IEM Katowice 2017 groups drawn

9-2-2017 21:49

With the list of 12 teams attending IEM Katowice 2017 settled after the qualifiers which ended last Sunday, ESL have drawn the groups that will compete in the first stage of the competition.

After the invites were handed out to Virtus.pro, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis, SK, OpTic, Cloud9, FaZe, and North, and the qualification of HEROIC, fnatic, Natus Vincere, and Immortals last week, the team list was completed and the groups ready to be assembled.

New/old fnatic's last win together was at the Spodek in 2016

The $250,000 event, which will take place on March 1-5 at the Spodek Arena in Katowice—as has become a custom—, will boast a sold-out crowd filled to the brim with Polish fans.

After the draw, this is what the groups look like:

Red Group	Blue Group
HEROIC	Immortals
Natus Vincere	fnatic
Cloud9	Ninjas in Pyjamas
North	FaZe
Virtus.pro	OpTic
SK	Astralis

GLHF fnatic!

2017-02-09 21:49

15 replies

ez for vp, go polska

8 replies

ez-er for SK! Go Brasil!

2017-02-09 22:11

5 replies

HOW MANY TEAMS ADVANCES TO PLAY OFFS FROM EACH GROUPS?

2017-02-15 22:07

4 replies

One by group.

2017-02-15 22:44

Oh wait! Two by group!

2017-02-16 02:21

2 replies

Thx

2017-02-16 20:17

1 reply

The first-placed team from both groups will advance to the semi-finals while the second and third-placed teams from different groups will play a best-of-three in order to advance to the semis.

2017-02-20 23:04

2017-02-11 08:06

2017-02-11 13:33

eZaF 4 FaZe cuz NIKO

2017-02-09 21:50

Yeeee man

2017-02-10 14:11

RIP NIP

EZI FOR NIP

2017-02-10 11:12

Ez Na'Vi

2017-02-09 21:51

EZ GODSENT

Rigged. Btw, SK with felps will be unbeatable

3 replies

LUL teams refuse to play at event with godsent :( pussy teams scared

2017-02-09 22:04

lul godsent didn't qualify

2017-02-11 16:58

LUL

2017-04-15 01:54

NiP ofc the easiest group like ALWAYS

28 replies

dafuq none of these groups are easy

21 replies

Easiest of the two by far?

20 replies

lel no heroic<immortals navi<fnatic cloud9=nip North=FaZe VP=OpTic SK<Astralis

17 replies

Navi > Fnatic VP>>>Optic

2017-02-09 21:53

dafuq new/old fnatic is by days better than navi also static.hltv.org//images/flag/pl.gif

2017-02-09 21:54

6 replies

i arent think that static.hltv.org//images/flag/nl.gif talking about cs lul

2017-02-09 21:55

jesus christ u guys from poland are stupid always get triggered when someone says shit about a polish team. thats why no one likes u people, also get hated alot in MM/faceit/esea u dont need to have a team to talk about cs :) u prob also talk about a sport even tho u are fat af or?

2017-02-09 21:56

ignore him, I would say group A is easier aswell, if you analyse the groups, on A only 3 teams are good(SK,Navi,VP) while North and Heroic are ok, and cloud9 is shit, while on group B we have fnatic, faze and astralis which are good, i would say NiP and Optic aswell but they have been a bit worse so I would say they are ok and I would say immortals is ok aswell, overall I feel like group B is more stacked because you can't know the outcome of it, while on A it feels like VP, Navi, SK will be the more dominant ones and it will be between them the top3 in groups.

2017-02-09 22:24

yes also group B is harder cuz u cant predict FaZe and OpTic

2017-02-09 22:26

+1 okay nobody knows how faze is going to perform in this tournament. they could top there group for all we know with the new frag power on the team. or they could totally bomb out in groups.

2017-02-10 06:56

-1

2017-02-10 11:06

±1

2017-02-10 13:56

VP=Optic 4Head xD EleGiggle

Fnatic>Navi? Based on what results? VP>optic

2017-02-09 22:02

"VP = Optic" current Na'Vi < Current Fnatic LUL, nt.

