Scheduled to be the inaugural event of the Counter-Strike Intel Extreme Masters series in 2024, IEM Katowice will feature a LAN format in the Polish town of Katowice.
The selection process involved a combination of ESL’s world ranking and victories in various ESL tournaments.
Kicking off on January 31 with the play-in stage, 16 teams will engage in a double-elimination bracket.
Teams facing two losses will be eliminated, while those securing two wins will advance to the main event.
Subsequently, eight teams from the play-in will progress to the group stage, commencing on February 3, joining the eight teams directly invited.
In the group stage, the initial teams will be distributed into two double-elimination best-of-three groups.
Teams securing first place in their groups will advance to the semi-finals, while the second and third-placed teams will head to the quarter-finals.
The grand final of IEM Katowice 2024 will be a best-of-five showdown.
The tournament organizers recently unveiled the seeding of the participating teams through their official social media channels.
Notably, the complete list of participants, including those in the play-in stage and those directly entering the group stage, was simultaneously disclosed.
ALL 24 TEAMS INVITED TO #IEM KATOWICE 2024
Which teams do you think are going to set the Hall of Heroes alight?
Group Stage
Play-in Stage pic.twitter.com/QUYWyi0M6P
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 18, 2023
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The British esports organisation is now back to having five players, after parting ways with Cai “?CYPHER?” Watson and Sebastian “?volt?” Malos earlier this year. This occurred following their quarter-finals finish in the BLAST.tv Paris Major.
NEOFRAG, who joins Into the Breach from OG, reached the semi-finals of the Global Esports Tour Dubai 2022 and BLAST Premier World Final 2022 with his previous team. He was one of the casualties of OG’s recent revamp in July, leaving the team with a 1.00 rating after over a year in the lineup.
Initially, NEOFRAG made a name for himself as a SINNERS player, holding a 1.18 rating over a period of two years. However, he failed to replicate this performance in the international squad.
Bymas, meanwhile, had previously played for MOUZ between September 2020 and February 2023. He was placed in free agency earlier this year, after being moved to the bench in August 2022 to make room for academy player Dorian “?xertioN?” Berman.
Bymas stayed in the inactive line-up until officially parting ways with MOUZ in February of this year. His move to Into the Breach marks his return to competitive gaming a year after his final LAN event, the IEM Cologne, where his team reached the quarter-finals before Bymas was benched.
Marvin “Punico” Matthes, Into the Breach’s Head of CS:GO, welcomed the new players in a statement, revealing the organization’s intentions to reach the top 15 with the new lineup.
“After the departures of volt and CYPHER, we had to look for international replacements with enough experience to finalize our roster ahead of IEM Cologne and the CS2 release,” Punico said.
“We are thrilled to welcome NEOFRAG and Bymas, two young and promising players, to our team. With this new roster, we aim to maintain a place within the top 15 and continue to attend EPT and all other Big Events in the future.”
Into the Breach’s current roster includes NEOFRAG, Bymas, Karol “?rallen?” Rodowicz, Thomas “?Thomas?” Utting, and Joey “?CRUC1AL?” Steusel, with Gustavo “?Juve?” Alexandre as coach.
The organization debuted their updated CS:GO lineup in the Gamers8 2023 open qualifiers, where they suffered a 10-16 loss on Inferno to MB.
Into the Breach is set to participate in the Extreme Sports League Pro League Season 18 NC Europe Qualifier from July 14 to July 16. They will face off against the winner of the ECLOT vs. ex-Genk match in their opening game. They are also slated to take part in IEM Cologne 2023 at the end of the month.
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#IEM SYDNEY 2023 is now SOLD OUT
������������������������������ 100%
Thank you for the incredible support! We can't wait to see you all in October! pic.twitter.com/EwC97n9MOW
— ESL Australia (@ESLAustralia) June 29, 2023
In the space of eight days, General Admission, General Admission Plus, Premium, and God Mode tickets were all snapped up.
ESL is calling this event ‘The Big Reunion Down Under’ because it has been four years since an IEM CS:GO tournament was held in Australia.
IEM Sydney begins on October 16 with three days of group play in a studio, followed by three days of playoffs from October 20-22 at the Aware Super Theatre in front of a live audience.
