IEM Katowice invites announced

6-1-2020 17:39

ESL has unveiled seven teams that received direct invites to IEM Katowice 2020, with Liquid, Evil Geniuses and Vitality on the list.

The first three teams to be confirmed at IEM Katowice were fnatic, Astralis, and MOUZ, as they earned their spots at the event by winning tournaments last year, namely DreamHack Masters Malmö, IEM Beijing, and ESL Pro League S10 Finals.

Liquid have been confirmed for the $500,000 event

Now, seven new names have been confirmed for the $500,000 tournament in Poland, which takes place on February 25 - March. With Liquid and Evil Geniuses confirmed, IEM Katowice will feature the top five teams in the world as of today's rankings, with Vitality, 100 Thieves, Natus Vincere and Ninjas in Pyjamas being other top 10 teams on the list.

Rounding out the invited team list is Virtus.pro, with the only top 10 team missing out being FaZe - who will have to earn their spot through the qualifiers.

The team list for IEM Katowice 2020 is now as follows:

EU Qualifier

NA Qualifier

Asia Qualifier

Oceania Qualifier

The open qualifiers for the four regions have already been played out, with the closed qualifiers set to start between January 7th and 14th, depending on the region.

Invite BIG CLAN pls, future top 5 team. Thanks.

2020-01-06 17:40

40 replies

They'll qualify

26 replies

inshallah they will

20 replies

big qualifying to a big event without smooya hmmm

2020-01-06 17:41

11 replies

Faze OMEGALUL

2020-01-06 18:04

8 replies

And there he changed his flair xD

2020-01-06 18:06

7 replies

faze still should get invite over VP. but this is ESL were talking about already back to their traditions with free invites to VP

2020-01-06 19:04

6 replies

i didnt mean megan_fox, you should learn reading out the context he said "faze" because the flair of shakeeh WAS faze

2020-01-06 19:22

5 replies

i know...?

2020-01-06 19:23

4 replies

Why does VP get an invite, while g2 ence and faze have to qualify?

2020-01-06 22:18

3 replies

VP are interesting. G2, ence & faze could be any other european team... talented, but idiots with no idea how to actually use it. Go lose to a standin and a coach again then ask again why no invite LUL.

2020-01-07 00:41

2 replies

ok will do men cuz i know that if they will go against a coach again they will choke it 😎👍

2020-01-07 17:02

1 reply

Vp got invites because of Kazach roster which seems to be better than Polish

2020-01-08 00:47

Easy without smooya. Syrson = god

2020-01-06 18:25

True, syrson best germanistan palyer! :()

2020-01-06 19:39

nt xantares

finally they stoped invite these brazilians bots , should stop invite woxic team too

2020-01-06 17:43

Mousesports weren't invited tho... They won esl pro league 10 and qualified

2020-01-06 17:46

name checks , sadly woxic is achieving something in his life but you are just complaining . So bad for wasted thinking and consuming resources to think like that.

2020-01-06 17:47

2020-01-06 18:29

hello mad kiddo

2020-01-06 17:51

brazilians bots!? hf seeing them qualify

gg delusional beetch

2020-01-06 18:12

No, they won’t. BIG is absolute shit team without any future.

Why do you hate big so much?

2020-01-06 17:42

Maybe he is just not very big

2020-01-06 18:30

+11111111111111111111

2020-01-06 20:01

I doubt it

2020-01-06 18:11

RIP

MIBR deserve

Lets be honest, Sprout is better than BIG.

They can't even win against BIG oder aTTaX but international they are the best german team It's creepy

2020-01-06 20:52

+oskar +unknown this could make sprout the best German team. Not saying it because of Oskar, I always liked Sprout and didnt really care about BIG, but lets be honest... BIG is trash team and if the last changes wont make something huge, Sprout will be the best German team.

2020-01-07 16:47

What I said Sprout lose everytime against aTTaX and BIG But internationally they are the best german team

2020-01-07 18:01

This isn't Cologne where they get free invite being as trash as MIBR LMAO

Bug

2020-01-06 17:45

Agree +1

2020-01-06 17:52

Top 5 ? Maybe in Germany

2020-01-06 18:16

XDDDD

2020-01-06 18:21

Bug clan

2020-01-06 20:00

+1 invite for BIG is a must !

