We are finally fully entering the 2022 season with the first large event of the year. IEM Katowice kicks off Tuesday with the Play-In stage, as 16 teams fight their way to the main stage. The team lot is diverse and the matches are somewhat unpredictable.

Luckily, we have it all figured out beforehand and will give you our predictions for the tournament openers.

IEM Katowice 2022 Play-In Stage Match Predictions

We selected five of the initial eight matches for our predictions list. Each of these has a clear favorite and a betting market tied to it. If you want to skip the analysis, just scroll down to the bottom to check out our mock betslip.

Copenhagen Flames vs Fnatic

This is probably the safest bet on the entire lot. CPHF is miles ahead of Fnatic in playtime and practice. While Fnatic has the benefit of their newly rebuilt roster and plenty of practice in the shadows, the Flames have been grinding non-stop for the past 6 months and should easily handle Fnatic especially in the opener.

As luck would have it, Fnatic are considered favorites by most bookmakers, giving us a perfect opportunity to place a singles bet against them. GG.BET has CPHF winning at x2.63.

NIP vs Wisla Krakow

Is there really much to talk about regarding this match? Even though NIP is going to play this match without device, we still firmly believe that they will not break the sweat in this bout. Wisla Krakow is nowhere near their level, skill, and strategy-wise. All in all, this should be an easy match for Ninjas in Pyjamas despite playing without their best player. Sadly, odds reflect that.

GODSENT vs MOUZ

For this one, we are going with the underdog bet, and here is why. GODSENT have been playing together for a while now. They played really well until their last two matches where they suffered defeats to NIP and Virtus.Pro. Contrary to that, the newly formed MOUZ line-up is not looking solid at all. Out of the fours matches they played together, they suffered three defeats and the only victory they managed to pull off was against a tier 2 roster, GamerLegion.

At the moment, MOUZ is a big favorite in this match and we simply do not believe that this should be the case. GODSENT has a serious chance of winning this match and the odds are more than rewarding.

OG vs Renegades

Valde and his squad are the biggest favorites on the opening day of the IEM Katowice 2022 Play-in. To be honest, we totally agree with that because Renegades still did not announce their fifth player and this match is getting closer and closer.

The fact is, this is going to be nothing else but a practice map for OG and if they take this match seriously, they should win it comfortably. For our bet, we are expecting OG to cover a difference of 6 rounds which is not all that much.

If OG can get this best of 1 match to Mirage, Inferno, or even Ancient, this should be one of the easiest picks on this bet slip.

ENCE vs Entropiq

In recent weeks, Entropiq stayed active and they accumulated five straight victories to their name. On the other hand, ENCE took a break and when they came back, they were unable to grab a win out of the four matches they played and this is a worrying sign for them.

Entropiq is definitely a solid CIS roster that can easily beat anyone. They already proved in the past that they can handle ENCE as they beat them on four maps so far. Nuke, Ancient, Mirage, and Overpass are all the maps where we side with Entropiq and we are positive that one of these maps is going to be played hence why this is an excellent bet.

BIG vs Movistar Riders

Last but not least, BIG got lucky with the draw as they were matched against the team that is a literal replacement. BIG was supposed to meet Complexity, who lost five straight and were playing really bad. As luck would have it, they are matched against a team that should not be on the same level with them.

Do keep in mind BIG themselves acquired mixed results, but we all know that they enjoy playing at IEM Katowice. I positive that the German CSGO roster will make a statement in this match. If they can avoid Inferno and Ancient.

NIP vs Wisla Krakow – NIP to win @ 1.32
GODSENT vs MOUZ – GODSENT to win @ 2.45
OG vs Renegades – OG Round Handicap(-5,5) @ 1.70
ENCE vs Entropiq – Entropiq to win @ 1.65
BIG vs Complexity – BIG to win @ 1.45

TOTAL ODDS = 13,15

*With a wager of 50$, you can potentially win a total of $657.50!