The teams travelling to Australia have not been announced, but since it is a $250,000 IEM event with automatic entry into IEM Katowice 2024 on offer for the champion, a strong field is expected.
IEM Sydney, also known as IEM Fall, will be the final Intel Extreme Masters event of 2023 and the third-to-last S-Tier tournament of the year.
It's time for THE BIG REUNION Down Under
After over 1,500+ days we are heading BACK to Australia!
#IEM Sydney | October 20 – 22, 2023 pic.twitter.com/Dzrjf7NwRi
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) June 20, 2023
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The organization’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive General Manager, Graham “messioso” Pitt, revealed that the Norwegian player has yet to receive a visa to travel for the tournament. The event is set to take place in a few weeks in Dallas, USA. Complexity were sent an invite as ESL’s partner.
This is not the first time hallzerk has encountered visa and immigration troubles in the past months. The player faced similar issues last month ahead of the BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR, which took place in Monterrey, Mexico.
Hallzerk was fortunate enough to get a temporary passport at that time, allowing him to participate in the American RMR.
There has seemingly been little progress on the visa front since then, as the player is still encountering the same problems. Complexity is reportedly searching for a substitute for the tournament, in case hallzerk is unable to make it in time.
Since joining Complexity in place of Paytyn “junior” Johnson last year, hallzerk has proven to be a great addition to the team. During his stint, Complexity briefly rose to No 8 in the world rankings and reached a top-eight finish at the IEM Katowice 2023.
In related news, Complexity’s IGL Johnny “JT” Theodosiou, who was born in South Africa, recently received Portuguese citizenship. Like hallzerk, the player also faced similar long-time visa issues until acquiring a Portuguese passport as a result of his mother’s Portuguese citizenship.
This does not absolve JT of all visa issues in the future; however, a European Union passport allows the owner to access several visa-free countries.
Complexity were recently beaten out of the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage by Team Liquid with a 2-0 scoreboard. This is their second match against each other in recent months, having previously faced off during PGL Antwerp.
The IEM Dallas 2023 is set to kick off on May 29 and will conclude on June 4.
]]>The top four teams in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive world rankings – G2 Esports, Heroic, Team Liquid and FaZe Clan – will take their place at the event in Dallas, Texas.
As well as being hungry for another trophy, FaZe Clan will have another chance to take out the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Grand Slam, if they don��t complete it in ESL Pro League Season 17 or the IEM Rio Major.
The LAN event will host 16 teams competing for a share of the $250,000 prize pool and the $100,000 winner’s cheque, combined with a spot at IEM Cologne 2023.
There will be three local hopes from North America, with the top hope being world no.3 Team Liquid, followed by world no.11 Complexity and the struggling Evil Geniuses, who received the ‘Local Hero’ invite.
FURIA and Outsiders were the only South American and CIS teams to be invited, with MOUZ and ENCE rounding out the invitations, the latter looking to go one better than last year after being beaten by Cloud9 in the grand final.
There is still one more invitation to be handed out based on the CS:GO ESL world rankings, so if one of the top 10 teams finish high up in ESL Pro League 17, we could see them get the last invitation.
The last five teams will have to qualify through closed qualifiers, with two coming from Europe and one each from North America, South America and Oceania, with those qualifiers set to be played in late March and early April.
Below is the list of teams attending IEM Dallas 2023:
- G2 Esports
- Heroic
- Team Liquid
- FaZe Clan
- Outsiders
- ESL World Ranking
- European Qualifier
- European Qualifier
- Complexity
- MOUZ
- ENCE
- FURIA
- Evil Geniuses
- North American Qualifier
- South American Qualifier
- Oceanic Qualifier
YOUR #IEM DALLAS 2023 INVITED TEAMS!
@heroicgg @TeamLiquidCS @G2esports @FURIA @ENCE @Complexity
Outsiders@FaZeClan @mousesports @EGCSGO
TBA5 teams from the regional closed qualifiers will also be joining them! pic.twitter.com/0SvH2FnyU7
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 27, 2023
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The event will feature a total prize pool of $250,000 and will be held directly between the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMR events and the Major itself.
