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These two teams will lock horns on Wednesday for the first time since Izako Boars edged past Illuminar Gaming with 16-14 and 16-12 back in March. Boars have since looked improved – up until last week, when they hit a slump.

Mateusz “TOAO” Zawistowski are 1-5 in their last six outings, including losses to AGO, Team Fiend (twice), MAD Lions, and PACT. Illuminar have hardly looked any better, winning only two out of their last five outings, although they were on a 5-2 run just a couple of weeks back.

Prior to their solid showing in the Flashpoint 3: Open Qualifiers, Illuminar were 1-15 from late-March into mid-April. That horror run led the organisation to seek top-to-bottom replacements for the current roster, who will continue playing under the IG banner for a while longer.

There is not a lot to set these two sides apart quality-wise, so we can��t expect a one-sided affair. Although some might question Illuminar��s motivation to perform given the situation they��re in, we don’t quite agree with that narrative.

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PACT are 7-3 in their last 10, which would appear to indicate good form, but they haven’t really beaten any strong teams. The only notable result in that run is a 16-13 win over Wisla Krakow, but PACT lost the rematch 11-16.

While we aren’t too excited about PACT, it��s even harder to be hopeful about HONORIS, who are 4-6 in their last 10 outings. Even though Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas and co. have had to face tougher opponents, that doesn’t mean much if you fail to get anywhere near those stronger teams.

HONORIS seem like a failed project that will never blossom into something meaningful. They might have a couple of Counter-Strike legends on the team, but this squad just isn’t good enough to win anything outside of Tier-3 tournaments. PACT’s form isn’t great, but they’re a better team overall.

Wisla Krakow went through quite a chaotic period over the last couple of months. They parted ways with Kacper “kaper” S?oma and Piotr “morelz” Taterka in late February and then lost jedqr to Illuminar at the start of March. The abrupt departure of three players left Wisla with only two names on their active roster in Wiktor “mynio” Kruk and the in-game leader Grzegorz “SZPERO” Dziama?ek.

In a bid to rebuild their roster, the Polish CS:GO team acquired Mariusz “Loord” Cybulski as their new head coach. He initiated a trial process over several weeks that ended over the Easter weekend when Wisla Krakow announced the final three additions to their roster.

Two established CS:GO players in Pawe? “byali” Bieli��ski and Miko?aj “mouz” Karolewski were involved in Wisla Krakow’s trials, but neither was picked to be a part of the new-look team. Instead, the Polish organisation opted to build a younger roster with 21-year-old jedqr and two 20-year-olds in fanatyk and hades, which brings the average age of the team to only 22.6, with SZPERO (28 years) as the oldest member of the roster.

This marks the return of jedqr, who left Wisla Krakow to trial at Iluminar. He spent just over a month there before the Polish CS:GO team announced both he and ex-IGL Michal “mono” Gabszewicz would be benched in favour of Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski, Arkadiusz “Vegi” Nawojski and mouz, who arrived at Illuminar at the start of this month.

The final two pieces of the new Wisla Krakow roster are ex-ARCY loanee hades and an unknown youngster in fanatyk. Both were last seen playing together at Dok5, who won Hussar Cup 2020 – Open Qualifier #1 in early March.

Wisla Krakow will showcase their new roster at ESEA Season 33: Premier Relegation – Europe, where they are set to meet with The Dice in round one of the upper bracket fixtures. The tournament will run from April 13-15, with the top four teams earning a spot at the ESEA Season 34: Premier Division – Europe, which is set to begin on Monday, April 27.

Wisla Krakow CS:GO roster:
Grzegorz “SZPERO” Dziama?ek
Wiktor “mynio” Kruk
Grzegorz “jedqr” J?dras
Olek “hades” Miskiewicz
Dominik “fanatyk” Barkiet
Mariusz “Loord” Cybulski (coach)

The 33-year-old Polish veteran has an illustrious Counter-Strike esports career behind him both as a coach and a player. Loord first appeared on the scene in 2005, when he played for a CS 1.6 stack named Team Sky and Daj Bo?e Rozum. He then joined Team Pentagram and played alongside Counter-Strike legends such as Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas, Filip “NEO” Kubski, Jakub “kuben” Gurczy��ski and ?ukasz “LUq” Wn?k, now known simply as the Golden Five.

With Pentagram, Loord won Intel Extreme Masters I and Electronic Sports World Cup 2007, which earned him renown as one of the best players in the scene. In December 2007, the Pentagram squad signed for MeetYourMakers, where the Polish quintet continued their dominance by winning ESWC 2008 and finishing second at IEM III.

