Hype has been building for Katowice since the new year and now it’s fast approaching. This year’s Katowice is looking to be one of the best as there is quite the array of teams competing for their share of the $500,000 prize pool. And if the past year of Counter-Strike has proven anything, it’s that it’s anyone’s game and no one knows what to expect in Poland.

SK Gaming

To no surprise, SK is one of the favorites. Whilst they don’t win as many events as they did during their explosive emergence in 2016, they are still at the top of the game. They seem to constantly find themselves in semis and grand finals. After losing out at the Boston Major and CS_Summit 2 the team is hungry to come back and win the next big event. Whilst players like Epitacio “TACO” de Melo and Ricardo “boltz” Prass are struggling to put up good numbers, they still represent a key part of the team in supporting the stars, Marcelo “coldzera” David and Fernando “fer” Alvarenga; the former having only two negative events since 2015.

In my eyes, SK’s main weakness coming into this tournament is Inferno. The team tends to struggle on the map but to make it worse for them, a lot of teams have incorporated Inferno into their map pool and a lot of them are top-tier teams such as Cloud9, Faze and Astralis. Inferno is by far the team’s poorest map with a win rate of 42.9 percent. That being said, they recently beat Na’Vi on the map 16-7. They don’t have much time to put into the map between now and Katowice, but they are slowly looking more and more competitive on the map and it’s quite clear that they have already put a lot of work into the map.

SK does have an interesting group, going up against newcomers, Avangar, first of all, this is a game that they should run away with given Avangar’s inexperience on LAN. But, assuming their next match is Astralis they will have quite the challenge. Then, if they somehow defeat the Danes, they will likely come up against Liquid or Cloud9, both of said teams seem to constantly defeat SK and this could prove to be quite a difficult match for them.

I feel like their success in this tournament will be dependant on fer’s form. He has been looking shaky of late, but after a nearly eight months of going positive at events, it’s hard to believe that it’s more than a slump. SK has also revealed that they have been focusing less on certain events to make extra time for the bigger ones and without doubt, Katowice is one of the biggest ones, so we will likely see a much stronger, more prepared SK in Poland.

Final Verdict: 6th-5th

Faze Clan

Faze, the runners-up in Boston, are looking to cement themselves as the best team in the world and although they have the stars to prove that they are in fact the best team in the world, their trophy cabinet is somewhat lacking. They did net themselves the first-place prize at ESL One New York and it was a similar story at the ECS Season 4 Finals. However, despite four first-place finishes in the past year or so, they seem to be constantly missing out by a hair with plenty of second and third-place finishes, including a second place finish at IEM Katowice 2017. They will certainly be trying to ensure that another first-place finish doesn’t slip through their fingers.

It would be bold to predict this team finishing anywhere below the top-four. Their in-game leader, Finn “karrigan” Andersen, is one of the best of all time and has proven so since joining Faze and transforming the team from a threat to the best in the world. At his disposal, he has four of the world’s best players. It’s easy to look to the flashy players like Nikola ”NiKo” Kovač and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács to win them games, but I want to draw focus to Håvard “rain” Nygaard.

The last time rain went negative was EPICENTER 2017 which is remarkable. He’s by far my favorite player on Faze because he hardly has a bad performance and whilst he’s not an explosive player like his teammates, he is an immovable object, often getting one or more kills per round and his impact on rounds is unquestionable. Rain really is an anchor player and it takes a pretty special player to take map control where rain is holding.

They have arguably the easiest group with only G2 and North looking like a threat. Their first opponents, ORDER, are far below them in skill and if Faze don’t win that match I will quite honestly be blown away. After ORDER, the team come up against NIP/North, most likely the latter, and once again, this game should be fairly easy for them.

G2 will probably be their final opponents and with an injured player, they are looking considerably weaker than Faze.

One negative amongst the positives is that Faze has been looking off since the Major. They’ve had some performances at StarSeries and were finally eliminated

by the shambolic Na’Vi, albeit Na’Vi played incredibly well. It’s hard to identify the exact issue but they just aren’t as dominant as they had been throughout the Major. I still think they are the best in the world despite this and if they find their feet again this tournament is theirs for the taking.

Final Verdict: 2nd-1st

Astralis

One of the many Danish teams at Katowice this year, and I’d say currently the best. This team was in peak form last Katowice and won the event coming off an incredible Major victory. They will most certainly be looking to defend their title and new signing, Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif, will be a key part of that defense.

