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G2 Esports have claimed their first-ever IEM Katowice title, defeating Heroic 3-1 in the best-of-five series grand final on Sunday.
The number one CS:GO team in the world ended their IEM Katowice 2023 campaign undefeated, winning five straight series while only dropping one map on their way to a $400,000 winner’s cheque.
This G2 roster has now won back-to-back tournaments, after they ended their 2022 season with a win in the BLAST Premier World Final in Abu Dhabi back in December.
THE LATEST INDUCTEES INTO THE HALL OF HEROES.
YOUR #IEM KATOWICE 2023 CHAMPIONS
🏆 @G2esports 🏆 pic.twitter.com/21FJfVMucH
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 12, 2023
The win in Katowice, Poland, is regarded as a massive breakthrough for many reasons for this G2 roster, with their star player Nikola “NiKo” Kovac winning his first IEM Katowice title at his fourth attempt.
Meanwhile, the IEM Katowice MVP, Justin “jks” Savage, has picked up back-to-back IEM Katowice titles having also won the event as a stand-in with FaZe Clan in 2022, becoming the first player to win the title in consecutive years with different teams.
JUSTIN KATOWICE SAVAGE.
THE ONLY PLAYER TO WIN #IEM KATOWICE BACK TO BACK WITH DIFFERENT TEAMS. 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/6RFYxkVS9z
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 12, 2023
Now that G2 have broken the so called “G2 curse” and been successful in consecutive tournaments, we could now see the international squad go on a run similar to that of FaZe Clan, who won IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League, PGL Major Antwerp and IEM Cologne in 2022.
As for Heroic, they have now made the grand final at IEM Katowice and the IEM Rio Major but fallen short on both occasions, which is starting to become somewhat of a trend at big tournaments for the Danish roster.
Both teams will now move onto ESL Pro League Season 17 in Malta, where they will begin the event as the top two contenders in the $850,000 tournament.
G2 Esports are +250 outright favourites with Heroic next at +450 on most esports betting sites for the next event on the 2023 CS:GO calendar.
