IEM Katowice 2023 group stage discoveries and losers

The group stage of IEM Katowice 2023 ended the day before, according to the results of which the teams G2 Esports, Heroic, Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Outsiders and Team Liquid advanced to the playoffs of the tournament. At the same time, the past four days of the championship prepared enough ground for discussions and presented an objective assessment of the current conditions of a number of teams. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the discoveries and losers of the group stage, bypassing the remaining participants of IEM Katowice 2023. Still, those teams that made it to the playoffs deserve special mention, but after the end of the tournament.

IEM Katowice 2023 group stage openings

In this case, we will talk about teams from which no one expected anything, but they managed to compete and declared themselves with several sensational victories. However, the sample is rather small, so only two teams will be represented here. However, this is enough for such a major championship, where only six playoff berths are available.

Complexity Gaming

One of the main discoveries of the group stage was the North American team Complexity Gaming. Already in the first match, the team imposed a struggle on Heroic, and, despite the final defeat, even managed to take one map. However, the team went even further, outplaying MOUZ and fnatic in the lower bracket. But if the Outsiders did not grow together, then Complexity Gaming still held a successful tournament, performing above expectations.

IHC Esports

Speaking of discoveries, the IHC Esports team cannot be ignored. The Mongolian team made itself known back in the Play-In when they eliminated paiN Gaming and FURIA, entering the group stage. Here the team lost to Team Liquid, but immediately after that, they again made people talk about themselves, as they knocked out Cloud9 from the championship. However, despite the subsequent defeat by FaZe Clan, the Mongols imposed a fight on the favorite and fought well on the Inferno map. Thus, IHC Esports left a pleasant mark, giving food for thought in the future.

The main disappointments of IEM Katowice 2023

Perhaps, in this case, it makes sense to name all the favorites who, to one degree or another, were left out of the playoffs. However, allowance must be made for such things as expectations and reality. For example, many people understood in advance that if Ninjas in Pajamas would fight for the best places, there would definitely not be obvious favorites. Secondly, OG's performances cannot be called a failure, since on the final day the team was forced to play with the coach due to flameZ's disease. In this way, the circle of really failed performances will narrow down and give more clarity regarding the overall performance.

FaZe Clan

Among the main disappointments is the FaZe Clan team. Everyone already knows that RobbaN's wards are trying with all their might to win the fourth season of the Intel Grand Slam. However, once again the team failed to keep pace. And it all started too well, since FaZe Clan outplayed Team Spirit in the class. But already in the semi-finals of the upper bracket, the team lost to G2 Esports in order to fly to the lower bracket. Here the team coped with the Mongols from IHC Esports, but in the final meeting they showed a terrible performance and were eliminated by Team Liquid. And if we take into account the FaZe Clan bracket, the team clearly did not live up to expectations, because with such rivals it had excellent chances to get into the playoffs of the championship.

Cloud9

In this case, everything is clear without explanation. The Russian team came to the championship with a spot change in position, but, as practice showed, interz was quite an excellent player. The way the buster defensive midfielder played raised a lot of questions as Cloud9 actually lost all of their maps on the B site and was terrible on defense. If you go through the results, the team lost to Natus Vincere and IHC Esports. But if in the first case everything is logical, then the defeat from the Mongols is a nail in the coffin. As a result, the team again appeared before us in a disassembled composition, once again pushing for changes in the composition.

MOUZ

No less disappointing game was shown by the MOUZ team. Several months passed from the IEM Rio Major 2022 semi-finals to two defeats by OG and Complexity Gaming, but the team did not come up with anything new. You can make allowances for the fact that the "mice" fought in each of the two matches. But, given the fact that the team had a direct invite to the group stage, it only makes things worse. As a result, MOUZ completely failed the championship without showing any specifics. And now there is a possibility that the team will return to the original and will again be considered something between "bad" and "very bad."

IEM Katowice 2023 takes place from 1 to 12 February in Katowice at the Spodek Arena. As part of the championship, 24 teams from the CIS, Europe, North and Latin America, Asia and Oceania are fighting for a total prize pool of $1,000,000, as well as a ticket to IEM Cologne 2023 for the winner.

Interim results of IEM Katowice 2023

• 1st place: $400,000 + ticket to IEM Cologne 2023
• 2nd place: $180,000
• 3rd-4th place: $80,000
• 5th-6th place: $40,000
• 7th-8th place: FaZe Clan and Complexity Gaming — $24,000
• 9th-12th place: IHC Esports, OG, fnatic and Team Spirit — $16,000
• 13th-16th place: BIG, Ninjas in Pajamas, MOUZ and Cloud9 — $10,000
• 17th-20th place: MIBR, ENCE, Sprout and FURIA - $4,500
• 21st-24th place: paiN Gaming, Evil Geniuses, Permitta Esports and Grayhound Gaming — $2,500

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