IEM XV Katowice World Championship is the special occasion, bringing forth $1,000,000 in prize money alongside 24 competitors. It starts next Tuesday and will run through the 28 th. Such a massive event is always going to stir up quite a bit of dust, with betting on IEM XV Katowice already trending within the CSGO betting waters.

After a couple of rest days, the IEM XV Katowice World Championship CSGO action is live! We’ve reached the playoffs. Just six teams remain in the competition; two of which are already in the semifinals (Spirit and Liquid). From the looks of things, the quarterfinals might feature better action than the semifinals. There are two giant contenders here, coupled with two up-and-coming teams ready to create their Cinderella story. Astralis vs. Virtus.pro is one such match – a match between the heavy favorites (Astralis) and Virtus.pro, an upset-friendly CIS side eyeing a proper triumph!

• IEM Katowice 2020 featured the best ten teams in the world rankings. With some of the teams already having a chance to test out the waters for 2020 in BLAST Premier. That’s why IEM Katowice 2020 provided an exceptional level of Counter-Strike, with amazing CSGO Betting opportunities.
• See odds to win, a betting preview, and the schedule for the CSGO IEM Katowice 2021 starting on February 16th, 2021. Virtus.Pro has value at +1300.

The name @VirtusPro has been a constant in CS:GO, and they're looking to put their name on the #IEM Katowice trophy once again 🏆 pic.twitter.com/vSzHkdeP9P

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 24, 2021

Remember, the winner of this match goes up against Team Liquid in the semifinals. We’re talking about a Bo3 lineup here, a system that both sides ought to be comfortable with. Despite Astralis still being labeled as the best team out there in terms of map pool depth, Virtus.pro are an up-and-coming side that’ll be a proper contender.

Team Spirit was their executioner back in Group A upper bracket finals. Can another CIS side take them down; this time eliminate them as well? Well, that’s what our Astralis vs. Virtus.pro predictions aim to unveil… so if you’re into CSGO betting, you better keep on reading!

Astralis vs. Virtus.pro Predictions

Astralis is the best team in the world, once again. Whether you like it or not, the Great Danes are back, and they’re looking mighty. However, they’re still far from their amazing run back in 2018. Back then, they were literally unbeatable.

Nowadays, they do play exceptional CSGO, but they are prone to making mistakes. Silly ones, even! The thing about our Astralis vs. Virtus.pro predictions is the following – will Virtus.pro players be able to exploit Astralis players’ mistakes?

If yes, we’re in for a proper thriller. If not, the Great Danes will plow through them and be on their way to eliminate poor Liquid from a major event yet again…

Form

So yeah, now that we know the key question behind our Astralis vs. Virtus.pro picks, let’s do our best to answer it.

Astralis were quite successful too, having grabbed IEM XV Global Challenge title and the second spot of BLAST Premier Global Final. They did have major issues on BLAST Premier Spring Groups and it seems as though they’ve carried some of them over to this tournament too. I mean, that loss against Team Spirit speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

Map Pool Stats

Iem Katowice 2020

If you look at the raw stats, you’d come to the conclusion of Virtus.pro being the far superior team here. However, things aren’t as they seem at the first glance. We need to have a realistic approach here, and the fact of the matter is – both teams are neck and neck!

Individual Aspects

However, when we take the snowball potential of both sets of players, we’ll realize that total maps over 2.5 might not be the ideal solution here. But, if we take a closer look at upset potential, we’ll realize it’s present! Individually, Virtus.pro’s Jame and YEKINDAR exceed Device and dupreeh…

The young Latvian star is taking no prisoners, and the same can be said about the seasoned Russian AWPer. When they get things going, Virtus.pro is a force to be reckoned with. So yeah, for the sake of our Asteralis vs. Virtus.pro predictions, let’s hope they show up for the occasion tomorrow.

Is Iem Katowice 2020 A Major

Odds are courtesy of BetOnline. You can check out our BetOnline review here.

Yessir, my money is on Virtus.pro here. I know, I know… betting on Astralis is risky! Hey, esports betting is risky, especially online events, so deal with it! We can’t go around expecting massive profits from low-risk bets. That’s just not how things work.

