IEM Cologne 2024: Predictions

Well... IEM Cologne starts tomorrow (in this case, the Play-in; the main event starts Saturday), and I have yet to make my predictions.
These were not easy to pick, but the BLAST Premier Fall Groups results helped me make up my mind.

I predict that...

• Spirit will win.
• MOUZ, Na'Vi & Vitality will make deep runs.
• G2 will get to the top 4.
  • Even though I am a G2 fan, I don't think G2 will win this tournament.
    With MOUZ, Spirit, and Na'Vi playing the way they are, I'm quite certain one of them is going to win this tournament. However, I do think G2 - in their current form - is capable of placing in the top 4. If m0NESY, NiKo & malbs all perform, they might even win - in the IEM Dallas fashion.
• 9z will surprise.
  • After their performance in Dallas, they've been playing incredibly well (of course, not necessarily in tier 1, but still impressive).
• 3DMAX will also surprise.
  • I haven't been looking too closely at 3DMAX, but every time I watch them play, they surprise me.
• FaZe will disappoint.
  • After a not-so-good half of the year, we thought they would take the player break and return to their usual form - spoiler alert: they didn't.
    I hope their one-sided loss to G2 and loss to NIP in the BLAST Fall Groups right after were enough for them to wake up for Cologne - but I'm not sure they can. Karrigan might just be washed up...
• Astralis, Heroic, Virtus.Pro & Complexity will... be there, I guess.
• Liquid will also disappoint.
  • I mean disappoint as in maybe not live up to the expectations that someone would have after watching them beat the current #1 team twice. I just don't know if Twistzz is really ready for leading a team of that caliber. Plus, now teams will be more prepared for what's to come, but I would love to be proven wrong.
• Falcons will continue their disappointing results.

I've got nothing else to say, but ESL just dropped the IEM Cologne trailer: