IEM Katowice 2021 quarterfinals preview ESLIEM Katowice 2021 has already served up some amazing matchups, and now the quarterfinals are upon us. With CIS supremacy sweeping the CS:GO server, Astralis stand as the lone force to try and stave the three Russian squads away. Six teams have qualified for the playoffs at IEM Katowice 2021, and four of them are from CIS. Gambit, Natus Vincere, and Virtus.pro are hungry for quarterfinals success, while Spirit awaits one of them in the semifinals. It\u2019s put more pressure now, more than ever, onto two stalwarts of their respective scenes \u2014 Denmark\u2019s (and Europe\u2019s) Astralis, and North America\u2019s Liquid. The latter looks reinvigorated with Gabriel \u2018FalleN\u2019 Toledo in the squad, while the former are struggling to reach their peak online. Ahead of this weekend\u2019s action, let\u2019s take a look at the two quarterfinals \u2014 Gambit vs Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro vs Astralis \u2014 and what you should expect. Gambit vs Natus Vincere The battle for CIS supremacy will reign on in the quarterfinals of IEM Katowice when Gambit takes on Natus Vincere. This has been a historically Na\u2019Vi-sided matchup, to the surprise of absolutely no one. Gambit went on a lower-bracket tear to make it to the quarterfinals of IEM Katowice, and they won\u2019t let their rivals stand in their way. Young gun Dmitry \u2018sh1ro\u2019 Sokolov is really trying to make a name for himself as CS:GO\u2019s next big AWPer, trying to reach the heights of idols like Oleksandr \u2018s1mple\u2019 Vastyliev. Seeing the two face off will be a treat in this quarterfinal, but don\u2019t expect the reigning champions to take it easy. Na\u2019Vi are really finding their stride now, and despite losing to Team Liquid to find themselves in this position, you can\u2019t keep them down for long. Denis \u2018electronic\u2019 Sharipov and s1mple are bouncing off each other better than ever, and it really feels like a repeat of IEM Katowice 2020 is on the cards. Na\u2019Vi didn\u2019t make it easy for themselves there in groups, before proceeding to demolish Liquid, Astralis, and G2 Esports without dropping a single map in playoffs. Gambit\u2019s going to have to be prepared for a Na\u2019Vi they\u2019ve never faced before. It\u2019s the biggest stage this matchup has happened on, and while the potential for an upset is there, you\u2019d have to back Na\u2019Vi to finish strong at Katowice. Thrive Fantasy Props Ax1le: 28.5 total kills Over = 90 points – Under = 110 points – – Hobbit: 43.5 total deaths Over = 110 points – Under = 90 points – – Electronic: 6.5 total assists Over = 95 points – Under = 105 points – – Flamie: 18.5 total headshots Over = 105 points – Under = 95 points – – S1mple: 75.5 total kills and deaths Over = 100 points – Under = 100 points – – Virtus.pro vs Astralis Virtus.pro and Astralis marks the first rematch of the StarLadder Major Berlin 2019 final. Back then, Astralis were decimating anyone in their patch, and VP (then Avangar) were collateral as the Danes took home their fourth major. However, it\u2019s funny how things change in 18 months. Astralis\u2019 experimentation with six and seven-man rosters has led nowhere, and with the core five back together, they\u2019ve been struggling to get back into gear. Virtus.pro, on the other hand, has started 2021 on fire with a win at cs_summit 7 (where Astralis didn\u2019t play). One also has to look at how far Virtus.pro has come since then. \u201cJame Time\u201d might still be the slogan, but everyone from Timur \u2018buster\u2019 Tulepov to Mareks \u2018YEKINDAR\u2019 Galinskis have been pulling their weight. The team isn\u2019t as reliant on Jame\u2019s AWP to win as they once were, and he\u2019s taken to the IGL role like a fish to water. If there is one time where Virtus.pro could get their revenge, it\u2019s now. VP have taken down Vitality and FURIA \u2014 two of the best teams in the world \u2014 to get here, and Astralis have been hot and cold to start off the year. The tournament remaining online likely doesn\u2019t help Astralis either. However, you can never count out the Danes. Much like Gambit vs Natus Vincere, the real big ticket matchup will be Jame vs Nicolai \u2018device\u2019 Reedtz. The AWPers will once again prove to be the deciding factor in this matchup, and if history is anything to go by, it should be explosive. Thrive Fantasy Props Buster: 45.5 total kills Over = 115 points – Under = 85 points – – Sanji: 32.5 total deaths Over = 80 points – Under = 120 points – – Magisk: 9.5 total assists Over = 100 points – Under = 100 points – – gla1ve: 13.5 total headshots Over = 90 points – Under = 110 points – – Device: 88.5 total kills and deaths Over = 110 points – Under = 90 points – – The IEM Katowice 2021 quarterfinals get underway on February 26. Terms and Conditions of the Thrive Fantasy service apply, for a full list of Terms and Conditions, please visit: https:\/\/www.thrivefantasy.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IEM Katowice 2021 quarterfinals preview ESLIEM Katowice 2021 has already served up some amazing matchups, and now the quarterfinals are upon us. With CIS supremacy sweeping the CS:GO server, Astralis stand as the lone force to try and stave the three Russian squads away. Six teams have qualified for the playoffs at IEM Katowice 2021, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}