IEM Katowice group stage teams locked in

The teams competing in the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice group stage have been finalized as the play-in wraps up. The eight teams that battled through play-in to join the directly qualified teams are Copenhagen Flames, FaZe Clan, OG, Astralis, Fnatic, ENCE, MOUZ and Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Day 2 of the play-in saw Fnatic, ENCE, MOUZ and NiP advancing to join the other four teams. A few notable teams making an early exit before the start of IEM Katowice are BIG, Entropiq, GODSENT and MIBR.

Arguably the biggest surprise from the IEM Katowice play-in stage were the performances of Copenhagen Flames and MOUZ. The Flames were in a rut following the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, but no signs of their slump showed as they shot past Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas to qualify for the group stage. MOUZ faced a harder road to qualification but did so with Jon “JDC” de Castro standing in for Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras, who is out with COVID-19.

IEM Katowice group stage

The group stage of IEM Katowice involves two double elimination groups with the top three teams from each advancing to playoffs. All matches will be best of three. The six remaining teams will compete in the playoffs in the Spodek arena in front of a live audience from Feb. 25-27. The top team from each group will get a bye directly to the semi finals.

The group stage begins on Thursday with matches between Team Vitality and MOUZ, OG and Heroic, Virtus.pro and Copenhagen Flames, NiP and Gambit Esports, Astralis and FURIA Esports and finally Team Liquid and FaZe Clan. The last two opening matches of Group B — Natus Vincere against ENCE and G2 Esports against Fnatic — will take place on Friday.

The sixteen teams competing in the IEM Katowice group stage are:

• Team Vitality
• MOUZ
• OG
• Heroic
• Virtus.pro
• Copenhagen Flames
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Gambit Esports
• Astralis
• FURIA Esports
• Team Liquid
• FaZe Clan
• Natus Vincere
• ENCE
• G2 Esports
• Fnatic