IEM Katowice viewer's guide

1-3-2016 10:39

Herein you shall find everything you need to know concerning the $250,000+ CS:GO tournament taking place from March 2-5 at IEM Katowice.

From March 2-5 in Katowice, Poland, the final Intel Extreme Masters stopover of the season will include a $250,000+ CS:GO tournament with 12 teams in attendance.

There are two groups with six teams each and the tournament kicks off with a best-of-one round-robin group stage that will take place during the first two days and be inaccessible to the public.

The group winners will automatically advance to the semifinals whereas the second and third place finishers in each group will play quarter-finals to determine the final two teams to make the top four of the event.

CS:GO returns to the Spodek Arena from the quarter-finals onwards

Every match from the quarter-finals onward will take place inside the Spodek Arena proper. The quarter and semifinals will be best-of-three games whereas the grand final will be a best-of-five.

The official groups for IEM Katowice 2016 are once again:

Group A	Group B
fnatic	Envy
Natus Vincere	Astralis
Luminosity	Virtus.pro
MOUZ	FaZe
Ninjas in Pyjamas	E-frag.net
The MongolZ	Tempo Storm

The schedule for the event is:

Wednesday, March 2
12:20	fnatic	vs.	Natus Vincere
12:20	MOUZ	vs.	Ninjas in Pyjamas
13:40	Luminosity	vs.	Natus Vincere
13:40	MOUZ	vs.	The MongolZ
15:00	fnatic	vs.	Luminosity
15:00	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs.	The MongolZ
16:20	fnatic	vs.	Ninjas in Pyjamas
16:20	MOUZ	vs.	Natus Vincere
17:40	Luminosity	vs.	The MongolZ
17:40	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs.	Natus Vincere
19:00	MOUZ	vs.	Luminosity
19:00	fnatic	vs.	The MongolZ
20:20	Natus Vincere	vs.	The MongolZ
20:20	Luminosity	vs.	Ninjas in Pyjamas
20:20	fnatic	vs.	MOUZ
Thursday, March 3
12:20	Envy	vs.	Astralis
12:20	E-frag.net	vs.	FaZe
13:40	Virtus.pro	vs.	Astralis
13:40	E-frag.net	vs.	Tempo Storm
15:00	Envy	vs.	Virtus.pro
15:00	FaZe	vs.	Tempo Storm
16:20	Envy	vs.	FaZe
16:20	E-frag.net	vs.	Astralis
17:40	Virtus.pro	vs.	Tempo Storm
17:40	FaZe	vs.	Astralis
19:00	E-frag.net	vs.	Virtus.pro
19:00	Envy	vs.	Tempo Storm
20:20	Astralis	vs.	Tempo Storm
20:20	Virtus.pro	vs.	FaZe
20:20	Envy	vs.	E-frag.net
Friday, March 4
12:30	Quarter-final #1 (bo3)
15:50	Quarter-final #2 (bo3)
19:10	Semi-final #1 (bo3)
22:30	Semi-final #2 (bo3)
Saturday, March 5
18:00	Grand final (bo5)

The talent list for IEM Katowice draws on most of the most renowned corners of the current CS:GO scene and is as follows:

Will "Chobra" Cho - Host
O. J. Borg - Sideline reporter

Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett - Analyst desk host
Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - Analyst

Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Commentator
Alex "Machine" Richardson - Commentator
Anders Blume - Commentator
Auguste "Semmler" Massonat - Commentator
Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer - Commentator
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole - Commentator

Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo - Observer
Alex Rush - Observer

You will be able to catch the action over at ESL's CS:GO channel as always and the games go live when fnatic will take on Na`Vi in a best-of-one at 12:20

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter

expected

2016-03-01 10:40

9 replies

pansy and machine FeelsBadMan with a gun

2016-03-01 10:55

6 replies

I can hear Machine's fake ass smile when he talks with his annoying voice. I am sad now

2016-03-01 11:32

1 reply

he should have sex with pansy and leave

2016-03-01 11:44

is that a major?

2016-03-01 13:30

3 replies

major issue yes

2016-03-01 15:17

2 replies

LMAO

2016-03-01 17:32

lol nice

2016-03-02 09:17

ez astralis

2016-03-01 11:14

Where the fuck is quarter #3 #4?

2016-03-02 02:40

nice very nice post

bo1 fun tournament just a warmup for the mlg major not much elsel

2016-03-01 12:27

Atleast there are some NAs at the desk as host and commentator lololol

2016-03-01 16:52

wont see rahim casting again in top scene. rip papam

2016-03-01 10:41

-Machine +Papam would be nice.

