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We continue to study the situation at IEM Katowice 2025. The group stage is heating up, where teams are close to allocating slots for play-offs.
However, not everyone will make it to the main stage. For example, in the pairing of 3DMax and Eternal Fire, only one team will have a chance to make it to the play-offs.
Let's try to find out who from the pair Eternal Fire - 3DMax will make it to the next stage of the lower grid of Group A.
Let's go.
Eternal Fire uniforms
Let's open the analysis of the match Eternal Fire vs 3DMax with an analysis of Eternal Fire's form. In this match the Turkish club will play as favourites with odds to win at 1.4.
Eternal Fire started actively making their way to the title tournaments since the 2023 season. Then the team won the ESL Pro League Season 17: European Conference, thus securing a spot on the EPL S17. The Main Event ended miserably - only top 20 and not out of the group.
Participated in BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B. There they took TOP-14, which was not enough to reach the only Major of the season.
In the middle of the year, Eternal Fire showed their best form. The Turks finished in the top 4 twice, but did so at TIR-B tournaments. They broke into the top four at CCT North Europe Series #7 and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1.
- Eternal Fire roster: XANTARES, jottAAA, MAJ3R, Wicadia, woxic.
Before the ESL Pro League Season 8 Long Round, MAJ3R's team played on CCT Central Europe and Pinnacle Cup V. Both championships ended for them on top 8.
Eternal Fire played their debut match at ESL Pro League Season 18 against Cloud9. They played as the number two and got a natural result: 0-2, but with 11 and 12 rounds respectively.
In the first match of the lower grid Eternal Fire played against 9INE. The Turks were clearly on form, as they managed to run over a pretty tough competitor without much difficulty. The match ended with a score of 2-0 in favour of Eternal Fire. As a result, the ESL Pro League Season 18 run ended very well: the team barely qualified for the play-offs of the tournament, where they managed to win two series. EF left Astralis and BIG behind, but Ledge and Natus Vincere.
EF later made the Top 16 at Roobet Cup 2023, where they finished Top 16 and Top 2 at PARI, Please. In 2024, Eternal Fire attended PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier B, where they finished in the Top 2, advancing to European RMR A.
IEM Katowice 2024 started with the Play-In stage. By the way, they passed it very easily: 13-1 against BB Team and 2-0 against Rebels Gaming allowed them to get into the group stage. In the first match of the group stage they also easily defeated Falcons (13-9; 13-6), and then showed a very cheerful CS in the match against the top-2 team of the world FaZe Clan, but Ledge were defeated on three maps (1-2). At the end of IEM Katowice 2024 Eternal Fire took the top 12, and then started to play at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A.
At the qualifying tournament, the Turks finished in the top 8, which gave them the opportunity to qualify for PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen 2024, which is true in the first stage.
At PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Eternal Fire are feeling very good so far. The Turks have 2 wins and 1 loss: they beat Mongolz and Pain, but lost to Heroic 0-2 in the match for the next stage. However, they succeeded in their next attempt: they defeated GL with a score of 2-1.
Eternal Fire debuted in the legends stage with a surprise win against Vitality. However, in the second round they lost to MOUZ, which brought them to 1-1 score. And then there was a real sensation: 13-1 against FaZe Clan and 2-1 score for the Turks.
Eternal Fire got into the play-offs of the tournament after the victory over Vp. The match ended with the score 2-1. However, they failed to move beyond the first round, as NaVi were stronger than the Turks and closed the series with a score of 2-0.
They also attended ESL Pro League Season 19, where they failed, and quite seriously. The Turkish team took TOP-21-28. Then diametrically opposite situation at CCT Season 1: Global Finals and then - not leaving the group at YaLLa Compas 2024.
Eternal Fire got to IEM Cologne 2024 thanks to the ESL world ranking, but there they took the top 20, without having time to show anything. Then there were equally failed tournaments like IEM Rio 2024, with TOP-12 and failure at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B with TOP-14.
The 2025 Long Season was followed by qualifiers at BLAST Bounty Season 1. There EF beat ENCE and Falcons. At the final stage of BLAST Bounty Season 1 Eternal Fire beat Vitality. Next up, they defeated G2 Esports to advance to the Grand Final, but lost to Spirit 1-3.
IEM Katowice 2025 Long Sogpeg started from the Play-In stage, where they easily earned two clean wins against Complexity and Heroic and qualified for the group stage. The group stage itself Long Sogpegged with a Basket A match against Falcons (2-0), but then Ledgeili Vp (1-2).