2017-02-09 23:02

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD m8, have you watched those teams playing? Why would you even compare them one-to-one? Na'Vi and SK are more dangerous than astralis and fnatic, though astralis has been playing great lately, fnatic hasn't shown up anything so far and it's pretty naive to expect they're gonna play as they used to. Na'Vi is in pretty great shape, SK with new line-up is going to show up. North with aizy is way more dangerous than any of teams left from group B, even faze with niko. What's more VP is clearly better than optic, nip and immortals, and heroic had some great plays lately. Group A is just harder

2017-02-09 23:51

heroic>immortals navi>fnatic cloud9=nip Nort>Faze VP>Optic SK<=Astralis

2017-02-10 00:04

lul FaZe>North immortals>heroic astralis>SK (for at least a few more weeks or month) smh nt mouz

2017-02-10 06:57

we will see. I think Heroic is the better team at the moment (good results lately) and North looked on point in the ESL match against fnatic

2017-02-13 13:51

u do remember vp played final in major and optic bombed out in the groupstage right?

2017-02-10 00:45

By far? what planet are you on? Astralis are THE major champions. fnatic are THE best CSGO team to ever have existed. opTic are off form but still won 2 events at the ned of last year. NiP hae NiP magic and are totally unpreictable and FaZe might be playing with NiKo who is amongst the world's best players. Pretty fucking even groups if you ask me.

2017-02-11 02:11

current NiP can lose to all teams in their group xd

They will lose

It's not going to matter anyways.

That is the sad part with new NiP. Even though tournaament organisers give them the easiest group they still can't make it through the group stage.

2017-02-10 06:47

I cant see any easy group Stop crying silvers

They wont get to the playoffs mark my words

2017-02-09 21:52

Ez for fnc

The hype is just not there, make it a major again pls

ez vp

Red: 1. SK 2. VP 3. NaVi 4. North 5. Cloud9 6. Heroic Blue: 1. Astralis 2. Fnatic 3. OpTic 4. FaZe 5. IMT 6. NiP

11 replies

Faze with Niko is far better than Optic with Hiko but Optic can surprise they've been known for that

9 replies

dude every single fucking tournament optic does well it's a "surprise" optic wins t2 tournament over g2, "surprise" optic wins eleague, "surprise" optic gets to the final in ecs, "surprise" optic knocked out in groups in major, "expected" it's not surprising if you're just fucking good lmao

Northern Arena was a surprise but they had quite a good run at ECS and at Eleague but Old Optic/Conquest had quite a few upsets agaisnt t1 na team

+1 Optic are a totally solid team although with limited time with hiko I think it's fair to say it will be more of a surprise this time if they do well.

idk man I really think Optic can suprise at IEM they have had some good suprises in the past like going out in groups, that was a suprise.

2017-02-09 22:44

Optic the surprise team

2017-02-15 17:03

lol hiko fangay. optic is shitters

2017-02-10 06:58

lmao and i bet you think faze top 1 mr 1 relevant player from my country?

2017-02-10 07:02

0 relevant players from canada. shroud washed rain top 1 2017

2017-02-13 23:41

im not canadian LOL

2017-02-14 01:59

Red: 1. SK 2. VP 3. NaVi 4. North 5. Cloud9 6. Heroic Blue: 1. Astralis 2. Fnatic 3. FaZe 4. IMT 5. Optic 6. NiP

2017-02-09 21:57

Cool!

Rip red group kek

ez optic

nice

glhf all

SK WINS

RIP C9

crazy

expected ez astralis #1 team 2017 & 2018

Blue group tough, damn...

astralis fnatic vp navi

stacked

thicc

ez Astralis

faze vs vp final thank me later

"as has become a custom"

ez game

NIP got "lucky", henry and chad are waiting for their paycheck tho

That red group that spunge drew...holy shit VP, SK, North & Navi

wtf is spunge

2017-02-09 22:45

holy shit..my bad bro...I mean spunj...the analyst :D

2017-02-09 22:46

oh, i see lol

2017-02-09 22:50

Yea so spunj was drawing the teams for group A and henry was drawing for group B (they named the groups Red and Blue respectively). Even henry agreed that Spunj drew an insane group :D

2017-02-09 22:53

great games are coming for sure. almost all top1 teams in one group. i think cloud9 and heroic have a pretty low chance in this group.