While Astralis have been looking a little shaky of late, Magisk seems to have brought some new life to the team as they’ve been playing impressively since his arrival. In a recent interview with hltv.org, team captain, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, said this:

“He is really good, he has sick aim, he is really young and hasn’t peaked at all yet, so it was the perfect decision. He also fits perfectly into the system that I wanted to have, and he fits in socially as well, so that is really good.”

Astralis couldn’t really ask for more from a replacement for one of their top players. It seems like there’s a very positive and confident atmosphere about them and that’s a great thing to have going into such a huge event.

Astralis’ group is a competitive one and their first match against Renegades could be a brawl if Renegades play like they did in StarSeries earlier this month. Ultimately, Astralis should come out on top and then face SK in the next match, this could be quite a test and I think that it’s a fifty-fifty game if both teams are feeling it. Even though Astralis will have to bring their A-game against SK, I feel like they tend to play well against NA teams and if they end up against C9/Liquid I think they should win.

Astralis also have an ace up their sleeve in the form of Nuke, a map that the majority of teams still tend to avoid. If Astralis can pull out the Nuke pick it will almost certainly win them series’ alone since no one else seems as confident on the map as them. Despite their dip in form over the last few months, I think it’s only a matter of time before they’re back on top and quite fancy their chances at Katowice.

Final Verdict: 2nd-1st

Cloud9

C9 had an amazing run in Boston, defeating G2, SK and Faze in best-of-threes and defeating Astralis, Mousesports and Virtus.pro in best-of-ones. Their Major win was no fluke and they’ve proven that North America has the talent to challenge the best that Europe has to offer. But, coming off of that Major triumph they have been lacking. Even though results have been fluctuating the team still looks to be one of the best in the world and if they hit their stride in Poland the could easily demolish any opposition. However, I have my doubts that this will happen.

Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham seemed to have peaked in Boston and while he is still the best AWPer in NA, he’s not the same Skadoodle we were in awe of at the Major. But it’s not like he can’t stand up to the likes of GuardiaN or SK’s Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, especially not if he’s in good form. Jake “Stewie2K” Yip and Tarik “tarik” Celik are regarded as two of the team’s best but lately, they’ve found themselves sitting at the lower end of the scoreboard more often than not.

A scary prospect for C9 is that they may not even escape groups. If they want to make it to the playoffs they will likely have to defeat SK, Liquid and Astralis, quite the task. Hopefully, they can start strong and get themselves straight into the semis, otherwise, it’s going to be a scrappy tournament for them.

All it takes is for the players to find their form again and some consistency, then we could see C9 pick up their second premier LAN victory of the year. While I’d love to see C9 wreck in Poland, the way they’ve been playing recently tells me that it’s unlikely.

Final Verdict: 8th-7th

G2 Esports

The past 12 months have been reasonable for G2. The French superteam rose like a phoenix out of the ashes of the French failure after the Eleague Major 2017. Although they got off to a shaky start, they have gradually improved their consistency and are finally looking like one of the better teams once again. Picking up first-place finishes at Dreamhack Masters Malmö 2017, ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals and Dreamhack Open Tours 2017.

Every single player brings something to the table and all of them have proven they are among the best. However, Richard “shox” Papillon, one of the teams better players and the team’s IGL, will soon need surgery to treat a cyst on his right wrist. This could greatly affect his play and while he’ll still be able to lead the team, his impact may not be as high as it often is. If his injury gets the better of him, the team will certainly feel the loss of firepower and it will be up to star-AWPer, Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub, to go big and make up for the injured shox. Luckily for G2, this isn’t too much to ask since kennyS has only gone negative twice since MLG Columbus 2016. G2 couldn’t ask for a more reliable player and he absolutely has the potential to carry the team in the event that shox is underperforming.

Their group is a bit of a toss-up, it’s full of unpredictable teams such as Fnatic, Heroic and North and even though Faze will likely top the group, the remaining two places could go to anyone. I am expecting G2 to finish second in this group but I think that they could easily slip up if they’re not careful.

Final Verdict: 6th-5th

North

Some would argue that they are the second best Danish team, others would point to Heroic. I lean towards the former argument. Now some people wouldn’t even consider them favourites but I’m going to be bold and say they’ll make it to the playoffs.