Mappool Eternal Fire
The best map is Nuke. It has 4 matches and 4 wins.
Anubis (7 matches, 85% wins), Mirage (4 matches, 75% wins) are very good. Vertigo - 71% wins in 7 matches, Inferno and Overpass - 3 wins in 5 matches.
3DMax Form
We continue to analyse the match 3DMax - Eternal Fire with an analysis of 3DMax's match form. In this match they are playing as an outsider with odds to win around 2.4.
3DMAX's record includes an appearance at CCT West Europe Serie #3, which was the debut tournament for the Frenchmen. There they reached the top 3, which can be called a good Long Sogpeg.
Then there was a series of qualifying tournaments and local championships. Among those that can be noted is ESL Championnat National Spring 2023, which was the first tournament won for the French.
3DMAX's performance improved in the second half of the year. Among other things, they won the qualifiers for ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023: European Open Qualifier and ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023: European Qualifier. They also won the ESEA Cash Cup: Europe - Autumn 2023 #2.
- 3DMAX roster: Lucky, Djoko, Ex3rcice, Maka, Graviti.
The last event for 3DMAX was CCT East Europe Series #3. There we managed to reach TOP-2, but a little bit was not enough: 3DMAX took TOP-2, losing in the finals to 1WIN.
After 3DMAX played at ESL Challenger Winter 2023. They managed to get into the top 8, which is not a good result.
At ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe 3DMAX shone. The Frenchmen went over the heads of their opponents very confidently, which eventually translated into a tournament victory with a convincing 3-0 win against forZe in the grand finals.
The 2024 season saw far fewer high-profile victories. 3DMAX finished top-11 at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier, IEM China 2024: European Open Qualifier, top-4 at RES Western European Masters: Spring 2024, and top-12 at European RMR A.
Prior to the ESL Pro League Season 19, 3DMAX played at A1 Gaming League Season 8, where they finished in the Top 2.
At the ESL Pro League Season 19 3DMAX debuted as an outsider in a match against sAw, but showed class and won a tough series with extra rounds in each of the two maps. And then there was a match against Fnatic, where 3DMAX made a mini-sensation by beating the "orange" with a score of 2-0, and they beat them very confidently, giving 15 rounds in two maps.
At the ESL Pro League Season 19 3DMAX were quite confident in the play-offs of the championship. The only defeat in the group stage was from Astralis in the match for seeding for the play-offs. However, in the play-offs 3DMax song did not play long: defeat against G2 and TOP-12 in the end.
During the season 3DMax had other attempts to make a name for themselves at the Tier-S tournaments. For example, they played at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024, where they finished in the top-24, having been beaten 1-2 by Heroic. They tried their luck again at ESL Pro League Season 20, but this time the result was worse than at ESL Pro League S19 - TOP-20.
3DMax's performance was much better at lower ranked tournaments. For example, 3DMax were champions of YaLLa Compass Summer 2024 and ranked in the top 3 at Thunderpick World Championship 2024 and ESL Challenger League Season 48: Europe.
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B, 3DMax started with a win over TSM and then, somewhat surprisingly, beat Eternal Fire in a 2-0 shutout match. Next up was a win over G2 Esports and a pass to the Elimination Stage.
At the PW Shanghai Major 2024: Elimination Stage 3DMax played to their level: 1-3 and final top-13.
At the Long Season 2025 3DMax took part in BLAST Bounty Season 1. However, they didn't have to play there for long: defeat by Heroic with the score 1-2 and the final TOP-32.
Next - IEM Katowice 2025 and Long Corner from the Play-In stage. In the Play-In 3DMax showed themselves very well: they defeated FlyQuest and MIBR with a score of 2-0 each. In the group stage, Long Corner were defeated against Vitality, which led them to the lower grid. Directly in the lower grid, 3DMax were outplayed by BIG.
3DMAX Mappool
3DMAX's top 1 map for the last 3 months is Mirage. L4O has a mind-blowing 92% win rate with 13 games played.
Played also on Inferno, where they won 5 matches out of 7 games. In plus winrate and Nuke, where with 5 matches and 3 wins.
The most not favoured card for 3DMAX would be Vertigo. There they have 6 maps and only 1 win.
History of head-to-head matches between Eternal Fire and 3DMax
Previously played each other twice in the 2024 season: they won one map each.
Predicted result of Eternal Fire vs 3Dmax at IEM Katowice 2025
I expect a fairly even game in this match. Despite the significant nominal advantage of Eternal Fire, I am sure that the French will fight and take the map.
Bottom line: total +2.5.
Nexus Gaming
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