On February 16, the first matches of IEM Katowice took place, and they have already brought a few surprises to the audience. Due to the unfavorable epidemic situation, matches are still held online, but this did not prevent the tournament from becoming the largest CS: GO event since the beginning of the year. For the first time, the format includes a large-scale play-in stage, which means that the competition will take a total of two weeks.
At the initial stage, sixteen teams will compete for the main part of the tournament in a double-elimination format, where two wins are enough to qualify for the next stage, while two losses mean elimination. One of the surprises of the qualifying stage was the loss of the Swedish team fnatic. After suffering defeats first to OG and then to MIBR, they left the tournament. The loss in the match with MIBR was truly devastating: fnatic could not win on any map.
Meanwhile, NiP, Liquid, OG and Virtus.pro have already secured their place in the main tournament grid with two wins. The final lineup will be determined by the evening of February 17 after the end of the play-in stage, and the first matches of the group stage will be played on Thursday.