The squad moved between organisations in the months that followed and in July 2009 formed AGAiN, a clan tag they used to compete under whenever they were not tied with an esports organisation.

Loord made his first appearance in CS:GO scene in April 2012, when, while playing under ESC Gaming, he and his team claimed silver at the Sound Blaster CS:GO Challenge. In November the same year, Loord fully transitioned to CS:GO with ESC and later played for Dorby&Gaming, MeetYourMakers and INSHOCK.

In July 2015, Loord joined Gamers2, where he enjoyed his first stint as a head coach of a CS:GO team. He later returned to the battlefield for Dorby&Gaming and Lounge Gaming. His last appearance as a CS:GO player took place at the RGN Pro Series in November 2015, after which the Polish pro opted to hang up his mouse and become a full-time coach.

As a CS:GO coach, Loord led Lounge Gaming, Dorby&Gaming, devils.one and most recently Aristocracy (later ARCY). His most successful period was from June 2016 to February 2019 when he coached Team Kinguin, who he helped win gold at DreamHack Open Montreal 2018 as well as silver medals at WESC 2016, ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 and Games Clash Masters 2018.

Loord left ARCY on in January 2020, shortly before the team disbanded and released its CS:GO roster. Having spent the last two months as a free agent, the Polish CS legend has now found a new home at Wis?a Krak��w, a team that entered the CS:GO scene in October 2019 when they signed adwokacik’s roster.

Since its formation, Wis?a Krak��w have parted ways with three of their members. Kacper “Kap3r” S?oma and Piotr “morelz” Taterka left the team at the end of February, while Grzegorz “jedqr” J?dras left for Illuminar at the start of March.

Wis?a Krak��w now field only two permanent members in their active roster: Grzegorz “SZPERO” Dziama?ek and Wiktor “mynio” Kruk. Most recently, the Polish team were seen trying out Miko?aj “mouz” Karolewski, Pawe? “byali” Bieli��ski, and Patryk “ponczek” Wites, but are reportedly seeking fresh faces after a poor display at ESEA MDL.

Wis?a Krak��w now have plenty of time to find suitable players, seeing how the esports scene as a whole has slowed down amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wisla have now made headlines twice in under a week after losing three of their members in quick succession. On Wednesday they parted ways with Kacper “kaper” S?oma and Piotr “morelz” Taterka, and now jedqr has left to reunite with morelz and Micha? “mono” Gabszewicz at Illuminar.

Wisla Krakow have already filled the gaps by adding Patryk “ponczek” Wites, Miko?aj “mouz” Karolewski and Pawe? “byali” Bieli��ski, who will represent the team at ESEA Season 33: Premier Division – Europe as stand-ins. While one or more of them might be offered a permanent stay, the team are still planning on holding trials with other players.

Not a lot has been revealed about Wisla Krakow’s plans of rebuilding their roster, although it was reported that they have their eyes set on several youngsters from Pasha Gaming School – a CS:GO development program led by Jaros?aw “pashaBiceps” Jarz?bkowski, a former member of the famous Golden Five roster.

Jedqr started his career as a CS:GO pro in 2017 with OFF-MODE Black and remained there until July 2017, when he took a break from the competitive scene. He made a return in October 2018, when he teamed up with mono at x-kom Team. Jedqr later played for AGO, Youngsters and adwokacik. The whole adwokacik roster was signed by Wisla Krakow in October last year.

Since joining Wisla, jedqr has claimed silver at Polska Liga Esportowa S7 Grupa Mistrzowska – WarmUP, a top-four finish at ESL Mistrzostwa Polski – Fall 2019, and fifth-sixth place finishes at the Polska Liga S7 Finals and LOOT.BET/CS Season 5. The team took a swing at all four stages of the Europe Minor Championship – Rio 2020: Open Qualifier, but to no avail. In February, the Polish squad finished fifth-sixth at the LEGENDS.BET L33T CUP.

Throughout his career, jedqr has averaged a 1.05 rating, 0.67 DPR and 1.00 impact rating, although he has not seen much success outside a few top-three finishes in national leagues and at ESEA.

A total of 16 teams will be competing in the IEM Katowice CS:GO tournament. They are Astralis, Cloud9, 100 Thieves, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports, MAD Lions EC, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, mousesports, Team Liquid, Renegades, Team Vitality, Tyloo Lbet, and Virtus.pro.