2016-03-01 12:16

We wont see anything for the first two days... Seriously, wtf people.

2016-03-01 16:26

oh yes daddy

nice!

GL LG and MongolZZZZZZZZZZ

nice

awesome

Good stuff! :D

Will be exiting :D

nice engalndo swedistania

2016-03-01 12:50

Tyty

2016-03-01 13:01

wut

LG > Ebola

LETS ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

rip VP

thank mr.stich

Fnatic vs NaVi in 1st match Will be interesting

2016-03-01 10:42

10 replies

Fnatic throws to get easier matches and then beat NaVi in final

2016-03-01 10:58

IMHO NaVi won't beat them in group match but if NaVi meet fnatic in play-off, NaVi will win

2016-03-01 11:03

7 replies

Fnatic rapes Na'Vi.

2016-03-01 11:10

NaVi will rekt BOTic

2016-03-01 11:25

fagnatic rekking NoobVi incoming

2016-03-01 11:26

bet 100$ on NaVi. 16-14 incoming

2016-03-01 11:27

well fnatic just won. fanboy.

2016-03-02 13:55

well i said that NaVi don't win Fnatic in Group stage. So y blind idiota

2016-03-03 06:58

oh my bad. srry

2016-03-03 14:00

Makes no sense You get easier enemies in playoffs if you finish 1st place... Also 2nd and 3rd have to fight in elimination match where you have to show more of your strats...

2016-03-02 12:19

Where is Tosspot? :(

+1 the guy doesnt get enough work for these events :(

2016-03-01 17:16

Bingo Bango Bongo

2016-03-01 10:43

no thorin no party

I'm going there for an event not a party.

2016-03-01 11:40

Ynk... Can't stand this guy accent and gold nova ANALysis makes me want to KILL MY SELF with a f** rock

2016-03-01 10:47

5 replies

He played professionally with Niko (called Nikolinho before) in iNation and attended couple of lan's.

2016-03-01 11:34

Yes they both played in a few Balkan teams

2016-03-01 13:09

Try to actually listen to what he says, you might learn something, nova.

2016-03-01 20:18

Yeah I don't get the hate surrounding him, he's a brilliant analyst and has recently really improved his on-screen character to be less 'boring'.

2016-03-02 03:51

I don't like his accent either. But from all of the guys who are there, hes the one with the most knowledge with Anders. Actually his predictions are on point most of the time. He also predicted CZen to beat Faze and everyone was laughing at him and afterwards faze just won extremely lucky and extremely close...

2016-03-01 23:33

looking forward to tomorrow!

Very nice

2016-03-01 10:49

Best format ever!! Nicenice! Like a wet dream for CS fanatics

2016-03-01 10:53

Thank you for no thorin or lewis.

2016-03-01 10:54

Is in friday some official opening ceremony as it was on ESL Cologne? If yes, what time?

kharosh

rip NaVi

2016-03-01 10:56

who will stream from the Russian??

2016-03-01 11:05

twitch.tv/sukabled

2016-03-01 11:19

Damn so many matches.

good casters but no thooring and richard :(

2016-03-01 11:06

!drop

Mongolz you must win this

2016-03-01 11:09

anders & semmler <3

2016-03-01 11:11

Add 2hours and you have the real schedule.

RIP VP

2016-03-01 11:16

Will "Chobra" Cho i hate this guy, so anoying...

2016-03-01 11:22

No thorin no party

Chobra wtf, go back to dota or w/e you damn chinese.

2016-03-01 11:36

2016-03-01 11:37

-ynk -chobra -machine -pansy +thorin +rl +white James +black ddk Why can you toilet cleaner forgive and forget.... Free Thorin

2016-03-01 11:39

11 replies

Even if we exclude all the problems thorin has, his prediction rate and analysis recently is awful (MLG qualifiers, so many mistakes) so he shouldn't be hired by anybody.

2016-03-01 11:42

8 replies

who cares bout predictions srsly... and he is never bullshiting and one of the rare guy to provide history backround of quality

2016-03-01 11:50

not really bad analysis , sure his prediction rate isn't that good but he follows logic and numbers not just tells you the team who would win. i would prefer that over just someone saying what team would win out of his ass , like pansy and whatever fuckwad esl hires

2016-03-01 12:29

2016-03-01 20:19

We've been comparing to Ynk, who also uses numbers but also common sense. Thorin depends on numbers too much. He also has times when he irrationally believes in instable teams or players - like EnVyUs or device.