2020-01-13 14:54

C9 invite them please

They didn't have a team 1 hour ago

Now they have

Omegalul imagine invite team not by result but just for fame

2020-01-06 17:54

Beat g2 in bo3 went 9-10 iirc

Big omegalul idk why ppl overhyping c9 so they need to invite them because they are c9 but while they were atk they don't deserve it then k

2020-01-06 18:20

Money

2020-01-06 18:50

Nice free win for astralis

10 replies

*mousesport

2020-01-06 17:49

*Na'Vi

2020-01-06 18:57

2020-01-06 20:54

fnatic and mouse

2020-01-06 18:09

turkish math displayed right there.

2020-01-06 18:43

what do you talking about dumb?

2020-01-08 16:34

ez second for liquid, liquid - astralis final, astralis wins 3-1

2020-01-06 20:03

ALTERNATE aTTaX

2020-01-06 20:53

Will choke in semis

2020-01-07 07:06

Good luck.

FNATIC

They were already qualified for the tournament

GO FNATIC

FNATIC!!!

2020-01-06 18:19

FA NA TI C

2020-01-06 18:40

ok mens

2020-01-06 18:37

No mibr kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Good tournament

cool

2020-01-06 21:33

Trash. G2 > NIP and VP yet not invited.

G2 that lost against a substitute and a coach lol

2020-01-06 17:50

Beat mouz 16-3 16-2 and 16-1 during cs_summit aswell.

Still thy lost the final with 2 stand-in

And they destroyed mouz 16-3 16-2 16-1. G2's mentality fucked with them after they beat mouz 16-1 on vertigo, thinking 3rd map would be easy.

2020-01-06 17:56

But who won the tournament tho

2020-01-06 18:03

They beat them but who cares? They lost against team with 2 stand-ins in final man. They r so bad

2020-01-06 18:26

no mibr pepehands

Bruh vp will drop out as 16th

FaZe - who will have to earn their spot through the qualifiers. NICE ONE I APPROVE

Finally Faze need to qualify for a tournament

FaZe > virtus.pro for sure

mibr? furia? what is this shit

MIBR and Furia isn't in the top 10

name

Kekw tournaments owner finally stopped wasting spots on m16r

2020-01-06 18:02

Excellent

nip and vp but no faze lmfao

FaZe are ranked below VP and NIP (and G2, who didn't get an invite) pro.eslgaming.com/worldranking/csgo/rank.. G2 is the team that should replace VP.

2020-01-06 17:44

+1 underrated comment

2020-01-07 01:45

where is GOAT ENCE

in the toilet my brother

2020-01-06 23:25

Virtus.Who?

Virtus.avangar

hahaha ez 4 Astralis

INVITING VP OVER FAZE AND ENCE LMAO (yes ik ence is a fluke but they’re better than vp and also were finalists last year)

G2 > ENCE and VP. These invites are trash.

yeah but talking about history value mainly ence made the most legendary cinderella run at katowice. they deserve an invite

No one gives a single shit about "history value". ENCE is ass, should not be invited to any tournaments.

according to him C9 should still be invited to every event to give all the teams free wins lmao

#109

2020-01-06 17:57

i guess lol but the difference between c9 and ence is huge, c9 doesn’t even have the same core it had before and they aren’t even tier 3, while ence is a tier 2 roster also ence still has a 3 man core and isn’t totally ass compared to vp/avangar lmao

Ur doing drugs if you think Ence is tier 2

2020-01-06 19:37

ENCE >>>> all t1 teams

2020-01-07 08:01

VP is the old Avangar btw not that dead polish scene , only good polak went to NA Avangar > ENCE since aleksib left Avangar> Faze atm in terms of consistency. (thought they havent really done much lately either ,except some tier 2 events)

2020-01-06 17:48

vp/avangar after major and blast - group stage exits also faze top 4 at beijing and a much more significant blast win i’m not saying aleksib-less ence is good but a finals at a tier 2 lan and some top 4 placings is a lot better also i’m talking about the storyline/history part of katowice. ence has a legacy there, they deserve an invite

Fluke? Wdym?

2020-01-06 17:59

from top 3 team to tier 2 team lol

Do you know what fluke means? Ence is now tier 2 team only because of the roster change.

2020-01-06 19:32

they didn’t want aleksib on the roster, so i count it. he was basically a standin until allu got sunny onto ence

2020-01-06 19:34

Very odd way to think this situation, but what should I have expected from NA user.

2020-01-06 19:38

yes ik ence technically doesn’t count as a fluke by definition. but they were destined to fail if they wanted aleksib gone for months they were too greedy about their success and kicked the wrong person

2020-01-06 19:40

Btw "VP" is the old Avangar they got bought by VP. As you can see they are not from Poland.

