Liquid vs Heroic Prediction 29 January 2025

📢 In the ⅛ finals of the upper bracket of the IEM Katowice 2025 Play-In, Liquid will face Heroic. The former are the favorites in this matchup, but can they live up to this status? In our prediction, we will try to answer this question!

Liquid

📝 Liquid cannot consider the previous year as a success. Despite having such great players, the team failed to deliver a truly impressive performance or achieve high placements in any major tournaments. It's no surprise that the team is only ranked tenth in the HLTV rankings. During the off-season, ELiGE could have joined the roster, which would definitely have strengthened the team and taken them to another level. However, FaZe snatched the American player, leaving "the horses" to settle for NertZ, who transferred from Heroic.

Heroic

📝 This team is like a phoenix, reborn time and again. The organization has sold all its stars multiple times and rebuilt the roster, yet they still manage to deliver impressive results. After the major in Shanghai, where the club reached the playoffs, another sell-off began, and young and promising players replaced the former members. These newcomers have already started showing their best side. At BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1, held in mid-January, the team managed to defeat 3DMAX and then secured a sensational victory against Liquid. 

Editorial Prediction

📊 As we mentioned earlier, the teams have already crossed paths at the beginning of the year. Back then, Heroic emerged stronger than their more experienced opponent, winning after three maps. This result seems more like a coincidence rather than a pattern. Liquid might have underestimated their opponent, which won't happen this time. Moreover, NAF and company will give their all to start the Play-In stage with a victory. Therefore, our editorial team suggests the following outcome: Liquid win with odds of 1.50.

Will the prediction come true or not? Share your opinion!