Minor Play-in Qualification set to start

The qualifying process for IEM Katowice will come to a close on Sunday with the four-team Minor Play-in qualification stage.

North, Envy, ViCi and Winstrike, the third-placed sides of the Minor regional championships, will get one last chance to secure a spot at IEM Katowice via the new Minor Play-in stage, announced by Valve at the end of August.

The tournament will be played in a double-elimination format, featuring best-of-three matches in the lower bracket, with the top two sides securing direct entry into the New Challengers Stage.

Will North be able to qualify for the Major?

As the highest-ranked side in attendance, North will be heavily favoured to secure a top-two finish. The Danish team missed their first two chances to qualify for the Major after losing to ENCE in the Europe Minor's upper bracket final, and to Vitality in the tournament's consolidation final. All eyes will be on Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså, who averaged a 1.35 rating, second only to Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut (1.36), last week in Katowice.

In their first match, the DreamHack Masters Stockholm champions will be tested by WingHei "⁠Freeman⁠" Cheung, who averaged a tournament-high 1.32 rating in ViCi's third-place run at the Minor.

Below you can find the complete schedule for the Minor Play-in stage:

Sunday, January 27
12:00 | North vs. ViCi | BO1
13:10 | Winstrike vs. Envy | BO1
14:30 | Upper bracket final | BO1
15:45 | Lower bracket final | BO3
19:45 | Consolidation final | BO3