Coach Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira and his team were selected based on a sole invite which was designated as “local heroes,” ensuring that there would be at least one team from Brazil competing on home soil. The franchise have been the pride of Brazil, having won the ESL Pro League Season 12: North America. They had also finished 3rd-4th at ESL Pro League Season 15 and the recently concluded Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022.
Brazil, we're coming back.
Meet all the teams invited to #IEM Brazil 2023 in April!
@natusvincere @FaZeClan @TeamVitality@NIPCS @mousesports @FNATIC @FURIA @heroicgg
Outsiders@C9CSGO @OGcsgo pic.twitter.com/MV3YQJNoKL— Intel? Extreme Masters (@IEM) January 23, 2023
ESL shared that six teams including FaZe Clan, Vitality, and Natus Vincere were given direct invitations based on their partnership with the event organizer. They also revealed that the remaining four teams invited were selected based on their position in the global rankings system.
ESL also announced the teams that will be participating in the regional closed qualifiers for the Intel Extreme Masters Brazil tournament. In the European qualifier, top teams such as ENCE, BIG, Bad News Eagles, and Sprout will be competing, while the South American qualifier will feature 00NATION and 9z. In the North American qualifier, competing teams include paiN Gaming, and Complexity, while Lynn Vision and IHC will be battling for a spot in the main tournament from the Asia qualifiers, representing their respective regions.
Here are all the teams invited to the #IEM Brazil closed qualifiers
Europe:@_badnewseagles @ENCE @BIGCLANgg @sproutGG
South America:@ZeroZeroBRASIL @9zTeam
Asia:@ihc_esports @Lynnvision_
North America:@Complexity @paiNGamingBR pic.twitter.com/ZlLTSQrgnJ
— Intel? Extreme Masters (@IEM) January 23, 2023
These teams will have the opportunity to earn a spot in the main event through the closed qualifiers. The competition will be fierce as teams will be looking to secure a spot in the main event and the chance to compete for the $250,000 prize pool.
The closed qualifiers will take place in the weeks leading up to the main event, with the top teams from each region earning a spot in the tournament. This will add an extra layer of excitement to the competition as fans will be able to watch the up-and-coming teams battle it out for a chance to compete against some of the best teams in the world.
The tournament which will feature some of the best teams from around the world will provide an opportunity for the Brazilian team to showcase their skills in front of home fans. The team has been performing well in recent tournaments and will be looking to continue their success at IEM Brazil.
2023 Intel Extreme Masters Counter-Strike Teams
Below is a complete outline of the teams participating in the tournament and the regional closed qualifiers.
North America Close Qualifiers
South America Close Qualifiers
Europe Close Qualifiers
Asia Close Qualifiers
More esports news ]]>
Currently, the 2023 IEM timetable already has eight CS:GO teams that have qualified for the main tournament; the rest of the teams will try to qualify for the main event in the play-ins, which are scheduled to be held on February 1st.
Below is the schedule for the 16 CS:GO teams that will compete against each other in the play-ins:
Counter-Strikes 2023 IEM Katowice Teams
Team SpiritGrayhound Gaming
�� Simon “Sico” Williams
�� Joshua “INS” Potter (IGL)
�� Alistair “aliStair” Johnston
�� Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas
�� Declan “Vexite” Portelli
�� David “Kingfisher” Kingsford (Coach)
MIBR
�� Raphael “exit” Lacerda (IGL)
�� Matheus “Tuurtle” Anhaia
�� Breno “brnz4n” Poletto
�� Henrique “HEN1″ Teles
�� Felipe ” insani” Yuji
�� Bruno “BIT” Lima (Coach)
Ninjas in Pyjamas
�� Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
�� Hampus “hampus” Poser
�� Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin
�� Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen (IGL)
�� Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov
�� Daniel “djL” Narancic (Coach)
IHC Esports
�� Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren (IGL)
�� Sodbayar “Techno4K” Munkhbold
�� Baatarkhuu “Bart4k” Batbold
�� Bat-Enkh “kabal” Batbayar
�� Tengis “sk0R” Batjargal
�� Tuvshintugs “ANNIHILATION” Nyamdorj
�� Erdenedalai “maaRaa” Bayanbat (Coach)
Cloud9
�� Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov (IGL)
�� Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov
�� Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov
�� Abai “HObbit” Hasenov
�� Timur “buster” Tulepov
�� Konstantin “groove” Pikiner (Coach)
BIG
�� Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz (IGL)
�� Florian “syrsoN” Rische
�� Josef “faveN” Baumann
�� Karim “Krimbo” Moussa
�� Nils “k1to” Gruhne
�� Fatih “gob b” Dayik (Coach)
Complexity Gaming
�� Ioannis ‘Johnny’ “JT” Theodosiou (IGL)
�� Justin “FaNg” Coakley
�� Ricky “floppy” Kemery
�� Michael “Grim” Wince
�� H?kon “hallzerk” Fj?rli
�� Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen (Coach)
FURIA Esports
�� Yuri “yuurih” Boian
�� Andrei “arT” Piovezan (IGL)
�� Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato
�� Andr�� “drop” Abreu
�� Rafael “saffee” Costa
�� Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira (Coach)
Permitta Esports
�� Patryk “OLIMP” Wo?niak
�� Rafa? “sNx” Snopek
�� Dawid “Layner” Falczy��ski
�� Rafa? “iso” Tync
�� Mariusz “casey” Jarz?b
Fnatic
�� William “mezii” Merriman (IGL)
�� Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson
�� Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi
�� Fredrik “roeJ” J?rgensen
�� Dion “FASHR” Derksen
�� Jamie “keita” Hall (Strategic Coach)
Evil Geniuses
�� Sanzhar “neaLaN” Iskhakov (IGL)
�� Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte
�� Timothy “autimatic” Ta
�� Jadan “HexT” Postma
�� Jerric “wiz” Jiang
�� Daniel “Vorborg” Vorborg (Coach)
SPROUT
�� Ismail “refrezh” Ali (IGL)
�� Victor “Staehr” Staehr
�� Lauren?iu “lauNX” ?arlea
�� Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss
�� Adrian “XELLOW” Gu??
�� Danny “BERRY” Kr��ger (Coach)
OG
�� Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
�� Nemanja “nexa” Isakovi? (IGL)
�� Maciej “F1KU” Miklas
�� Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar
�� Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov
�� Casper “ruggah” Due (Coach)
ENCE
�� Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer (IGL)
�� Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia
�� Pawe? “dycha” Dycha
�� Pavle “maden” Bo?kovi?
�� Valdemar “valde” Vangs?
�� Eetu “sAw” Saha (Coach)
paiN Gaming
�� Vin��cios “PKL” Coelho (IGL)
�� Romeu “zevy” Rocco
�� Felipe “skullz” Medeiros
�� Wesley “hardzao” Lopes
�� Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt
�� Henrique “rikz” Waku (Coach)
2023 IEM Katowice Opening Fixtures
The following are the opening fixtures for the 2023 IEM Katowice Play-Ins:
�� Team Spirit vs. Grayhound Gaming
�� Win Odds $1.16 | $4.96 odds (GG.BET)
�� MIBR vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
�� Win Odds $2.79 | $1.42 (GG.BET)
�� IHC vs. Cloud9
�� Win Odds $1.08 | $6.94 (GG.BET)
�� BIG vs. Complexity
�� Win Odds $1.68 | $2.13 (GG.BET)
�� FURIA vs. Permitta
�� Win Odds $1.1 | $6.21 (GG.BET)
�� Fnatic vs. Evil Geniuses
�� Win Odds $1.3 | $3.4 (GG.BET)
�� Sprout vs. OG
�� Win Odds $2.32 | $1.58 (GG.BET)
�� ENCE vs. paiN Gaming
�� Win Odds $1.3 | $3.4 (GG.BET)
��These are the opening matchups of #IEM Katowice 2023. 8 of these teams will advance to the Group Stage, the others will have to wait another year for a shot at making history in the Spodek Arena,�� Intel? Extreme Masters tweeted. It all starts on February 1st!�� ]]>
Three of the eight direct invites were already confirmed, as FaZe Clan won IEM Cologne, Team Vitality won ESL Pro League Season 16, and Outsiders won the IEM Rio Major in 2022.