North recently sold star-player, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, and veteran AWPer, René “cajunb” Borg. To replace the two players, they promoted the flashy, young, academy player, Daniel “mertz” Mertz, and stole away the superstar, Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye, from rivals Astralis. At first cajunb for mertz seemed questionable, but he has been playing fantastically since joining and offers up a fast, aggressive AWPing style, something that seems to be working great on the team. Kjaerbye is one of the best Danish players and at only 19-years-old he has proven himself to be amongst the best.

These two players have really brought new life into the team and even though North have been performing pretty average since the changes, this is the first break they’ve had to dedicate to practice and incorporating the new elements, considering their improvement without practice, I reckon they will be quite formidable in Poland.

Given their matches, they will likely find themselves in the Loser’s Bracket, but, this isn’t too bad since they seem to be better than the other potential losing teams. I think that if G2 and Faze stay in the Upper Bracket, North will be able to take the final spot in the playoffs.

North also boasts an incredible win rate of 100 percent on Nuke, a map that many teams avoid at all costs. If they manage to slip Nuke in a series against a team like Faze, SK or G2 they could absolutely cause an upset.

Final Verdict: 4th-3rd

Team Liquid

Since bringing in one NA’s best players, Keith “NAF” Markovic, Liquid have looked dominant. They were the unlikely winners of CS_Summit 2 and NAF won the hltv.org MVP award. But, it’s not simply NAF carrying, all the players seem to have stepped up since bringing him in and the team is looking stronger than they were at their run at ESL One Cologne 2016.

The lineup is still somewhat new after bringing in Lucas “steel” Lopes from Immortals a few months back and of course with the recent addition of NAF. Liquid were struggling somewhat after steel’s arrival and while he still doesn’t get as many kills as his teammates, he does have the potential to pop-off and regardless of his K/D he’s a solid support. Nick “nitr0” Cannella picked up as the IGL a while back and he’s certainly impressing in the role. He’s also doubled down as the team’s primary AWPer and vis proving very capable in that role too.

They are stuck in the harder group, but, after recent results at CS_Summit and StarSeries, I think they will take one of the top two spots, and if they play like they did at Summit, they should take the semifinal spot fairly easily.

I also have to point out the stalwart talents of, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, the later of which is only 18-years-old and is quite the monster. It’s very rare that either EliGE or Twistzz go negative and with the addition of the heroic NAF the team is looking reliable and consistent as ever. I really fancy their chances at Katowice and think they could even take the trophy if they’re in peak form.

Final Verdict: 4th-3rd

Heroic

A lot of people might overlook Heroic because they don’t have many stand-out/well-known players. However, they have been looking much better as of late and had an impressive run at CS_Summit 2, beating the likes of NIP and North; they even defeated domestic rivals Astralis 2-0 in EPL Season 7. They do seem to struggle somewhat against the better teams, with the exception of their fellow countrymen, but definitely have the potential to beat teams like G2, Fnatic and NIP.

Heroic also have one of my personal favorite players, Jakob “JUGi” Hansen. This young Dane is out of this world. The plays he makes are reminiscent of players like Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and coldzera. He can solo carry games when it’s required and wins rounds single-handedly most games. At only 20-years-old he hasn’t even begun to peak but he is already one of the world’s best AWPers.

But it’s not just the JUGi show, as every player on Heroic is more than capable of competing with the best and it’s always a team effort when they win. With the addition of ex-Dignitas player, Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel, the team is starting to look even better and after some practice, I’m sure they will be well prepared for Katowice. They also follow the Danish trend of having Nuke in their map pool and they can use that to win themselves a series or two. Team captain, Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer, was interviewed by hltv.org at StarSeries and he had this to say about his new teammate:

“I think he brings a lot to the team in different areas and he is certainly the guy we needed, there is no doubt that the roster change was the correct thing to do.”

The big problem I find with their chances is the group itself. It’s true that they have the potential to beat all of the teams in the group, with maybe the exception of Faze, but the format just doesn’t do them any favors. They will have a tough road and it will take victories over the likes of North, Fnatic and G2. I wouldn’t count them out, especially not after their run at the last Katowice, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up either.

Final Verdict: 8th-7th

Fnatic

Three years ago, Fnatic won the Katowice Major and did it in outstanding fashion, losing only a single map in the entire tournament. However, after gradually worsening results and shuffles galore, the team are a shadow of their former selves and some Fnatic fans would even be proud to see their team get to playoffs.