Iem Katowice 2020 Winner

Well, even though we’ve had a fair bit of surprises this event, I reckon the biggest one is yet to come… and my oh my, wouldn’t VP beating Astralis be exactly that!

Virtus.pro have a fair share of flaws, they’re not the perfect team, but they do have that upset potential required to take down a team of Astralis’ qualities. Jame and YEKINDAR ought to be the front-runners for VP on Friday. If they can get the show going, Virtus.pro could end this one in just two maps. At +156, I fancy our chances here, boys!

Intel Extreme Masters Season 15 continues with the IEM Beijing Online regional event. It is the final stop before the Season 15 Global Challenge, and the last chance for teams to earn a spot at the season finale.

The event is set to take place between the 6th and 22nd of November. It features four regional divisions for Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania. A prize pool of $230,000 has been allotted to the events as well as two spots for the IEM Global Challenge and EPT points for IEM Katowice 2021.

The event servers as the final chance for regions to earn their EPT Points towards the final event December.

IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Overview & Teams

The online event features 32 teams across all four regions. Europe hosts the largest of the four regional tournaments with 16 teams. Asia and Oceania consist of only 4 teams each, while the remaining 8 fill up the North American regional. Ahead of this event, qualifiers were held across all four regions with over 70 teams trying to earn a spot at any of the four regional events.

Europe

The European portion of the event is held between 6-22 November 2020. Both the EU and NA events started a week earlier to accommodate for a group stage elimination bracket. Sixteen teams were invited in the European portion of the event divided into two groups of eight. The winner is guaranteed a spot at the IEM Global Challenge in December.

The teams competing in Europe are: Astralis, mousesports, ENCE, MAD Lions, Spirit, North, Fnatic, FaZe Clan, Complexity, BIG, G2 Esports, Vitality, Heroic, OG, Natus Vincere and NiP.

The lions share of the IEM Beijing prize pool was alotted to EU with $150,000 out of the $250,000 allotted for the four regions. Additionally, Heroic is the only team not fighting for a spot at the Global Challenge, as they already earned an invite from winning Dreamhack Open Fall 2020.

We can expect the best level of CS:GO to be played at the European regional as most participants are a part of ESL’s Global Rankings Top 20.

North America

North America is holding its portion of IEM Beijing-Haidian parallel to with Europe. A total of 8 teams were either invited or qualified for the event. They are: Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, Chaos EC, Team One, Triumph, Rugratz and Rebirth Esports. The final spot went to the New England Whalers after FURIA declined their invitation, citing scheduling problems and the fact they have already secured a spot at the IEM Global Challenge.

Teams are divided into two groups of four, with two teams from each group advancing to playoffs. The playoffs will be a single elimination bracket between the winners and runner-ups from opposing groups and a Grand Final to determine the champion.

© Intel Extreme Masters

Asia & Oceania

The two “smaller” regions only share $15,000 in prize funds each and feature four teams. Since both regions start off directly in Playoffs, their start dates have been bumped up a week from EU/NA to November 13th.

No IEM Global Challenge invite slots are on offer in either of the two regions. Additionally, the relatively small prize pools make both of these events a fight for regional pride at best.

Renegades, ORDER and Avant Gaming make up the standard lineup coming into the Oceanic regional. VERTEX Esports Club earned the 4th slot after beating Chiefs EC in the closed qualifier. It is the first time in a long while we don’t see the big four Australian teams fight among each other at an event.

Similarly, Asia is once again a fight between the standard trio of Tyloo, ViCi and Invictus Gaming. They are joined by the Mongolian super team D13 to round out the line-up.

In the end, both of these events will likely see Renegades and Tyloo win their respective regions as has been the tradition throughout this season.

Betting on IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020

There are several aspects to note before you consider betting at IEM Beijing 2020. As a major level event, it will offer more then the usual betting markets. Specific in-match objectives and outcomes are available for betting. However, you must have some knowledge and understanding about each participating team and their playstyle. Luckily, our dedicated CSGO News section and Betting Guide should give you all the information required. Our archive contains information on each previous event and tournament played by each of the participants.