2016-03-01 20:26

device is stable wtf ur on about , he gets 20kills like all time , and envyus is like that all the time in vs every team . i agree sometimes thorin follows some statistics a lot but that's how logic works. unlike henryG or some other color caster who just chooses a team he feels like they gonna win. with no logic behind it

2016-03-01 20:29

We're comparing to Janko FFS, stop bringing other guys into it. As for device, hah - he's stable when it doesn't matter but he fails when team needs him the most.

2016-03-02 10:17

prediction rate is very important for hiring people Kappa123 also expand on awful analysis since it's easy to put labels and talk generally those that like speaking generally got nothing to say in reality and that's why they avoid arguments and hide behind common phrasing

2016-03-01 12:21

The thing is, Thorin's actual analysis is very weak. He's good on history, good on banter for people who like that sort of thing, and good on a bit of psycho-analysis of the players, but analysis of professional play is not his bag.

2016-03-01 22:15

of course, because everyone on hltv is global and knows better mate. I understand.

2016-03-01 23:08

Anders <3

where is the prize distribution info?

2016-03-01 11:46

Bring metuz(or whatever his name is) instead of pansy or machine plz

2016-03-01 11:56

+1 Yeah metuz is good, a lot better than pansy

2016-03-01 20:20

rofl no fucking way

2016-03-02 01:50

ez fnatic as usual, 7th inc

2016-03-01 12:00

I honestly wouldn't mind but man these tournaments get boring when fnatic is there... (why do you even play them if fnatic will win anyway just give em the prize money and get over with it :D) I been rooting for Na'Vi tho so I hope they can keep up the good form and make it to grand finals (winning them tho is highly unlikely)

no problem this time mongolz will win.;)

2016-03-01 13:02

2016-03-01 12:05

Grand Final BO5 niiiiice

2016-03-01 12:07

FeelsGoodMan

2016-03-01 12:19

in b4 no time because of delays and the final will be a bo3 :D

2016-03-01 12:55

Ez for Rapex

many skins will be lost that day

Literally the threads are gonna be record breaking those 2 days, gonna sit back, relax, watch some CS and wait to get on the bo3s

2016-03-01 17:01

Will be entertaining to watch VP in home crowd. Whether they'll fail or deliver it's going to be emotional reactions no doubt xD

2016-03-01 12:30

rip to people that can only watch on saturday due to work!

2016-03-01 12:33

1st World does not work in Saturday.

2016-03-01 12:41

1st world does work on saturdays.

why not ?

2016-03-02 12:20

Are they uploading VODs of the first two days of matches? Outside of that it says the general public cant view anything for the first 2 days or did I read it wrong?

2016-03-01 16:34

By general public they mean that the first two days matches will be played in a different place than the main arena, with no crowd. The games will still be streamed and you will be able to watch.

2016-03-01 16:51

Oh sweet, thank you for clarifying.

Hype :)

2016-03-01 12:39

Fucking hype boys

2016-03-01 12:43

im glad to see sapphire again, she does an amazing job, you can def. see 15 years of cs experience on her. anders is also back, so thats a plus. but why in gods name do you fuck it up again by bringin in pansy?

2016-03-01 12:47

+1 Fuck that dumb ugly bitch

2016-03-01 13:55

Last time I watched a stream with her 'casting', all she did was read the score's of other games that were currently going on.. It was...useless..

2016-03-01 14:12

Yeah, she's an observer, that's what she does. A damn good observer at that. You don't realize who is a good observer until you see someone who is worthless at it.

2016-03-01 20:24

I'm not a caster. I don't try to be a caster. No one else was streaming some top NA matches so I streamed them to make it easier for others to view. Liquid, CLG, C9 etc were not streamed so I streamed them. If you don't want to watch those matches without a caster then don't but 9,900 other people did because the organizations hosting those matches didn't stream them. I never pretended to be a caster. I'm just an observer that wanted to make it easier for other people to watch CSGO.

2016-03-02 11:35

I see. It's just that...talk more. It's not you as a person im referring to, but the services you provided. Please don't take it personally. Goodluck at the event.

2016-03-02 20:54

LG! <3 mongolz you can do it! and PANSY :D <3

2016-03-01 12:53

eZ mongolz

I want OJ, Thoorin and RL, more banter and hype

2016-03-01 12:57

so no crowd at the two first days?

2016-03-01 13:00

Like every fuking other event? Groupstage never in Main arena

2016-03-02 12:12

Main and place without crowd its quite different i think in Katowice 2014 they were playing also in training little Spodek but in 2015 they were playing in big hall which is connected with Spodek

2016-03-02 13:14

Big events very rare Group stage with Crowd Big examples: Cologne2015,DH Cluj Napocca2015, MLG Columbus, Katowice2016 My Kanaken Brain can't remember anything

2016-03-02 15:05

I was so hyped for this event but when I saw there was no mantrousse I got crushed guess im not watching this.