The IEM Katowice 2020 CS:GO event features a US $500,000 prize pool, with the winners taking home half that sum and the runners-up collecting $100,000.

IEM Katowice Group A betting predictions

There are eight teams participating in Group A, which includes Team Vitality from France, Natus Vincere from Ukraine, Astralis from Denmark, Fnatic from Sweden.

While Fnatic are well known within the gaming and betting communities, we predict that their chances of winning this tournament are not that good. Their latest CS: GO event was the ESL Pro League Season 10 which was held back in December 2019 where they managed to advance to the finals. Since they were missing from the CS: GO esports scene for more than two months, we expect them to be going to Poland very rusty and out of shape.

Natus Vincere, on the other hand, has been doing quite well recently and since swapping GuardiaN with Perfecto, they have been on the rise. They did well at BLAST Premier Spring and if they come here with the same determination, anything is possible.

Team Vitality is currently fourth on the list when it comes to favorites, but we can��t help but feel that they are being underestimated at least slightly. While they did have some mishaps along the way at BLAST, they are still an extremely well-coordinated team and are capable of taking the victory home.

Astralis is actually one of the top favorites to win the entire competition. While many doubt their abilities due to the fact that they have recently lost to mousesports, it is likely that they will be trying to prove that they are the best here so they will be coming in all guns blazing.

The rest of the teams from Group A are considered to be underdogs and likely won��t be able to compete with the teams mentioned above.

Group A prediction: Astralis to win Group A

IEM Katowice Group B betting predictions

Group B also consists of eight teams, among which are big-time favorites mousesports, Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses.

When it comes to Group B, both Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses who are big names have around the same chance of doing well at this tournament. Both teams didn��t perform very well during BLAST and it would appear that both teams are in a slump which many don��t find appealing when it comes to placing bets.

Mousesports, on the other hand, are the biggest favorite for placing at least in the top four at numerous betting sites which is fair enough considering their latest performance. The team will also be in top form and we can be sure that they will be bringing their A-game.

While mouz are currently the world��s number one CS: GO team, it is important to note that they have snagged that title by playing more smaller tournaments while other teams have been skipping them and only participating in the big ones. Nevertheless, this will be the place for them to prove themselves worthy of the number one spot.

Group B prediction: mousesports to win Group B

Intel Extreme Masters 2020 CS:GO odds

As the tournament draws closer, some of the betting websites have started providing odds for the Intel Extreme Masters 2020 tournament. Below you will find a few bookies and their official odds.

William Hill
Astralis – $3.00
Mousesports – $7.50
Team Liquid – $9.00
FaZe Clan – $6.00
Vitality – $8.00
Natus Vincere – $11.00
Evil Geniuses – $12.00

UNIBET
Astralis – $2.75
Mousesports – $7.50
Team Liquid – $9.00
FaZe Clan – $7.50
Vitality – $8.00
Natus Vincere – $11.00
Evil Geniuses – $13.00

Thunderpick
Astralis – $3.45
Mousesports – $5.36
Team Liquid – $7.19
FaZe Clan – $9.49
Vitality – $11.78
Natus Vincere – $14.56
Evil Geniuses – $18.65

ASTRALIS VS FNATIC CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

ASTRALIS VS FNATIC IEM KATOWICE 2020 BETTING PREVIEW

Two of the strongest Scandinavian CS:GO esports teams are set to lock horns in round three of the Group A upper bracket at the prestigious Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) World Championship in one of the most anticipated fixtures of the tournament.

Astralis have yet to drop a single round at IEM Katowice as they enter what could be their final fixture of the group stage. The Danes decimated Cloud9 in the opening round and edged past Team Vitality after a hard-fought 22-19 overtime win on Vertigo on Tuesday.

Astralis’ bout with Vitality took off on Overpass, where Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s men got off to a strong start and secured the first three rounds. They met some resistance from the French squad, however, as Dan “apEX” Madesclaire secured a triple-kill to turn the tide. Vitality pushed Astralis on the back foot and secured five straight rounds to get themselves two rounds up at 5-3.

Although things were not looking good for the no.1 team in the world, Astralis rallied in round nine and pocketed the majority of the remaining rounds to enter the second half with a comfortable 9-6 lead.The two sides went back and forth after the switch, but Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and company eventually had to admit as the Danes ran out 16-9 winners.

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The second map was as chaotic as it gets. Astralis secured six out of the first seven rounds but failed to keep the momentum going, as they dropped the remaining eight to end the first half in a 6-9 hole. Vitality kept the pressure on after the swap by winning the opening three rounds, but they stumbled at the last hurdle as Astralis did just enough on CT to push the match to overtime.