As well as those three direct invites, there were two confirmed play-in invitations going to Fnatic, who won the Elisa Masters Espoo, and Permitta, who won the ESL Polish Championship Autumn.
The other five direct invites to IEM Katowice have come as no surprise to many, with Heroic, Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, MOUZ and G2 Esports all earning their spot due to consistent performances throughout 2022.
As for the other 14 play-in invitations, six spots were given out to teams based on their overall world rankings, and the final eight were handed to teams based on their region-specific ranking, with three going to European teams, two to North American teams, and one each to South American, Asian and Oceanic organisations.
One big name that is missing from either of the invitation lists is that of two-time IEM Katowice champions Astralis, who had to win either CCT Central Europe Series 4 or Elisa Masters Espoo at the back end of the year to stay in contention.
FaZe Clan have opened as the early favourite at $5.00 with esports betting sites.
The direct invites for IEM Katowice are as follows:
- Outsiders
- Team Liquid
- FaZe Clan
- Natus Vincere
- Team Vitality
- MOUZ
- G2 Esports
- Heroic
The invites for the play-in are as follows:
- Fnatic
- ENCE
- Permitta
- Spirit
- FURIA
- Complexity
- MIBR
- IHC
- OG
- Grayhound
- Sprout
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Evil Geniuses
- Cloud9
- paiN Gaming
- BIG
HERE ARE YOUR 24 TEAMS INVITED TO #IEM KATOWICE 2023!
:https://t.co/oDPQT4mZCW pic.twitter.com/T8Skso5nLA
— Intel? Extreme Masters (@IEM) December 19, 2022
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Outsiders played the first quarter-final of the Champions Stage in Rio de Janeiro, where they took down Fnatic in quick 2-0 fashion, to roll on into the semi-finals.
The majority-Russian team took Fnatic��s map pick,16-11, after they shot out to a quick 10-5 lead at half-time.
Outsiders were given a bit more of contest in the second half of map one by Fnatic, but ultimately the first half lead was too great for Fnatic to threaten the world no.6.
The second map, Mirage, turned out to be much of the same as the first map, with Outsiders taking a 9-6 first half lead, however, they then put the foot down in the second half to run out 16-8 winners and punched their ticket into the semi-final.
Outsiders were lead by their rifler, Evgenii ��FL1T�� Lebedev, who amassed the server-high rating of 1.41 out of 2, recording 43 kills and 29 deaths in their swift 2-0 victory.
In a post-match interview the Outsiders in-game leader, Dzhami ��Jame�� Ali, spoke about how tough it was to beat Fnatic.
��You couldn��t see this because of the score, but playing versus Fnatic was hard.��
Jame explained post-match that even though the scoreboard looked like it was an easy win to Outsiders, there was nothing easy about it for his team.
Outsiders next opponent in the semi-finals will be MOUZ, who upset the online bookmakers favourite, Cloud9, in a thrilling three-map series.
Cloud9 came out looking the goods in the first map, Inferno, by running away with a 16-11 win on MOUZ��s map pick to start the series.
Many people were thinking that this could be another swift 2-0 victory to the favourites.
However, MOUZ started the second map, Overpass, with a renewed fire in their belly as they rattled off six consecutive round in a row on their Counter-terrorist side, to shoot out to a 6-0 lead early.
At the half-time break, Cloud9 had rallied back slightly to go into the break down 5-10, but MOUZ once again started the second half strong, winning the first four rounds to go up 14-5 and looked as though we were destined for a third map in a matter of minutes.
Cloud9 did get themselves back into the second map but ultimately they couldn��t overturn the nine round deficit and MOUZ took the second map 16-13, sending the series to a third and final map on Ancient.
MOUZ had the momentum, the crowd and the luck on their side as they destroyed Cloud9 on Ancient, running out 16-8 winners in the final map to book a date with Outsiders in the semi-finals and send the world no.5 home from IEM Rio.
This MOUZ roster is the first roster to make the semi-finals of any Major in their organisation’s history, with their superstar rifler, David ��frozen�� Cernansky, leading his young team to another upset at the IEM Rio Major with massive 1.40 plus ratings in their two map wins.