Fnatic was looking good at the Major and retained their Legend Status. However, since then they’ve been performing quite poorly and even crashed out of StarSeries i-League Season 4 without picking up a single win.

Not so long ago, the core of Robin “flusha” Rönnquist, Jesper “JW” Wecksell and Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson were regarded as three of the best players in the game. However, they’ve fallen into quite the slump and it’s hard to see them returning to their previous form.

Luckily for them, one of the newer additions, Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson, is starting to look a bit more consistent. Lekr0 is a fantastic player when he’s in form and his deagle is insane. KRIMZ is another one of the players who’s been looking better as of late, while he’s not quite as good as he was in 2015, he’s still good enough to compete with tier one opponents.

It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to anticipate Fnatic doing well, but statistics tell a different story. They have a difficult group and if they manage to defeat Heroic, they will likely come up against G2 and if they somehow win that, then they could be looking at Faze as their next opponents. The nin the losers bracket they could go up against fellow Swedes, NIP or the reworked Danish roster of North. Regardless of how they fare in their first match, it’s going to be a difficult group stage for them.

Final Verdict: 12th-9th

Gambit

Gambit is a strange team in my eyes. They rank amongst the best in the world and are one of the best teams in their region. However, they have a habit of losing games to underdogs, some recent examples being 22-18 loss against PRIDE, a 16-11 loss to the Finnish SuperJymy and a 16-6 demolishing by Team Spirit.

They recently picked up Na’Vi reject, Denis “seized” Kostin, and he has been performing sub-par in my eyes. On the few occasions he’s gone positive since joining Gambit it’s been by single-digits. He just hadn’t had the impact that you’d want to see from a new signing and I think he’s not long for Gambit if he continues playing like this.

If seized doesn’t step up Gambit will have a huge disadvantage at Katowice, especially since it looks like one of their star players, Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov, is in-game leading now, a responsibility that greatly affects fragging potential. Although seized isn’t the most comfortable in the role, I think it would be better for Gambit to have him lead instead, this would allow Hobbit to focus on fragging.

The biggest challenge for Gambit will be escaping their group, which is stacked with recent tournament winners such as Cloud9 and Liquid. I have my doubts that they will get out of groups and think they’ll crash out of the tournament with one win at most.

Final Verdict: 12th-9th

Renegades

More fondly known as, “the boys”, this Australian team are looking pretty solid since they added Norwegian, Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad. He’s had some great games so far for Renegades and seems to have gelled well with the boys. His inconsistency will be a problem coming into the tournament but if he can show up every game then the team could have a good run in Poland.

Another player that will be influential for the team will be AWPer and IGL, Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis. While he doesn’t boast great stats, they’re very misleading about his ability as an AWPer and leader. He often lacks kills because he’s busy managing the team but when he does get a kill his AWPing ability shines. I rate him as one of the better North American IGLs and I think he’ll continue to show his ability in Poland.

The group draw was unfortunate for them and if they pull a miracle and win their opener against Astralis, they will likely be up against SK. Then if they lose they will also be up against one of the two teams. If they somehow make it the Lower Bracket finals they could be up against Liquid or C9. There is no easy road for Renegades and I can only see them picking up a single map.

Final Verdict: 12th-9th

Ninjas In Pyjamas

The legendary team has been looking better since bringing in on of Sweden’s best, Dennis “dennis” Edman. He’s taken over the IGL role from Richard “Xizt” Landström and he’s been looking pretty good for NIP so far. He’s played four games with the team and his only negative game was the first, where he went -4, a promising statistic is that he finished the other three games positive with 20+ kills. He had fantastic fragging ability and is an equally good IGL. NIP will have had plenty of time to practice with their new captain and could do well at Katowice.

NIP is going to be looking to their AWPer, William “draken” Sundin, to be their star. He’s an insane AWPer and when he does play well, he plays very well. He plays with relentless aggression and he will always peek if there’s an enemy there. This does limit him a bit though since against a player with good aim he will likely get killed. This is reflected in his stats since even though he often gets 20+ kills, he only ever goes a few kills positive.

