IEM Katowice 2023: Grand Final Preview, Betting Odds and Analysis

There’s only one more matchup in the IEM Katowice 2023: G2 versus Heroic. We’ve reached the peak of the Polish mountain and the last day in the Spodek. The end begins on February 12th at 16:00 CET. Who will stand at the top in the grand finale?

IEM Katowice 2023 Grand Final Odds

Bookies like Luckbox Esports put G2 at around 1.40 and Heroic at around 2.90, which summarizes their opinion on the matter more than enough. No CSGO tournament for the past 6 months had a more divided pair of odds—not when Heroic (1.73) faced Outsiders (2.21) in the finale of Rio Major and not when G2 (1.80) faced Liquid (1.90) in the finale of BLAST World Final.

It’s like the bookmakers are saying, “G2 will win. No matter what,” and most CSGO fans are ready to believe them (though perhaps not as much with their money as with their faith).

If you know how to bet on CSGO, you know a grand final doesn’t get any better than this, profit-wise and odds-wise. Will you ride the unstoppable G2 wagon, or will you dare earn big by betting it’s going to crash soon?

Don’t miss out on an IEM Katowice promo before making a decision.

IEM Katowice 2023 Finalist #1: G2

G2 has not yet lost a single map in 2023. But what really makes them scary isn’t just the 14 matches they’ve played over 5 maps that constitute their perfect record. Despite facing the golden team NAVI (3 times), the notorious IEM Katowice 2022 and Antwerp Major winner FAZE, they have a perfect record. The question “Are G2 simply having a rare streak of luck?” slowly turns to “Will G2 become the next Astralis?”

We ranked them 3rd in our list of the best CSGO teams after winning BLAST World Final despite them being in shambles after losing IEM Katowice 2022 in the grand final—a terrible fate most believe won’t befall them again this time. We did this because we thought they had the potential to establish their dynasty once they got their rhythm. And they’re getting there.

Now, Liquid has been crossed off the list, a team who tried to take them deep into the dark forest of Anubis and Ancient—2 of G2’s least-played maps for the last 3 months. It didn’t work. No miraculous 2-13 to 19-17 comeback happened the same way it did for them against Vitality. G2 wiped them out, seemingly in their own preparation like FAZE.

What can Heroic do against this juggernaut of a CSGO team?

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IEM Katowice 2023 Finalist #2: Heroic

While the G2 camp has momentum behind its back, the Heroic camp has uncertainty at best. The last time G2 and Heroic met was on 25 November in BLAST Fall Final, an event Heroic won shortly after finishing second in Rio Major. Before that, they locked horns in the Legends Stage of Antwerp Major in May, where Heroic defeated G2 19-17 on Vertigo. In total, Heroic has scored 3-0 in matches against G2 for the past year.

That’s not a whole lot of history. Sure, Heroic doesn’t have a perfect record (they even lost shockingly to EG in BLAST Spring Groups), but they came to the grand final of IEM Katowice 2023 with a near-perfect record, only losing 1 map to Complexity in the Group Stage. Also, preventing NAVI from winning 2-digit rounds in 2 maps is something G2 and Heroic have in common.

If somebody can deter G2’s streak, it’s Heroic. We don’t know how team captain cadiaN plans to do it, but we know we’re not as confident as most IEM Katowice betting sites to call them an underdog in this most anticipated fight.

IEM Katowice 2023 Grand Final Prediction

G2’s samurai sword looks menacingly lethal, whetted sharp to the hilt, and prepared to cut down all forces standing in the way. That said, there are limited ways to approach the betting game unless you want to fall completely on one side of the fence.

Because G2 is like a hot stock, chances are the map winner markets will give Heroic high multipliers early on, whether it’s their map pick or not. On GG.Bet, 3 maps average at 2.65 for Heroic.

Since the grand final is a best of five (BO5), both teams get to pick 2 maps, which means 2 chances for Heroic to take G2 to their preparations. It didn’t work for FAZE, NAVI, and Liquid, but we’ve already seen that Heroic does better on their maps compared to others.

Nuke and Overpass will likely be banned, and neutral maps for both teams (Ancient, Anubis, Vertigo) will be crucial deciders of the event. On the surface, this is good news for Heroic, but no one can say.

Unless you can afford it, betting against G2 is not wise CSGO betting advice. Not when they’re playing at this level. On the other hand, dumping all your money on either team isn’t so smart either. Better to choose map winner markets where both teams stand on neutral grounds but where the odds aren’t.

Images credit: ESL