What to expect from M80 v. GamerLegion

M80 has been dealt a rough hand for IEM Katowice 2024, having to head into the event without IGL Marcus "maNkz" Kjeldsen and, to make matters worse, with coach Rory "dephh" Jackson as a stand-in. While dephh's mind for the game is as sharp as ever, based on ESL Challenger Atlanta, he leaves much to be desired in the fragging department. With an opening matchup against GamerLegion on the cards in Poland, M80 will be hard-pressed to make it out of the Play-In stage, though winning this opening Bo1 may be the only way for them to sneak through.

Tough times for M80

As previously mentioned, not having maNkz with the team in Katowice makes things incredibly difficult for M80. The only silver lining here is that as the opening match is a Bo1, M80 may be able to have their fraggers pull off a shock-and-awe campaign to sneak out a close win against GamerLegion.

• dephh is a likely liability on the server; anything above a 0.80 rating would be great

• However, Swisher has been in great form and may be able to pick up the slack

• slaxz- as a European AWPer may be M80's biggest asset on the server versus GamerLegion

GamerLegion come in as massive favorites

GamerLegion are likely quite happy with their draw against M80. Not only are they facing an NA underdog, they're facing an NA underdog without their IGL. The squad will look for a quick win to set up a likely series against VP for a spot in the main event.

• Snax's leadership looked fantastic against FaZe in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups

• acoR's rating leaves a bit to be desired from an AWPer

• Additionally, GL's rifling core looks a bit weak, maybe M80 can exploit that

Previous Matchups

These two teams have never played each other.

Likely Vetoes

As always, these vetoes come with the caveat that they are highly speculative as they depend on whether GamerLegion, as the higher-ranked team, chooses to ban first or ban last. Additionally, keep in mind opening matches are Bo1 in the Play-In, which could shake things up.

• M80 ban Mirage (1 Map Played)

• GamerLegion ban Anubis & Inferno (Permaban, 1 Map Played)

• M80 ban Overpass & Nuke (GL's best remaining map, M80's least-played remaining map)

• GamerLegion ban Ancient (12% Winrate)

• Vertigo is picked

Analysis: For M80, they are ideally looking to play on either Vertigo or Ancient as they have a ton of experience on both maps which should make dephh's life easier. As GamerLegion, they should feel fairly good anywhere except for Mirage, Inferno, and Anubis based on the circumstances surrounding the matchup.