The same problem that affects the other underdogs’ plagues NIP, that problem being that their road through groups will be a rough one and unless they have some great tactics lined up they will struggle and could even go out with one or fewer wins. Beating North in a best-of-one is a possibility but unlikely with the way both teams are looking lately and even then, they will be up against Faze and I seriously doubt they could take down Faze in a best-of-three.

Final Verdict: 12th-9th

Virtus.Pro

Old dogs Virtus.Pro will be playing in front of their home crowd and this will definitely help them out. But, the crowd alone won’t win them games and they simply aren’t a good team anymore. It’s a hard pill to swallow but the legendary Polish team can’t compete at a high level anymore and tragically, this could be the last LAN that the team plays for a while.

New addition, Michał “MICHU” Müller started off well and it seemed for a few days that the team were on their way back up but it didn’t take long for both player and team alike to fall off and the last few maps have been quite poor for VP. They were steamrolled by Cloud9 recently at StarSeries in a series where they only picked up nine rounds compared to C9’s 32.

At this point, it’s hard for any Counter-Strike fan to watch, let alone VP fans and I think that everyone would like to see them do well in Poland. Their first map is against G2 and unless Virtus.Pro return to their old form all of a sudden this will be an easy win for G2. They also nearly lost a best-of-three to lesser-known South Korean team MVP PK and this shows that regardless of who ends up playing them in the Loser’s Bracket, they could end up without a single map, never mind a win.

Final Verdict: 16th-13th

Avangar

The final spot at Katowice was won, quite convincingly, by this upcoming Kazakh team. I was very impressed with how they played at the Farmskins Championship #2 because they defeated Space Soldiers and more surprisingly, Mousesports. Their run in the qualifiers displayed great skill and that they can compete against tier one and tier two teams.

So far this year the team is 22-9 and although a lot of these games have been online, it still demonstrates incredible talent and fortitude. However, their last LAN was the Eleague Main Qualifier and they underperformed quite a bit. I think the reason for this being that the team is still inexperienced on LAN and it’s a whole new world compared to online play. But, if the team do adjust to the conditions of LAN and carry over their online form, they could be a dangerous opponent.

SK will be their first opponents and I believe they could put up a fight I think in the end SK will take that game. Next up, the team should be up against Renegades and although they are probably just as good as the Aussies, Renegades have a lot of LAN experience and that should win them the game.

Final Verdict: 16th-13th

ORDER

Many people won’t know this team as they are quite new and this is their first tier-one event but they are quite a good team and could soon see themselves as the second best Aussie roster. Their road to Katowice was tough but in the end, they defeated Tainted Minds in a close best-of-five, that in itself is impressive.

They earned their place here but do they have the talent to progress? Well, so far, 20-year-old Jay “liazz” Tregillgaso is 211 kills positive for the team which is incredible. Not far behind him is Simon “Sico” Williams who is 200+ kills. This team definitely has the talent to do well. However, I believe they will suffer the same problem that Avangar has, which is the inexperience on LAN.

Although they have two veteran players, the remaining three are quite young and have never been to an international LAN, but none of the players have performed in front of such a large crowd. I think they will likely get destroyed by Faze in their first match and then after that, they will most likely be against NIP and this will be a very difficult game.

I would love to see them do well since they deserve their spot just as much as the other teams, but given the experience and ability of their opponents, it’s going to be dicey.

Final Verdict: 16th-13th

Tyloo

Tyloo is in the unfortunate position of being better than most of the teams in their region, but not as good as most of the teams out of it. They tend to make it to huge events like IEM, StarSeries and the Majors but never really perform well. They did manage to take out Fnatic at StarSeries last week but other than that they didn’t perform well at all.

Their stand out player is Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand and he is often incredibly consistent but at StarSeries i-League Season 4 he was quite disappointing. If Tyloo is to stand a chance then BnTeT is going to have to come up big.

They’ve been put in the more difficult group and will have to defeat the likes of Cloud9, Gambit, Liquid, Astralis and SK if they want to make it past groups. Unfortunately for them, they are below all of these opponents and I don’t see them picking up a win at this event.

Final Verdict: 16th-13th

All in all, IEM Katowice 2018 is going to be an incredible event with competitive groups, an amazingly talented line-up and a good mix of legends and newcomers. I think that regardless of who wins, Katowice will be full of close games, flashy plays and hopefully, a few giant-killings.

Images have been sourced from hltv.org and intelextrememasters.com.