IEM Katowice group B: first results and predictions

The group stage of IEM Katowice has begun and the first group B matches are scheduled to be played this weekend.

This group is full of amazing teams that could finish the tournament in the top four. The most important of them are Team Vitality, Outsiders, MOUZ, and Heroic. Ninjas in Pyjamas could also surprise everyone with their performance.

A quick look at the favorites

The top three favorites in group B of IEM Katowice are Vitality, MOUZ, and Heroic. However, their spot in the playoffs is not guaranteed because there are lots of other strong teams they’ll have to beat.

Vitality will be hard beat because Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is in great shape. He already won his first match of the group stage and was the MVP with 47 frags and just 31 deaths. The score was a quick 2-0 and the unlucky opponent was Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Vitality’s next match will be against the winner of the match between Fnatic and Outsiders. Normally, Outsiders should win quite easily. After all, they are the winners of the IEM Rio Major and have a high ceiling. The only problem is that their floor is extremely low and their consistency level is not good at all.

If Outsiders are in great shape and have trained properly for the tournament, they will win without losing any map. But if not, Fnatic could take this.

MOUZ are not to be underestimated. They finished third-fourth at the last Major and have a very capable roster. Their path to the upper bracket Final looks relatively easy, but they will need to beat OG and possibly Heroic to qualify for the playoffs directly. Otherwise, they’ll need to take the long road through the lower bracket.

MOUZ are currently ranked 8^th but their real strength is considerably higher. However, just like with Outsiders, MOUZ are a volatile team. A lot depends on their current form.

The highest ranked team in this group is Heroic. For Casper “cadiaN” Moller, this tournament is a great opportunity to start the new year with an S-tier trophy. His team did well in 2022 and had a decent result at the first CS:GO event of 2023: fourth – sixth in BLAST Premier Spring Groups.

Heroic’s first test in group B will be Complexity. These two teams don’t meet each other that often because one is from Europe and the other is from North America. But based on what we’ve seen from Complexity in the play-in stage, Heroic should win the match with ease.

Header: ESL