In the extra rounds, it was Astralis who had more gas left in their tank. Emil “Magisk” Reif was the man of the match with a 1.33 rating and 57 kills across the series, followed by Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen on 54 kills and a 1.22 rating.

Fnatic will enter round three of the upper bracket in Group A following a commanding 2-0 win over Renegades in the opening round and a hard-fought 2-1 win over Natus Vincere on Tuesday.

The latter match started on Dust II, where Maikil “Golden” Selim’s squad outclassed their adversaries 16-7 thanks to a phenomenal performance from Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, who ended the match with a 2.16 rating and 31 kills. Fnatic failed to deliver on Inferno, however, where they held a 13-10 lead but dropped the ball and let Natus Vincere win six out of the remaining seven rounds to tie the series.

The third and final map saw Fnatic secure the opening three rounds, only to drop 10 out of the remaining 12 to enter the second half 5-10 behind. The Swedes, however, found their footing on the CT side, where they won the opening 10 rounds and sealed the series with a 16-12 score. KRIMZ finished with the highest rating (1.33), 69 kills and +25 KD.

ASTRALIS VS FNATIC IEM KATOWICE 2020 BETTING PREDICTIONS

Astralis will enter this bout priced as heavy favourites to pocket an early ticket for the playoffs, but Fnatic are not to be ignored and might be a bit underrated by esports bookmakers.

Since Fnatic rebuilt their roster with Robin “flusha” R?nnquist and Golden, they have met Astralis three times. Their clash at DreamHack Masters Malm? and ended in a 2-0 win for the Swedes, but the next two meetings – at ESL Pro league S10 Europe in October and the ECS S8 Finals in December – ended in clean sweeps to Astralis.

Astralis are undoubtedly the stronger team, yet we would not exclude the possibility of a close match. At $2.27 for a three-map series, there is value in backing Fnatic to push their Scandinavian rivals all the way.

ASTRALIS VS TEAM VITALITY CS:GO BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

ASTRALIS VS TEAM VITALITY IEM KATOWICE 2020 BETTING PREVIEW

A place in the third round of the upper bracket is on the line this Tuesday as Astralis take on Team Vitality at the 2020 IEM Katowice CS:GO World Championship.

Astralis cruised by Cloud9 in the opening round of Group A with a commanding 16-7 win on Overpass. On Train, however, the Danes met some resistance from the North American-South African side, who kept Astralis on their toes for most of the match.

Both teams had their periods of prosperity in the opening rounds on Train, which saw the scores tied at 12-12. Cloud9 fell flat moving forward, however, and allowed the Danes to pocket the four remaining rounds to seal a 16-12 win and a 2-0 series result. Nicolai “device” Reedtz and Andreas “Xyp9x” H?jsleth shone bright with 1.57 and 1.52 ratings respectively, while their teammates all finished the bout with positive numbers.

Astralis remain outright favourites to hoist their third trophy in Katowice, yet there is a long way to go on the road to the summit. Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s squad are now set to play what can be regarded as their toughest match of the year, as it will be EPICENTER 2019 champions Team Vitality standing in their way this Tuesday.

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The French juggernauts started their IEM Katowice venture with an exciting clash against the new generation of Ninjas in Pyjamas, who travelled to Poland with high ambitions. Fielding a young and talented roster led by an experienced coach in Bj?rn “THREAT” Pers, the Swedes started the series strong and pocketed six out of the first seven rounds on Vertigo. However, the French squad were not ready to give in yet.

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and company rallied to win six of the next eight rounds, ending the first half only one down at 7-8. Vitality kept pressuring Ninjas in Pyjamas and took home five more rounds on T-side, securing a commanding 12-9 lead. NiP retaliated and picked up three rounds in quick succession, but Vitality responded with four rounds of their own to seal the first map at 16-12.

On Nuke, both teams had their moments and produced a couple of streaks, yet it was Vitality who were always one step ahead. Alex “ALEX” McMeekin played a pivotal role in 16-10 win with his 29 kills and great leadership. He ended the second map with a 1.66 rating and had a respectable 1.43 rating across both maps. The British in-game leader also finished the series with the most damage (102.2), most kills (51) and the most first kills (12).

ASTRALIS VS TEAM VITALITY IEM KATOWICE 2020 BETTING PREDICTIONS

This will be the first meeting between Astralis and Vitality in over four months, after their clash at DreamHack Masters Malm? 2019 at the start of October. That match in Sweden ended in a convincing 2-0 win for the Danes, and all signs point to a similar result in Poland.

