they had a rough first round, after which they proved that the team of majority Kazakhstan players have what it takes to progress to the next stage. The team also bolster an impressive win rate on Overpass (83%), Cache (81%) and Dust2 (80%).
Probably to the surprise of many, NiP (34.57*), G2 Esports (34.57*) and Cloud9 (29.51*) all struggled heavily throughout the Challenger Stage. There appeared to be a lack of preparation for the most part from all three teams when going up against their CIS rivals during the earliest Swiss rounds.
G2 and Cloud9 had a simpler qualification round, having only lost one match. They then went on to qualify going 3:1, whereas NiP struggled against Renegades and Winstrike Team only to claw it back against Vega Squadron and Vici Gaming.
We saw it previously at the last Major and we will probably see it again this Major but the smaller teams, who haven’t always been at larger events, have caused upsets throughout before.
Last Major, it was compLexity and BIG who made their way to the finals, and now we’re more than likely looking to teams such as NRG Esports and ENCE who have the player ability to progress to the final stage of the competition.
But we also shouldn’t forget about the eight additional teams that are in the competition now, one of them being Astralis, who went from strength to strength last year, as well as Team Liquid who have proved to be just as consistent - but fell short of the mark.
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