IEM Katowice 2022 starts tomorrow but not for all the teams. Directly qualified teams will wait until February 17 for their opponents to be determined. They qualified for this with their success in Road to Katowice Europe and North America.
In IEM Katowice 2022, where 24 teams took part, 8 teams are directly qualified. Together with you, we will look at the four strongest of these 8 teams, namely the four horsemen, who are actually the favourites of the tournament.
Team Vitality
We start our list with Team Vitality. Team Vitality, having a successful Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history, has also been progressing quite well lately. They were one of the three most successful teams in one of the most recent tournaments, BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022, by beating G2 Esports 2:1 in the final. They also placed third at BLAST Premier: World Final 2021. In the IEM Winter 2021 tournament, they became champions with an overwhelming 3:0 win against Ninjas in Pyjamas. They finished Road to Katowice EU in fourth place. It would not be wrong to say that such a successful team is one of the favourites of IEM Katowice 2022.
G2 Esports
G2 Esports is the next team we will talk about. Although they have performed above average in all the tournaments they have participated in recently, they could not reach the championship they were looking for. G2 Esports lost 0:2 to NAVI in the grand final of the PGL Major Stockholm 2021. After a long break, they want to become champions again and break their chains. They finished third in Road to Katowice EU and are determined to be champions at IEM Katowice 2022, do you think they will?
Gambit Esports
Next up is NAVI's biggest competitor, Gambit Esports. They are a team that gives a feast to CS:GO viewers. They were champions at the V4 Future Sports Festival - Budapest 2021 and Funspark ULTI 2021. They eliminated Entropiq in the finals of both tournaments. Since NAVI's unstoppable rise began, Gambit Esports, which has not been champion in the tournaments where NAVI takes part, dominates the tournaments where NAVI is not present. The fact that they lost the title to NAVI at BLAST Premier: World Final 2021 is an indicator of this. May Gambit Esports, second place at Road to Katowice, be champions this time in a tournament featuring NAVI?
Natus Vincere
The last team we will talk about is Natus Vincere, who became an unstoppable force from mid-2021 and onwards, winning every tournament they participated in, including the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, losing against Gambit Esports in IEM Fall: CIS 2021 only. NAVI finished Road to Katowice in the first place. However, they were 4th-6th in the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2022. Is their downfall starting or was it just a one-tournament loss of performance? Will they give their opponents a chance to be a champion this time?
Besides these four amazing teams, there are four other magnificent teams as well. Heroic, eliminated in the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 semifinals, ESL Challenger $48 champion Virtus.pro, strong team FURIA Esports who have been chasing success for a while, and North America's honour Team Liquid are other teams that will start from the group stage.
Who is your favourite at IEM Katowice 2022? You can watch the matches of your favourite team on Luckbox and place bets on them.
