IEM Katowice Major 2019: Play-off fixtures announced as 8 teams remain

The IEM Katowice 2019 Major has concluded its New Challengers and New Legends Stage. With these stages now over, the tournament has been reduced to just 8 teams. These teams have attained the Legend status and will be directly invited to the next Major's New Legends Stage. After 3 weeks of incredible action, we have the final eight teams who will compete for the 2019 Katowice trophy and $500,000 in prize money.

The new player-based seeding system has worked wonders as the eight teams remaining have been hailed as the 8 best teams in the world right now. No underdog upsets will take some flavor away from the tournament but at least the most deserving teams will fight for the title of Major Champions. So without further ado, let's take a look at the foyr quarter-final matches scheduled for the playoffs.

The official brackets for the tournament

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Match 1: Natus Vincere vs Faze Clan

The Simple led Na'Vi qualified relatively easily from the New Legends Stage. They lost one game to Team Liquid (0-2 in a BO3) and won against G2, Vitality, and Avangar fairly easily. However, their game has been looking a bit shaky recently with in-game leader Zeus even commenting on the issue that Na'Vi isn't taking this tournament as seriously as they should.

FaZe Clan, on the other hand, have had a very rough tournament. They won their opening game against HellRaisers and lost consecutive games to Avangar and Renegades in BO1 matches. However, at the brink of elimination, FaZe pulled through defeating Complexity 2-1 and Cloud9 2-0 to qualify for the playoffs.

This match should be really competitive as FaZe showed flashes of brilliance in their last two games while Na'Vi isn't at 100%. The two teams should have a really hard fought battle and the game should go to the third map.

My pick for the series is Na'Vi as regardless of what their form has been like, with Simple on the team it's hard to actually perform poorly.

Match 2: Team Liquid vs Ence eSports

Team Liquid is one of the two most dominant teams in the world right now. With the exception of Astralis, the skill gap between Liquid and the rest of the CSGO world is staggering. Liquid qualified from the Legends Stage with a 3-0 record. They didn't drop a single map against NiP, Avangar, and Na'Vi.

Ence, on the other hand, is the biggest underdog in the tournament. The all-Finnish squad is filled with young talent and had a rough tournament thus far. They started from the Challengers Stage where they qualified with a 3-1 record. But in the Legends Stage, they lost their first two games against Renegades and HellRaisers. But they bounced back spectacularly as they won 3 BO3 series consecutively defeating BIG, G2, and Avangar.

Although Ence is on a hot streak, this should be a one-sided affair with Liquid absolutely dominating the game. Ence might upset Liquid for a map but it seems highly unlikely. Regardless, we can expect way more from Ence in the future.

My pick for this game is Team Liquid as they are just too good to lose at this stage.

Match 3: MIBR vs Renegades

This is perhaps the most intriguing match in the quarterfinals. Made in Brazil or MIBR are playing their very first tournament with their current line-up. They lost their opening game to Cloud9 but bounced back winning 3 games in a row. The team now looks like their old self when they won 2 Majors back to back.

However, Renegades are the biggest surprise of the tournament. They started in the Challengers Stage where they wiped out their opponents with a 3-0 record. They continued their winning streak by defeating Ence and FaZe in the Legends Stage. Their unbeaten run finally came to an end when they fell to Astralis but they managed to take a map off of them, a feat no one thought was possible.

This should be a belter of a match with both teams coming in all guns blazing. The firepower in both teams are amazing and they should have the most entertaining match of the Quarter Finals.

My pick for this match is MIBR. Renegades are on fire at this point but we have seen them falter against Astralis. Given MIBR's form, they can do the same to them as well.

Match 4: Astralis vs Ninjas in Pyjamas

On paper, this should be a blowout. Astralis went 3-0 in the Legends stage. They dropped just 1 map against Renegades in overtime. They have been basically unstoppable of late. They defeated Cloud9 and Complexity as well, with the Cloud9 victory coming in a 16-0 match.

The legendary NiP has finally reclaimed their Legend status after 3 years. They showed incredible resilience and fought hard to reach the playoffs. They defeated NRG, HellRaisers, and Vitality while they fell to MIBR and Liquid. They will go into this game with nostalgia fueling them against one of the best teams in the world.

Like I said before, this match should be a blowout. But, NiP has been Astralis' kryptonite of sorts for the last year or so. Astralis have been unstoppable and defeated every team they faced but have always faltered against NiP.

In the last Major, Astralis dropped a total of two maps. One was against NiP in a 28-26 overtime victory. This should be an amazing series of games as well and in a rare case in an Astralis match, the result is really uncertain.

My pick for this series is Astralis. But if any team can upset them it's NiP.