CIS teams has taken over IEM Katowice

The Group Stage of Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2021 has just been brought to an end, after 4 days of thrilling and action-packed Counter-Strike, which has decided a star-studded group of 6 playoff teams.

There have been many interesting storylines in the first half of the prestigious event, but the most essential and clear take out must be the fairy tale story of the CIS teams and their complete dominance.

degster’s insane quad kill vs Astralis

The CIS teams have been on fire

The four CIS teams in NAVI, Virtus.pro, Spirit, and Gambit have cruised through the tournament by taking down some of the biggest teams in the world, with the most distinct example being Spirit’s historical and staggering 16-1 victory over Astralis on Dust2. You can also mention VP’s destruction of Vitality and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, the best player in CS:GO over the last two years.

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/team-spirit-stuns-astralis-wins-last-map-with-16-1/","text":"Read more: Spirit stuns Astralis and wins the last map with 16-1!"}]

The CIS dominance at the event has been clear, which is something not many would have thought going into the event. Although NAVI came into the event in great shape alongside VP, no one believed that Gambit and especially Spirit could display such a strong level of CS against the top of CS:GO, even though both teams feature an extremely promising roster, filled with lethal firepower.

Victor "sdy" Orudzhev and the rest of Spirit has surely been one of the highlights of IEM Katowice so far

FIREPOWER

It's precisely this firepower and relentless confidence that define and characterize these teams, with all four teams having several individual players who can light up the server and make one multi-kill round after another. Something, which is clearly displayed on the individual rankings at IEM Katowice, where the Ukrainian superstar Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev once again tops the scores.

Top 5 Highest-Rated Players | IEM Katowice

1. s1mple (NAVI) |+65 K-D Diff / 1.39 Rating

2. sh1ro (Gambit) | +68 K-D Diff / 1.34 Rating

3. Jame (Virtus.pro) | +55 K-D Diff / 1.30 Rating

4. device (Astralis) | +40 K-D Diff / 1.28 Rating

5. YEKINDAR (Virtus.pro) | +28 K-D Diff / 1.28 Rating

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/virtus-pro-knocks-furia-yekindar-show","text":"Read more: Virtus.pro knocks out Furia in YEKINDAR show"}]

"Of course we can win"

Spirit's new superstar Abdul "degster" Gasanov is confident about their chances of winning the $400.000 1st price.

Play Off Stage | IEM Katowice

Quarterfinals - Friday 26/02 (CET)

15:00 - Gambit vs NAVI

18:30 - Virtus.pro vs Astralis

Semifinals - Saturday 27/02 (CET)

15:00 - Spirit vs Gambit/NAVI winner

18:30 - Liquid vs Virtus.pro/Astralis winner