2017-02-10 04:08

I agree. Heroic has surprised us with some really good results recently but I don't see these 2 teams causing any trouble for the likes of vp,sk,navi & north.

2017-02-10 06:52

Every Katowices are best

gud

Legend says ez for ence

BR final confirmed

VP,SK,NaVi to advance from red group FNC,FaZe and astralis to advance too

4 of each group so +North +optic

2017-02-10 14:54

Red group = death group

Group A stacked as fuck,Group B shit as fuck

lol...idiot. C9 and Heroic are worse than every team in blue group. Astralis and fnatic are as good as ANY team in red group and optic/FaZe/NiP have all had just as many tournament wins and high finishes as fucking North or Na'Vi.....

2017-02-09 22:00

You must be joking lol. Going by current form,heroic can beat everyone apart from astralis probably. I voiced my opinion,you voiced yours,but we can clearly see whose opinion is "idiotic",especially when you are taking into account,past results from ages ago.

[*] NiP

1-5 April? Wtf? It's march, not april...

Can they please put Nip and Fnatic in different groups..

Red Group is pretty tough, blue group has at least 3 bot teams ....bad draw

7 replies

Cloud9 and Heroic?

C9 is the only bot team there in the red group.Heroic can beat a few teams of the other group pretty easily.

Without a fifth?

You can never underestimate how bad nip optic immortals faze fnatic can be,if they want to. They will probably find a 5th by the time katowice happens...

fnatic?

2017-02-09 21:58

They can be bad,if they want to,didnt say that they will be. They did lose both games quite badly yesterday

2017-02-09 21:59

Mirage is Norths best map and overpass can be tough if you're unpracticed.

2017-02-10 01:23

April? Hltv wrooooong

go go Fnatic

sk vp navi astralis faze fnatic

ez for FaZe

How many teams will advance to the playoffs from each group?

4 i guess

RIP Faze tier 3 team

go brazil!

stacked groups will be round robin, Spunj said

Nice im more hyped for this than the major! :D

no g2 :( GL FNATIC

too much pressure for them

It's in March, not april

i need replies pls reply :D

These group seedings are sick ! Good job on who did them ! First time I see stable groups in BIG lans

where is supateam?

Blue group for sure will advance astralis, faze and fnatic; But the Red group i don't know. Everything is possible. It will an amazing event for sure.

NIP in RED SK , NAVI or VP in BLUE Groups would be balanced

2017-02-09 22:01

#Factz

rip cloud

2017-02-09 22:03

even groups

2017-02-09 22:05

nice pirize pool

2017-02-09 22:07

c9 with VP IN GROUPS again and again and again and again... ALWAYS

2017-02-09 22:08

lol red group is far better than group A(only astralis there lmao)

Hey noobs there´s a thing called SWISS SYTEM, USE IT!!!

2017-02-09 22:10

navi is gonna win it

2017-02-09 22:12

can you tell me how many teams will make it to playoffs?? 3?

3, the First place of each group go Direct to the semifinals, and the 2/3 fight for 2 more spots in the semifinals.

2017-02-09 22:16

EZ SK

2017-02-09 22:17

ez c9

2017-02-09 22:19

red > blue by far

2017-02-09 22:20

GL Virtus.Pro!

2017-02-09 22:22

once again astralis <--> optic :))

2017-02-09 22:23

Red Group: 1.SK 2.NaVi 3.VP Blue Group: 1.Astralis 2.fnatic 3.Immortals

2017-02-09 22:27

gl FaZe, fnatic, North and VP =)

2017-02-09 22:39

imagine g2 for Heroic oh no waiit!!

2017-02-09 22:42

Red Group: 1. NaVi 2. SK 3. VP Blue Group: 1. Astralis 2. Fnatic 3. faZe

rip cloud9

2017-02-09 22:43

4 of the 5 worst teams in 1 group lol

2017-02-09 23:00

Red: Na'Vi VP C9 (yes) Blue: fnatic Astralis FaZe

It's not summer. C9 won't advance.

2017-02-10 01:26

ELeague Major - OpTic in the same group as Astralis DH Las Vegas - OpTic in the same group as Astralis IEM Katowice - OpTic in the same group as Astralis FeelsOpTicMan

2017-02-09 23:09