The IEM Katowice 2025 playoffs are here, with six teams still in the race for the championship. NAVI and Vitality secured their spots directly in the semifinals by winning their groups, while The MongolZ, Eternal Fire, Virtus.pro, and Spirit will fight through the quarterfinals for a chance to reach the top four.

The Weaker Bracket: Vitality’s Path to the Final

The first bracket features The MongolZ vs. Eternal Fire, with the winner advancing to face Vitality in the semifinals. This side of the bracket looks weaker compared to the other one, which has NAVI, Spirit, and Virtus.pro.

The MongolZ are playing their first major tournament of the year, and while they have shown promise, they don’t seem strong enough to win big matches yet. Eternal Fire, on the other hand, already reached the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025 final and have been in solid form this year. That makes them the favorites in this quarterfinal matchup.

If Eternal Fire win, they will face Vitality in the semifinals. This is an interesting matchup because Vitality actually lost to Eternal Fire in the quarterfinals of BLAST Bounty 2025. That defeat proved Eternal Fire can compete with top-tier teams, but Vitality has had more time to improve since then. If Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and Robin "ropz" Kool perform well, they should secure a spot in the grand final. Yet they can always be beaten by İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş and co.

I wouldn’t say our raw power has changed much, but we enjoy playing together more. With a fresh roster, new strategies, and a new approach, there’s more excitement. Even in practice, we have more fun. Individually, everyone is in great form, which makes a big difference.

ZywOo in the recent interview for BO3

The Stronger Bracket: Spirit or NAVI

The second bracket is far more competitive. Here, Virtus.pro faces Spirit, and the winner will take on NAVI in the semifinals.

Virtus.pro already looked like the weakest team in the playoffs, and their chances took a huge hit when their star Timur "FL4MUS" Maryev  was ruled out due to visa issues. They brought in Nikolay "mir" Bityukov as a stand-in, but he hasn’t played at a pro level since IEM Chengdu in April 2024. With such a long break, it’s unlikely that he will be able to perform at a high level. Because of this, Spirit are heavy favorites to win this match and advance.

If Spirit win, they will play NAVI in the semifinals, which is expected to be the tournament’s biggest matchup. These two teams have already played twice this year, with NAVI winning their last series 2-1 during the group stage. However, this time Spirit could be more prepared, and they are looking to defend their IEM Katowice champion title, which they won last year in this very arena. A lot will lie on the shoulders of the AWPers. Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov disappears in the decisive matches while Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov is having a pretty mid event with a rating 6.2. 

Most fans believe that the winner of NAVI vs. Spirit will likely go on to win the entire event, as they look much stronger than any of the teams in the other bracket.

I think the main reason we are ahead [of Spirit] is stability. We haven’t made any roster changes, while other top teams have had to reset and start from scratch after making one or more changes. Even a single change means spending time rebuilding and fixing mistakes.

iM in the recent interview for BO3

The Grand Final Awaits

The grand final will be a best-of-five series, held in front of thousands of fans in the legendary Spodek Arena. With $1,250,000 on the line, and $460,000 for the winner, this will be a crucial event not just for the prize money but also for Valve’s global rankings. A victory here could help NAVI or Vitality return to the No.1 spot, setting the tone for the rest of 2025.The remaining prize pool is going to spread like this:

• 1st – $460,000;
• 2nd – $216,000;
• 3-4th – $108,000;
• 5-6th – $61,000.

IEM Katowice 2025 is the first truly big event of the year, and all eyes are on these teams to see who will lift the trophy on championship Sunday.