IEM XV World Championship – Katowice 2021 Preview

Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) XV – World Championship, also known this time as Katowice 2021, one of the biggest CS:GO esports events of the year, starts its course next week and fans couldn’t be more excited for the $1 million prize pool event.

IEM World Championship

The exciting tournament starts with the play-in stage on February 16 through to the end of February 17. Participating CS:GO esports teams play games to determine placements in the group stage. After play-ins finish, two group stages take place between February 18 to February 21 and determine which teams proceed to the main event. Finally, playoffs begin on February 26 where the IEM World Champion is crowned in the grand finals on February 28.

This is your #IEM Katowice 2021 Play-In Stage Bracket! ?

There are some seriously hype series going on here, including @mibr vs @TeamLiquid, @BIGCLANgg vs @Movistar_Riders and @FNATIC vs @OGesports!

Which games are you looking forward to most? #ESLProTour pic.twitter.com/MhuflIQa8G

— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 3, 2021

According to the odds from Sports Betting Dime, the current top contenders for CS:GO IEM World Championship title are Astralis (+230), Vitality (+300) and Heroic (+450). Despite Heroic seeing setbacks with the recent cheating scandal, they’re still a top contender to win. Astralis is an unsurprising pick to win with their recent performance at DreamHack Masters Winter 2020. As for Team Vitality, they continue to show their power as Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut leads the squad.

CS:GO Esports

Setting the pace for 2021 with a major event like IEM World Championship is just what fans needed. The competitive scene suffered some heavy blows recently. Through the news of esports coaches abusing a bug and Valve nerfing in-game bots, the community struggled with back to back bad news. But thankfully, the announcement of a new competition in the PGL Stockholm Major revitalized fans.

Now, the CS:GO esports community must wait for the start of the Intel Extreme Masters XV World Championship and Katowice 2021. One of the greatest competitive events starts play-ins on Tuesday and fans will want to tune in to see who is the best.

Written by Justin Amin

———————————————————————————————

If you’re interested in seeing more of Esportz Network, follow our social media at Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We have daily podcasts at the Esports Minute and weekly interviews at the Esportz Network Podcast. Anyone can also join our community on Discord and chat about your favorite games, esports, and more!