In the group stage of the IEM Katowice 2025 Play-in, a match will take place between Astralis and MIBR. Both teams are at different levels of preparation but are ready to fight for advancement to the next stage of the tournament. In this article, we will examine the current form of the teams, their map pool, and provide a forecast for the upcoming match.
Current Form of the Teams
The average rating of Astralis over the past month is 6.3. At the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025: Closed Qualifier, the team played two matches: a convincing victory over Wildcard (2-0) and a loss to NAVI (0-2). Astralis showed stability against weaker opponents, but their form against top teams raises questions.
MIBR has a lower average rating of 5.3. The team played only one match over the past month in the same tournament, where they lost to FlyQuest with a score of 0-2. The limited number of games and lack of victories indicate a lack of practice and gameplay stability.
Map Pool
Astralis is highly likely to ban Anubis, which they haven’t played for 22 matches. They will most likely pick Inferno, where they have a win rate of 57% over 14 games, or Ancient (31% win rate over 13 games). Despite the weak statistics on Ancient, this map might remain in the pool as it is less comfortable for MIBR.
MIBR is likely to ban Dust2, which they have banned 47 times over the past 6 months. Their priority pick is Inferno, where they show a 63% win rate over 8 games. The team might also consider Nuke, where they have a win rate of 50% over 8 games.
- Inferno - Astralis' pick
- Nuke - MIBR's pick
- Ancient - decider
Match Prediction
The match between Astralis and MIBR promises to be challenging for both sides. Astralis looks like the favorites due to their higher game practice and stability on key maps. MIBR, on the other hand, will have to fight for every map given their limited results in the past month.
Astralis 2:0 MIBR
IEM Katowice 2025 will take place from January 29 to February 9 in Katowice, Poland. Twenty-four teams will compete for a prize pool of $1 million. You can follow the schedule and results of the event here.
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