IEM Katowice Play-in matchups and groups revealed

An Astralis-Heroic bout headlines the opening matchups of IEM Katowice.

stavn and jabbi face Heroic for the first time since the move to Astralis

ESL has unveiled the opening matchups of the IEM Katowice Play-in stage and the partial distribution of the teams who were invited directly into the group stage.

The announcement was made less than two weeks ahead of the kick-off of the event on January 31. The play-in will span the first three days, followed by the group stage on February 3-6 and the playoffs inside the iconic Spodek Arena on February 9-11.

FaZe headline Group A as the top seed according to ESL's World Ranking and will be joined by Complexity, Natus Vincere and the new Falcons squad making their Big Event debut, along with four teams from the Play-in.

Second highest-seeded Vitality have been placed into Group B along with MOUZ, who recently announced the addition of Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin on a loan from Ninjas in Pyjamas, as well as Monte and G2.

Group A
FaZe
Complexity
Natus Vincere
Falcons
+4 Play-in teams

Group B
Vitality
MOUZ
Monte
G2
+4 Play-in teams

Before that, 16 teams will take part in the Play-in with hopes of making it through to the group stage and joining the aforementioned eight sides.

In the best-of-one opening round, Astralis will go up against old rivals on and off the server, HEROIC, in Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund and Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard's first encounter against their former organization since they made the dramatic move.

Making their first appearance following the acquisition of 9INE's core, ENCE will play against BIG in another highlight bout of the first round.

FURIA will look to take their revenge for their elimination loss to IHC in last year's IEM Katowice Play-in, taking on a portion of the same squad, The MongolZ, on the first day as well.

Below are the full opening matchups of the Play-in stage:

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2024 Play-in
31/01/2024	Eternal Fire 15:30 BetBoom	Match
31/01/2024	HEROIC 15:30 Astralis	Match
31/01/2024	ENCE 16:40 BIG	Match
31/01/2024	Cloud9 16:55 Rebels	Match
31/01/2024	Spirit 17:55 Apeks	Match
31/01/2024	GamerLegion 18:05 M80	Match
31/01/2024	FURIA 18:45 The MongolZ	Match
31/01/2024	Rooster 19:15 Virtus.pro	Match