For several years now, IEM has been one of the most looked-forward-to major leagues in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The game, like its various versions before, has seen international appreciation from gamers of all ages.
However, this year’s IEM Katowice will be a tad bit different as they announced prior to the start of the league that they will change the format. This time, they added a team-voted seeding system so that the match-up can be balanced out.
According to Dexerto, the teams which made it to top 16 were asked to rank their opponents. The final rankings were decided based on the average.
Source: HLTV
The results are as follows:
| Seed | Team |
|---|---|
| 1st | Astralis |
| 2nd | Team Liquid |
| 3th | Natus Vincere |
| 4th | MIBR |
| 5th | FaZe Clan |
| 6th | NRG |
| 7th | BIG |
| 8th | ENCE |
| 9th | Renegades |
| 10th | Team Vitality |
| 11th | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
| 12th | HellRaisers |
| 13th | Cloud9 |
| 14th | G2 |
| 15th | AVANGAR |
| 16th | compLexity |
Source: HLTV
Unsurprisingly, even other teams found Astralis to be the strongest opponent seeing as they are the defending champions. Team Liquid also are seen as tough challengers in the arena while FACEIT London Major runner-ups Natus Vincere and MIBR are close behind too.
The full match-ups for the New Legends stage are listed as per below:
| Team | Vs. | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Astralis | Vs. | compLexity |
| Team Liquid | Vs. | AVANGAR |
| Natus Vincere | Vs. | G2 |
| MIBR | Vs. | Cloud9 |
| FaZe | Vs. | HellRaisers |
| NRG | Vs. | NiP |
| BIG | Vs. | Vitality |
| ENCE | Vs. | Renegades |
Source: HLTV
The first epic showdown of 2019 will begin on February 20th. You can catch the match on multiple platforms thanks to the new multi-stream.
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