The lineup of teams that will take part in the IEM Katowice playoffs at the end of next week has been determined. The competition will be held in the «Spodek Arena» on February 25 – 27 in the presence of spectators.
The last matches of the group stage took place on Sunday. As a result, Natus Vincere and Heroic went straight to the semifinals, while the last two spots in the first playoff matches went to Gambit and G2. The IEM Katowice playoffs will begin on Friday, after a four-day break in competition. Virtus.Pro and G2 will be the first to play at «Spodek Arena» in the presence of thousands of fans. Later, the viewers will be waiting for the confrontation between FaZe and Gambit. The winners of these matches will face Natus Vincere and Heroic on Saturday, with the CIS team facing either Virtus.pro or G2. The Grand Final of the tournament will be held on Saturday, February 27.
In an interview after the group stage Heroic captain Kasper «cadiaN» Møller gave an interview in which he spoke positively about the level of Virtus.pro and praised its chances of winning the quarterfinal match. He also noted that in principle there can be no easy opponents in the playoffs, but the team that wins in the quarterfinals can get a slight psychological advantage over the one that starts the final stage of the tournament right from the semifinals. Heroic itself advanced to the semifinals with three straight wins.