The best teams in CS:GO will meet once more at IEM Katowice, arguably one of the most anticipated events of 2020.
This event will feature Major-winners Astralis, up-and-coming Vitality, struggling Team Liquid, and newly-acquired Virtus Pro, IEM announced today. The 10 teams that were revealed will face off against each other, with another six slots reserved for squads in the open qualifiers.
Teams that won events in the ESL Pro Tour were automatically invited to the tournament. Therefore, Astralis, Fnatic, and mousesports all qualified.
Notably, the newly-formed OG didn’t receive a direct invitation for this event, potentially because the team is relatively unproven. Most recently, the team finished in the top four of cs_summit 5, beating FURIA, MIBR, and G2.
More importantly, FaZe didn’t receive a direct invite to the tournament. Some consider FaZe to be a better side than VP considering their recent success. FaZe won BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen in November and finished third at IEM Beijing later that month.
Like most events, the best team in each region will receive a direct invitation. In this case, the newly-acquired AVANGAR roster will be representing VP. The entire roster switched organizations in late December following a successful outing at cs_summit 5, finishing third. But the CIS team will have a lot to prove, especially against StarLadder Berlin Major finalists Astralis.
IEM Katowice is set to kick off on Feb. 25 and will conclude on March 1.