Additionally, we will provide you with our analysis and betting predictions at the end of this wiki.

IEM Beijing 2020 Odds

A glance at the IEM Beijing betting odds gives us plenty of ideas and opportunities for very specific bets and bet slips. As was the case with IEM New York, the unpredictable nature of online play gives preferential odds in niche scenarios, and interesting bets for in-play betting. Additionally, due to the sheer amount of matches played weekly, we can create interesting accumulator and system bet slips with all four regions combined.

Lets take a glance at the odds available at IEM Beijing 2020 courtesy of GG.BET.

© GG.bet

We can observe relatively high odds on match-ups we consider top heavy and easy to predict. Pairing said bets with some interesting match specific outcomes and exotic market predictions, we can create bet slips with multifold returns.

Below are several betting options and mock tickets for you to take directly to your esports bookmaker.

IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 Predictions

There are several ways to approach the upcoming weeks in competitive CS:GO weekend. We can easily mix and match preditcions from various events to create bet slips. For the sake of staying focused on a single event, we predict the following outcomes. (Predicted winners or outcomes marked in bold).

Our selection is based on both the NA/EU quarter-finals at IEM Beijing 2020.

Complexity vs BIG

In the first quarter-final of IEM Beijing 2020 Europe, Complexity will have a tough task in front of themselves. Right now, both teams are in similar form as Complexity won 3 out of the last 5 played while BIG won 4 out of their last 5.

Map pool wise, both teams should get comfort picks for themselves. After banning Inferno and Train, BIG will look to go for Dust 2 or Nuke while Complexity will look to capitalize on either Mirage or Vertigo.

All in all, this leads to a simple conclusion. Both teams are looking really good right now and bookmakers acknowledged that hence why they are rating this match as a coinflip. There is a realistic chance that we will see a decider in this one mainly because both teams will get a comfort pick for themselves which will eventually lead to a deciding map.

Prediction: Total Maps Played – Over 2.5

Heroic vs Vitality

When it comes to IEM Beijing 2020 Europe, this is the match that attracted the biggest attention. Both Heroic and Vitality are looking hot right now and once again, bookmakers are offering a coinflip for this match.

In their last two outings, Heroic defeated NiP and North while Vitality suffered a defeat to FaZe Clan and beat MAD Lions in a one-sided affair.

When it comes to map pool, we are slightly siding with Heroic and here is why. Dust 2 is by far the best map for Vitality while it is also a Heroic’s permaban. It is also important to mention that Train will also be banned first since Vitality does not play this map.

As for the remaining maps. Heroic has a big advantage on Nuke and Vertigo. Their Inferno is not bad as well. Vitality, on the other hand, looked good on Mirage and Overpass. All in all, map pool is favoring Heroic in this one and this is why we believe that they have what it takes to go all the way in this match.

Prediction: Heroic to win

G2 vs Natus Vincere

Aren’t we in for a thriller in this semi-final bout? G2 and Natus Vincere are playing at a high level right now. However, we are heavily leaning towards one team in this match.

In their last two matches, Natus Vincere completely dominated Spirit and Astralis while G2 showed flaws in their last couple of matches.

Map pool also suggests that both teams will be comfortable playing all of the available maps. To summarize, once Natus Vincere starts beating everyone 2-0, you know that they are on fire and there is no stopping them and this is what will happen in this match.

Prediction: Natus Vincere to win

Iem Katowice 2020 Bracket

Chaos vs Evil Geniuses

Iem Katowice 2020 Odds College Bowl

Let’s end our series of picks with the easiest pick out of them all. Chaos and Evil Geniuses are two worlds apart and Chaos is severely lacking in every single department of the game.

Individual skill and map pool both reside with Evil Geniuses. From our point of view, they should win this match without breaking a sweat as Chaos really is not even close to their level.

Iem Katowice 2020 Odds Ncaa Basketball

Prediction: Evil Geniuses to win

If you plan to put all four predictions into a single bet slip, GG.bet will give you a potential 7.43x return on your investment.

You can watch all of the matches played at IEM Beijing Online live on the official ESL CSGO Twitch Channel.