Outsiders and MOUZ will face each other in the first semi-final on Saturday at 14:00pm BRT, where Outsiders are $1.57 favourites with GG Bet to take out the best-of-three series.
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OUTSIDERS vs FNATIC CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
|
|---|---|
| Best Odds: | Outsiders $1.44 at GG Bet | Fnatic $2.62 at GG Bet |
| When: | November 10, 2022 | 14:00 BRT |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/esl_csgo) |
The first quarter-final for the IEM Rio Major will feature Outsiders, ranked no.6 in the world, and Fnatic, ranked no.16 in the world. These two met most recently in the IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage, where Outsiders took the series 2-0 (16-1, 16-14).
Outsiders were the third team to qualify for the Champions Stage behind Cloud9 and FURIA. Outsiders lost their first match to Heroic (9-16), before going on to win their next two matches over Ninjas in Pyjamas (16-12) and Team Spirit (16-14). After finishing the first three rounds of the Swiss Stage with a 2-1 record, they were then matched up with another team who has the exact same record and that was MOUZ. However, MOUZ were no match for the majority-Russian team, as they went onto to win 16-10 on both maps to take the series 2-0. The in-game leader Dzhami ��Jame�� Ali has really stepped up his game at the Major, recording the fourth-best rating of any player at the event (1.30).
Fnatic were the very last team to qualify for the Legends Stage of the IEM Rio Major after beating 9z in the last series of the Challengers Stage. Nevertheless, the boys from Fnatic obviously didn��t see that as a problem as they came out in their first match of the Legends Stage and beat one of the tournament fancies, Ninjas in Pyjamas (16-13). Fnatic ran into Heroic in their second match, just like their opponents for this series, and they were convincingly beaten (2-16). Fnatic were then matched up with ENCE in their final best-of-one series and they breezed past them (16-7). Their fourth and final series of the Legends Stage came against BIG and they turned out to be no match for Fnatic as they took the series 2-0 (16-14, 16-7).
Both of these teams are in great form at the moment and even though Outsiders smashed Fnatic at their most recent clash, we think Fnatic will have taken a lot from that loss and we will see a much closer series on Thursday.
Over 2.5 total maps
MOUZ vs CLOUD9 CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS |
|
|---|---|
| Best Odds: | MOUZ $3.25 at GG Bet | Cloud9 $1.33 at GG Bet |
| When: | November 10, 2022 | 17:30 BRT |
| Watch Live: | Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/esl_csgo) |
The second quarter-final of the day will be between the bookmakers’ favourite to take out the IEM Rio Major, Cloud9, and MOUZ, who are currently ranked no.7 in the world.
MOUZ were one of the first two teams to qualify for the Legends Stage, with a 3-0 record from their first three series in the Challengers Stage. They were dominant in their first two series of the Challengers Stage, defeating Outsiders (16-6) and Evil Geniuses (16-10), before going on to beat Fnatic in their third series 2-1. MOUZ have had a chequered passage through the Legends Stage, winning their first series over Liquid (16-2), then losing to BIG (7-16). However, they then went onto beat the no.2 team in the world, Vitality, 19-17 in overtime in a very tight contest. They lost their first best-of-three series to Outsiders 0-2, but they then qualified for the Champions Stage by defeating ENCE (2-1). MOUZ would have to be one of the most inconsistent teams to make the Champions Stage, which makes this series against Cloud9 more interesting than it probably should be.
Cloud9 only just qualified for the Challengers Stage after finishing fifth in their RMR and they continued that average form going into their first two matches to start the Challengers Stage, losing to Grayhound (17-19) and Fnatic (17-19). However, those two losses must have woken up the sleeping giant, world number five, as they went onto win three straight series, winning 2-0 over Imperial, Evil Geniuses and GamerLegion. Cloud9 then went onto win another three straight series, making it six in a row now, defeating the world no.1 and no.4 in the Legends Stage, FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere, before defeating Heroic 2-0 to qualify for the Champions Stage. Cloud9 are the most in-form team at IEM Rio and it makes them very tough to bet against, especially as they are now the bookies favourite to take out the Major at $3.75.
Cloud9 should be winning this series over a very inconsistent MOUZ and we expect to see the moneyline favourites to take the series 2-0.