IEM Sydney 2023 Group Stage Guide – Both Groups Explained

Overall, we’d say Group A of IEM Sydney 2023 is where a lot of the best teams are found. The massive favorite to progress is Vitality here. BetBoom Team are an interesting roster, but Vitality should still have enough to move past them. Then, it’s either FaZe or GamerLegion awaiting them afterward, and we’d bet on Vitality in those matchups every day of the week.

On the other side of the bracket, NAVI face Apeks, while MOUZ take on VERTEX Esports Club. This seems almost certain to set up a rematch of the ESL Pro League Season 18 Final, where MOUZ beat NAVI comfortably. In truth, we expect whoever from NAVI or MOUZ doesn’t qualify from the Upper Bracket, to eventually make it to Playoffs through the Lower Bracket.

The IEM Sydney teams in Group B are still an extremely strong bunch. Of these, we rate ENCE the highest right now. Although it seems near-certain they’ll face Cloud9 in the second match, we’ve still got them down to progress from their side of the bracket. Our IEM Sydney 2023 power rankings have them at 2nd in the entire tournament, for good reason.

Monte vs Complexity is an interesting tie in the IEM Sydney groups. These two teams seem to be constantly improving, and both have the potential to beat G2 if the latter are having an off-day. We assume that G2 even at their worst should have enough about themselves to beat Grayhound comfortably, despite the Aussie roster playing on home turf. Who knows, though – the wildcard of Counter-Strike 2 could change everything!