ENCE? LUL. G2 or even OG > Bot Allu & co. But I agree about VP, they don't deserve invitation

2020-01-06 18:59

i +1 on g2

2020-01-06 19:07

nt stupid fakeflagger

Okay, then tell me how did the VP earn this invitation? Although it makes no sense to ask you, it’s clear that VP absolutely DO NOT deserve an invitation. I am more than sure that if VP were not invited, they wouldn't have passed the qualifications

2020-01-07 03:51

suck dick stupid fakeflagger

2020-01-14 15:34

No, your mother will do it.

2020-01-15 01:49

But vp ( avangar) were in the finals in 2019 ... so ur message means that u just dont like vp ...

so was ence and look what happened to both

no stability from them ... i think they got some mental problems ...

2020-01-08 08:42

FAZE KEKW

ez 4 OG

Good shit

got tickets to final, so lets hope astralis wont make it there and beat someone 2-0

24 replies

Don't worry. NaVi will beat Astralis 3-0

23 replies

I would be fine w that, btw. its BO5?

2020-01-06 18:41

Yes. ESL, IEM and EPL are bo5 finals

Navi should consider themselves lucky if they make it to the semi finals no scene.

wdym? lol. NaVi will win the event its just a matter of against who they will play the finals.

Like they won EPICENTER?

2020-01-06 19:01

Do you even watch events?

2020-01-06 19:02

I saw navi get beaten by EG and Vitality, what did you watch?

2020-01-06 19:13

lol imagine thinking those fluke wins matter. NaVi were clearly saving strats for IEM Katowice (much bigger event than EPICENTER).

Thank you for the meme response, ggwp sir.

2020-01-06 19:24

ok just wait for iem katowice to start.

2020-01-06 19:26

Na'Vi LUL. This team is dead since Zeus left and GuardiaN came.

12 replies

nt traitor dont support NaVi when they win IEM Katowice.

2020-01-06 19:03

Why should I support Na'Vi? They have not interested me since Zeus left. The rest of the lineup players are not interested in me. Also I don’t like s1mple, because he is a terribly toxic person who constantly flames teammates for every mistake

2020-01-07 03:37

s1mple is not toxic. Infact he is very humble and kind person.

2020-01-07 11:24

youtu.be/oX_K6Cyj3pM youtu.be/wscz6kF7BqU He's a toxic person, who flames his teammates for every mistake. And this is one of the reasons s1mple will never win a major.

2020-01-07 12:07

See you on May 24th, 2019.

2020-01-07 12:35

What I will see? How Astralis win another major?

2020-01-07 13:31

No you will see NaVi destroying Astralis 2-0 and win the major.

2020-01-07 14:09

Na'Vi can't destroying Astralis with GuardiaN, B1ad3 and s1mple toxicity

2020-01-07 15:27

#226 suck dick stupid fakeflagger

Fakeflagger? LUL Why I'm fakeflagger? Because I'm not a fan of the CIS teams? I’m not obliged to support this or that team just because it is from the CIS.

2020-01-07 03:44

suck dick

Ahahahhahah, typical Russian toxic kid. Go to home and start doing homework

2020-01-15 01:48

No Fer, No Fallen Trash event

Flag checks out

Finally no two faced toledo here

2020-01-06 18:01

ez NaVi

VP? i don't think esl remember its not pl vp anymore, invite ex-vp omfg. Maybe on closed qualifiers.

Thy are missing a player lol

Dycha free agent if he didn't sign for sprout.

Why ex vp not illuminar and why they should even invite any polish team? Braindead

2020-01-06 17:55

You're the absolute braindead here, if u payed any attention over few years you know when iem sydney comes they invite few aussies to closed / main event. When kato comes they invite polish to closed when events in other countries come usually 1-2 hometown teams are invited you ABSOLUTE FUCKING BRAINDAMAGED KID.

But they have decent teams unlike poland even ex vp do not have completed full roster yet and what i heard snatchie wanna go international so what are you talking about pl scene is trash and even better invite og than any polish team nowdays

2020-01-06 18:23

VP IS BACK POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG

But in another flag

2020-01-06 18:24

LOL just do a bigger qualifier but for the love of god dont invite trash ass teams like NIP and VP WTF, just not normal to see teams playing such trash CS and still getting invited to a prestigious events like katowice, very undeserved and everyone knows they wouldn't make pass the qualifier

NIP often make it to playoffs in tournaments

9 replies

Flair, flag and name checked out, why even bother respond? NiP has been a joke all year and they even lost their best player now, katowice is a top 3 most prestigious event of the year, it just doesn't feel right to invite dog teams like this