Although their most recent match took place a while back, neither side have made any roster changes since. They have not needed to – Astralis are a powerhouse as is, while Vitality are getting better with each passing month.

Esports bookmakers have Vitality priced at $3.00, which implies Astralis should have a fairly easy time coming away with a win. However, if Vitality can play at the same pace as they did against Ninjas in Pyjamas, and if their star player, ZywOo, can step up and play to his full potential, we would not exclude the possibility of a three-map series.

With $2.00 offered on over 2.5 maps, we will take our chances and trust Team Vitality to make Astralis work for the win.

Recognised as the pinnacle of Counter-Strike esports, IEM Katowice is set to start on Monday, February 24, with the grand finals slated to be played on Sunday, March 1. The participating teams will compete for the largest slice of a US $500,000 prize pool, with the champions taking home a quarter of a million dollars.

The tournament is also part of the Intel Grand Slam, which is now in its third season. The first team to win four IGS-affiliated titles during a window of 10 consecutive events will pocket a cool $1 million. Astralis, Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, mousesports and Team Liquid all have one win apiece this season.

Here, we will look at the latest odds and best bets for the IEM Katowice 2020 CS:GO World Championship.

IEM Katowice 2020 outright odds

$3.00 – Astralis
$7.00 – FaZe Clan, mousesports
$8.00 – Team Vitality
$9.00 – Team Liquid
$11.00 – Natus Vincere
$13.00 – Evil Geniuses
$19.00 – Fnatic, G2 Esports
$21.00 – 100 Thieves, MAD Lions
$26.00 – Ninjas in Pyjamas
$34.00 – Cloud9
$51.00 – Renegades
$67.00 – Virtus.pro
$151.00 – TYLOO

Market courtesy of GG Bet

IEM Katowice 2020 underdogs

Of the 16 teams taking part, eight cannot be compared to the favourites because they lack either quality or form. Belonging to that category are TYLOO, Cloud9, Renegades, Virtus.pro, Ninjas in Pyjamas, MAD Lions, G2 Esports and 100 Thieves.

TYLOO are the weakest team in the field, having earned their spot at Katowice only because ViCi Gaming failed to secure their visas. What’s more, TYLOO will also travel to Poland without their head coach, LiKan “KingZ” Luo, who is in quarantine because of the coronavirus outbreak.

None of the other seven underdogs have impressed with their recent showings. Cloud9, Renegades, 100 Thieves and MAD Lions all field relatively new rosters that have failed to produce any notable success in recent months. G2 Esports are still underperforming, while Ninjas in Pyjamas just recently signed a new coach and lost Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg to Dignitas.

IEM Katowice 2020 dark horses

Sitting in the middle of the rankings are Fnatic, Team Liquid, Natus Vincere and Evil Geniuses. All four teams are significantly stronger than the eight underdogs, yet all have issues that prevent them from entering the tournament as favourites.

Fnatic had their moment of glory back in October when they won DreamHack Masters Malm? 2019, yet it soon became clear that title run was a flash in the pan. Also, this will be their first major tournament of the year, which suggests they will be a bit rusty travelling to Katowice.

Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid both possess immense individual quality, yet they fail to inspire much optimism following their shaky displays at the BLAST tournament earlier this month.

While far from tournament favourites, Natus Vincere have improved significantly since they replaced Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kov��cs. Although a lot will have to go right for Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and company to hoist the trophy in Poland, they offer some value at long odds.

IEM Katowice 2020 favourites

Team Vitality, FaZe Clan, mousesports and Astralis are the top four contenders according to the outright odds at esports bookmakers, but FaZe look out of their depth in such esteemed company. Nikola “NiKo” Kova?’s squad had a solid run at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 regular season, where they defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team Liquid, but it was clear that they overperformed.

FaZe might win a couple of matches in Poland, but going the distance will be out of their reach. Team Vitality are in complete contrast to their North American counterparts, as they severely underperformed at the BLAST tournament but should feature prominently in Katowice.

Mousesports are a solid team that can go toe-to-toe with anyone, but no team can compare to Astralis. When they are playing to their full strength, the Danes are a class above everyone. They might let things slip on occasion at some lesser tournaments, but that won’t be the case at IEM Katowice.

If there are no massive upsets, Astralis should secure their second title of the Intel Gram Slam season without any major issues.

IEM Katowice 2020 predictions