Five players to look out for going into IEM Katowice

On one side we have the seasoned veterans, those who can still surprise us with their incredible shots, with the clutches which everybody believes to be undoable, those who show that Counter Strike is about learning and that you never stop to do so, at least if you are willing to.

There are players that have a huge importance for their team killing-wise, there are players that fit in certain roles and in doing so contribute to the team in more ways than just pure KDR ratios, and there are players who combine many of the different shades into a character that sits at the very core of the team and is irreversibly bound and integral to the performance of said group of players.

Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács:

He is the number one AWP-player in the current state of the pro scene and he is an integral part, actually pretty much the linchpin, to his team Natus Vincere and their success. As covered in our team preview for them at this event, their performance often revolves around him and if he has a poor showing they usually finish off in a worse fashion or, against the likes of Fnatic, get obliterated. The good news is that he usually shows up. To stand in this huge arena once again and in general in a tournament of this scale and importance he will try to step it up as much as possible, so you definitely won’t want to miss him perform, because it is simply amazing to watch him play when he is in possession of his most dearest weapon.

It was really difficult to decide who to pick from Fnatic for this list. In a collection of seasoned veterans, Fnatic deserves to at least hold one spot, more actually since there are so many unbelievably good players to choose from in this squad. Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer is the best player in the world, which more or less would earn him a spot here automatically. Jesper “JW” Wecksell is back at using the AWP in the primary position for his team and has had stellar performances recently. That alone would qualify him to be standing here, but nonetheless it is necessary to shine a light on another player who has impact and importance for the team to a profound degree.

The focus of Counter-Strike has always been on tactics. With the release of CS:GO, it has progressively shifted towards the fragging aspect of the game, and in the wake of an era in which the fragging power of a team counts for more than its tactical awareness there is a need for in game leaders that can also perform. Many teams have upgraded, and in doing so players such as seangares, gob b, adreN, pronax and FNS had to make place for players that are capable of combining these two tasks within one body. Either the leading has been taken over by an experienced coach, or players such as Ex6TenZ or NBK take over the job whilst maintaining their core strength.

Robin “flusha” Rönnquist:

Flusha is the very definition of the aforementioned type of character. Seeing him perform so well it is hard to believe that he is setting up strategies and executions at the same time. He turns rounds around, he clutches, and he makes numerous kills for his team and simultaneously tries to keep the strategic strength of the pronax-era Fnatic alive. Five first place finishes in the last three months should be enough to safely say that he is doing a great job. In all the recent tournaments, Fnatic have set themselves on top of every other team, so it will be thrilling to follow them in their attempt to do it another time and flusha will have an integral part in that endeavour.

On the other side we have the up comers, the (not necessarily totally) new faces on the scene who surprise us with how much one is able to achieve without being one of the veterans and how much the young blood is able to stir up the professional scene. Some people have been a member of the scene for a longer period of time, however have not really had their break-out performance up until now. Others are new but have rightfully claimed a spot in this list and in the higher tiers thanks to the stellar capabilities that seem to be inherent rather than earned through time.

Nikola “NiKo” Kovač:

When NiKo joined the German prime squad mousesports in the end of last year, he already made the qualifier his own with the unforgettable 3k on Mirage, in which he just swept away three G2 members with three Deagle bullets in under three seconds. From then on he has displayed incredible aiming capabilities, not only with the aforementioned weapon but rather with everything available and has turned over numerous rounds for his team. Surely he is not new to the scene but Cluj-Napoca was the first major he attended, as well as his breakout performance that made him known in the scene as a very strong and skilled player.

Henrique “hen1” Teles

With his team, Tempo Storm, the former Games Academy squad, he had some minor international appearances, until the team got a spot for the American Minor tournament. From there on they have qualified for MLG Columbus, IEM Katowice and DreamHack Masters. Three times the North American teams have fallen short in their own qualifiers to a rather unknown team that had virtually no international exposure. A lot of this is due to hen1, the standout player for the team, who is constantly dominating the charts and in doing so even dominating the enemy teams that mostly are top NA opponents. It will be really interesting to see how, or to what extent, this performance translates onto EU competition, because their group will be really hard for them to come out of.

It was a tough task to decide on a fifth man. There are so many fresh faces, such as Lincoln “fnx” Lau from Luminosity, who joined the team in December and in his first international tournament already beaten the current top 5, except for Fnatic. But in reminiscence to the title and the purpose of this article it might be sensible to shed light onto another player that has, as of now, not really claimed himself a spot at the very top by his performance, but has the hopes of his team and the fans set into his very body.

Jacob “pyth” Mourujärvi:

It came as a total surprise when NiP announced to make him the fifth member of the team. Many others were assumed to be offered this position, but it looks like the organization has set high hopes for this man. As of now he has not had a breakout performance yet, but it is much more important to see whether he fits into the team synergy. People are on the edges of their seats in expectation of a strong NiP resurgance, and a key role in doing so will be attributed to this talent. The time he has spent in the United States prior to this has not been very fruitful, but nonetheless this chance he has been given to compete together with the very best against the very best might be just enough to let him develop the capabilities his organisation believes to see lying dormant in him.

Pictures taken from: mirccsgo.ru, aftonbladet.se (1) (2), mousesports.de, amazonaws.com, antyweb.pl