Ok and G2 Lost against a substitute and a coach lol

Also NIP has won against Vitality and G2 many times lol

Funny that you think you got me by trashtalking one of the team I hate the most, Don't respond if you have nothing to say and thanks for reminding me this great moment

Bruh

but trashtality cant win against nip....weird

Ok just in case you can't read which isn't surprising for a 2 IQ nip fangay, I hate french CS and always hated it, now try to get some real argument instand of talking shit about the same teams as me, we could do that in another thread if you want tho

2020-01-06 19:59

not my problem that you say that you hate french cs. I would say the same if i were in your pants so people think you dont give a shit. (you do). Nip have being improving for the last 6 month and they are better than you want to think they are so stfu kid

LMAO this got to be a bait

2020-01-06 20:21

FaZe, ENCE, G2 in closed quali... [*]Poland

ez for Mousegods

NA only one slot ahahahahahahaha

Because NA only have two good team's

Sweden only has 1 good team yet ESL invited 2?

france has 0 good teams and yet 1 is invited

Liquid & EG already there, so will be ez for compLexity.

2020-01-06 17:53

Lul why not Faze?

Because ESL don't care about bo1 Blast tournaments

Wtf ? Why virtus?

>invite virtus.LUL >dont invite faze or G2 >wtf

It's normal to invite 2 CIS teams for such a tournament. Especially when it's a tournament in Poland.

Because VP is a good team now

hahaha no FaZe, how the mighty have fallen. The EU qualifier will be stacked, FaZe are not a shoe-in.

please link to closed qualifiers

nip and vp and not FaZe ok

Flair checks out B01 Blast tournament don't show how good a team is so ESL don't care if you win one

im sorry u lost to FaZe in BO3 final doesnt mean u have to cry baby

Nip won over faze in the global final lol finished last in a 4 team tournament

2020-01-06 18:00

congrats on finishing 3rd

Still lost 2-0 to NIP

like nip in finals of blast copenhagen

I don't care about a Bo1 tournament lol

2020-01-06 18:08

nip fan iq be like

2020-01-06 18:07

virtus.pro? for what

Blast win, major finals? Also vp is huge org with a lot of fans in cis

80% of virtus pro fans were Polish fans who kept their fingers crossed for Polish players

2020-01-06 18:35

Yeah while pasha was in the team there was like 50k+ viewers in the stream after kick 3-5k

2020-01-06 18:38

Nice

NO MIBR = TIER 87 tournament

Nope a tier 1 tournament when MIBR is in it it's tier 87 tournament

2020-01-06 18:05

Agree with all invites except VP seriously ? Like not FaZe #8 or forZe #13 or G2 #11 VP #17 and losing every single tournament in group stage haha what the fuck is this ESL

13 replies

ESL ranking?

pro.eslgaming.com/worldranking/csgo/rank.. G2 #8 in ESL ranking

Thy probably used a older ranking

2020-01-06 17:58

Faze, g2, forze OVERRATED they show nothing in major

who cares about Major Vega, C9, Gambit shows up on Major and where they now?

0/8 stew left c9 and they did not had good replacement, zeus in game leader left, and vp proved they are good unlike faze that did nothing also g2 they dreams about being top3 nexa is delusional lol

Major flukes doesnt count, everyone wants srtong teams VP is dogshit team, its Kazakh VP and they dont have fans in Poland so what the point inviting this team to Katowice Obviously VP has some deals with ESL to invite their dogshit to event lol

So basically they have to invite cause of fans? 0/8 faze, g2, m16r, forze are not good either and do not deserve it too, 16-0 with astralis lol

I mean inviting Polish team to Katowice is makes sense But inviting Kazazh team to Katowice instead stronger teams its just J O K E from ESL

Why they would invite them if any polish team isn't even in top 30 and did not win single important tournament? Lol i would say invite NIP is trash decision

so why invite trash team? just cuz they major finalist and then got eliminated in group stage of every single tournament ? Starseries, ECS, Asia Championship, EPICENTER just lol. Lets invite Clown9 then, they won Major 2 years ago

2020-01-06 18:14

Same happened with old golden5 polish vp they could lose to everyone and win to everyone still got many invites who cars still major finals is more promising than 16-0

2020-01-06 18:18

Man, you're still answering the biggest troll/clown of HLTV. G2 and Faze didnt even have the same line up at the major.

Astralis Fanatic and Mouz qualified through winning these events is pretty pointless. Would have been invited anyway.

True

2020-01-06 18:27

true, but if there was any other team outside top 10 that won then another top 10 team would go through close qualifier.