Looking forward to this pre-major warmup tournament! Hoping to see NiP getting in form by the time MLG Colombus hits

2016-03-01 13:23

thank god, no thorin :D

2016-03-01 13:28

thorin>literally everyone in esports

2016-03-01 23:17

2016-03-02 17:14

No NA team = No care

No Na Team = Tier 1 Gaming event

2016-03-02 12:14

Lets GO EFRAG

2016-03-01 13:32

mongolz got this

2016-03-01 13:41

No drop, no party!

2016-03-01 13:42

No drop no poor silvers who only watch for drops and spam chat. Good.

2016-03-01 20:25

Are you hyped? Cuz I'm not!!... oh, wait. I AM!! BTW Virtus.pro will disband if they won't win a single match in Katowice or Columbus.

2016-03-01 13:57

what 250k+ means ? its 250k or what

2016-03-01 13:58

Ye I wanna know this prize pool system too, amazon is somehow in with this but what does it actually mean? Maybe they let us know when katowice starts or what? Somebody please tell! =)

2016-03-01 14:03

It was meant to be crowd funded hltv.org/news/16352-iem-katowice-with-25.. "A minimum of $250,000 has been guaranteed for the CS:GO competition alone, but the figure will increase even further as ESL will turn to crowdfunding, Blicharz revealed on Twitter."

2016-03-01 17:00

i think i stay home tomorrow from school

2016-03-01 14:05

youtube.com/watch?v=QDPBuNx_hw0

2016-03-01 14:08

NO WHITE JAMES AND BLACK DDK? IM DONE

pansy & machine...................

2016-03-01 14:11

looks awesome to watch tournamentwise but the casters...meh

2016-03-01 14:16

NiP out of groups... Brazilians wins...Any other team noobs.. PS. WHERE IS FIFFLAREN!!!!!!!!!!

2016-03-01 14:20

LG LG LG LG LG LG LG FOR THE WIN

What is allus team? They will go far in this major.

2016-03-01 14:33

Prediction 1. Baguettes 2. Meatballs 3. 3rd world mix 4. Pølse 5. Favelas 6. Friburgers 7. Toilet cleaners 8. Ugly faces

2016-03-01 14:36

Ugly faces are fnatic?

2016-03-02 06:04

FaZe

2016-03-02 10:19

Lol rain ugly Face? Go kill ur Self Swed

2016-03-02 12:13

fuck yea, groups for 2 whole days aswell i always think groups are way more interesting than the actual finals (The past year or so, because someone will literally choke at finals)

2016-03-01 14:46

Gl to NA scene!

2016-03-01 14:48

no thorin and RL HYPE

2016-03-01 15:28

fnatic will finally get beaten at finals

2016-03-01 15:31

I've been waiting for this tournament so long :D Let's take 6th in a row boys!!

2016-03-01 15:36

Will "Chobra" Cho HAHAHAHA MingLee Keepo

2016-03-01 15:55

wheres thorin If may I ask???!?!?!?!?

2016-03-01 16:20

Where's Thorin? :(

2016-03-01 17:05

IKR ! WTF a tournament without thoorin !? The analyst desk will never be good without him :( I love his shit talking

no thorin and no richard lewis, thank fuck. i can actually watch without hating on those two massive fucktards.

2016-03-01 17:17

No Thorin? FeelsGoodMan

2016-03-01 17:43

ez for TheMongolz

2016-03-01 17:46

where is Gambit and F3?? why TS and mongols in the tournament?

2016-03-01 18:21

wow man you really know whats up dont you

2016-03-01 18:38

Inb4 splyce takes over for Mongolz again

2016-03-01 19:15

Bo1 sucks

2016-03-01 19:21

Fuck sake, wanted to see sadokist cast together with henryg. Rip dream.

2016-03-01 20:21

GOOO FaZe !!

2016-03-01 21:24

lmao 15matches in 1day, this gonna be mad boys

2016-03-01 21:43

VP 5:0 in group. Final vs Fnatic, second map 16:0 for VP. Remember this words :)

2016-03-01 22:03

Anders???

how is that working out exactly? shouldn't there be 4 quarter finals?

2016-03-01 22:22

1st seed of both groups goes straight to semi finals 2nd seed and 3rd seed goes to quarter finals 6 teams total make it to playoffs, 3 out of each group pretty simple

2016-03-01 23:29