It's time for the IEM Katowice 2023 semifinals! Just four teams remain in the tournament, and they'll be battling it out later today to see who will make it to the Katowice grand final.
IEM Katowice 2023: Heroic vs NAVI schedule and betting odds
The Playoffs have gotten off to a dramatic start, with both Outsiders and Team Vitality being sent home, leaving the victors to move on to the February 11 semifinals.
We are deep in the endgame of this year's tournament, with the four remaining teams competing for the lion's share of the $1,000,000 prize pool. The ultimate winner of this year's tournament will be revealed on February 12 and will receive $400,000 alongside an invitation to IEM Cologne 2023.
But the remaining teams will need to make it through today's semifinals to get there, as Heroic and Natus Vincere (NAVI) kick things off with their match at 14:30 GMT.
Heroic earned their spot in today's semifinal through their victory over Team Vitality in the February 7 Group B Final - thereby earning the right to skip out on yesterday's quarterfinals. Their victory over Vitality wrapped up a perfect run through the Group Stage, having failed to concede a single match - facing off the likes of Complexity Gaming, OG, and Team Vitality to make it to today's semifinals. Heroic are on fantastic form and have already matched their 2022 Katowice performance - where they ranked in 3rd-4th place. Win or lose today, Heroic have plenty to be proud of - but of course, they could be just days away from claiming absolute victory at today's tournament.
NAVI meanwhile have raised fans' hopes that they might be back on top form at Katowice this year, having more than made up for their relatively disappointing performance at the 2023 BLAST Premier Spring Groups, where they placed in 4th - 6th place. NAVI found themselves in today's semifinal via their victory in the quarterfinals, where they defeated Outsiders with a score of 2-0. It was just the latest victory in a long line of successes at this year's tournament, with NAVI having already defeated the likes of Cloud9 and Team Liquid, before falling to G2 Esports' hands at the Group A upper bracket final. Similar to Heroic, NAVI needs to win today to improve on their 2022 Katowice performance, where they also ranked in 3rd-4th place.
The odds are slightly in Heroic's favour here, at 1.70 vs NAVI's 2.16.
Heroic or NAVI - who are you supporting? We're rapidly approaching the end of this year's IEM Katowice, and you're not going to want to miss a moment of this semifinal match. You can see the full Katowice match schedule here, and why not take a chance of doubling your winnings with a Kato Bet Boost?