2020-01-06 19:44

What is this VP invite, lol? Meanwhile missing Faze and G2... And finally no more invites for Mr. Two Faced Toledo.

What a day to purchase tickets! So excited!

vp and nip invited but faze not :DDDD

Faze is 17 in ESL rankings

they are #13

Shit wrote the wrong number

still outside top 10

2020-01-06 19:45

Hope either MIBR or FURIA apply to qualifiers and take the slot...

We need OG

Thy are playing the open qualifyer

Don't think about this. They no need this invite. I think they'll easily pass qualifications

2020-01-06 19:09

VP wasted spot

I'm sorry, no faze clan

Need to qualify

That's my problem

2020-01-06 19:18

Faze xD

invite dignitas plz

No roster

2020-01-06 18:39

OG COMPLEXITY INCOMING

Pls big clan

INV dignitas

no more invites left

2020-01-06 19:46

so stupid system wtf

2020-01-06 18:15

Wow, no BR... what a sad era to be a BR fan

They shouldnt invite vp

Yeah VP is back in Spodek Lets go

2020-01-06 18:17

yaay oh wait a second

>The open qualifiers for the four regions have already been played out, with the closed qualifiers set to start between January 7th and 14th, depending on the region. EU Open quali #2 still to come, HLTV pls fix

ahhahahha vp nice ieam -.- invite kazahs dogs not polish team

XDDDDDDDDDDDD

VP over FaZe? What a joke.

VP is shit wtf?

Na'Vi and Vp Waste spot

0/8

2020-01-06 18:55

The Opinion of s0mple fans do not care

2020-01-06 19:05

WTF INVITING THIS SHITTY VP AND NOT G2 OR FAZE? ESL 🤡🤡🤡🤡

2020-01-06 18:34

name and flag checks out

Navi gonna finish last 🤡🤕🤡

2020-01-06 21:32

2020-01-07 11:23

INVITING VP 🤡

what the fuck

big clan

NIP OMEGALUL

no MiBR RIP brazil scene CSGO is dying. Fortnite time mens))

2020-01-06 18:42

And this is why we love the S tier events.

No Faze, retarded iem hahha

Faze is at place 13 in ESL ranking (VP is 12)

Vp instead of FaZe or G2 wtf

2020-01-06 18:44

And the funny fact its that vp its no longer polish roster.... C'mon thats stupid

2020-01-06 18:51

+1 no polish vp no vp

2020-01-06 18:54

No FaZe? They were 2nd at IEM Katowice 2018 and 5-8th at IEM Katowice 2019

2020-01-06 18:47

2nd at IEM Katowice 2017 also.

Yup i forgot

NiP and VP before FaZe???

2020-01-06 18:52

all day long

2020-01-06 19:48

cold niko...

Nip...

2020-01-06 19:58

no forest no gtr...

so now they will be even better and start to win tournaments ;)

2020-01-06 20:04

forest :,(

yes is a shame...but his choice and i think it will be for the better for nip. New hungry guy comes in

2020-01-06 20:05

lets see. anyway i think faze is better than nip. we will see when they play each toher on katowice ;)

2020-01-06 20:06

they arent and they wont. Faze will not qualify

2020-01-06 20:07

wait 3 days

2020-01-06 20:08

yes

2020-01-06 20:10

So useless cry by people, obviously they just used ESL rankings at the time to make invites fair or not... Lucky for VP they must have just barely been top 10 in ESL rank still back then, while G2, faze etc. wasn't xd. BTW had they decided invites today it would have been G2 instead of VP getting invite but naturally that wasn't the case.

Let's go Vitality 2020 ! #VforVictory

bad tournement

2020-01-06 19:14

2020-01-06 19:20

No faze lul

"The open qualifiers for the four regions have already been played out, with the closed qualifiers set to start between January 7th and 14th, depending on the region." BTW this is false info, 2nd open qualifiers for EU are still to be played, they start tomorrow :). play.esea.net/index.php?s=events&d=detai..

Ence?

2020-01-06 19:25

Nice invites. A list of teams who are doing decently lately. Finally a TO stands up against the usual "big names get direct invites" by not inviting FaZe and MIBR. Make them go through qualifications. I love it. Good job IEM.

No MIBR no audience

FaZe > VP G2 > NiP

Agree 1000000000%

2020-01-06 19:42

Why tf does NIP get a free invite when Faze and G2 have to go through the qualifier? That’s such bull shit. Stop sucking on those tiny Swedish Dicks

Not really surprising tbh, can't even count the amount of time NiP got undeserved invite to big events in the past years just ro get absolutely shit on as expected