IEM Katowice viewer's guide

27/2/2017 - 21:42

The countdown to the IEM World Championship's Counter-Strike tournament has begun, so we have prepared a viewer's guide with everything you need to know about the tournament, including the schedule and the casters' lineup.

The 11th edition of the IEM World Championship will come to a close with the Counter-Strike tournament, featuring 12 top teams and a $250,000 prize pool.

The participating sides have been drawn into two groups of six teams, who will face off in best-of-one matches. The group winners will automatically progress to the semi-finals, while the second and the third-placed finishers will play a match to determine the final two teams reaching the last-four stage.

fnatic won the 2016 IEM World Championship

The first round to kick off the event will see the current Major champions Astralis take on OpTiC, and fnatic go up against Ninjas in Pyjamas in an exciting Swedish derby. During the group stage, there will be at least two matches being played simultaneously.

Below you can find the group draw and the schedule in full:

Group A	Group B
Astralis	Virtus.pro
OpTic	SK
FaZe	North
Ninjas in Pyjamas	Cloud9
fnatic	Natus Vincere
Immortals	Heroic

Wednesday, March 1

11:00 OpTic vs. Astralis BO1

11:00 Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. fnatic BO1

12:15 Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Astralis BO1

12:15 FaZe vs. Immortals BO1

13:30 OpTic vs. Immortals BO1

13:30 FaZe vs. fnatic BO1

14:45 Astralis vs. Immortals BO1

14:45 OpTic vs. fnatic BO1

16:00 Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. FaZe BO1

16:00 Astralis vs. fnatic BO1

17:15 Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Immortals BO1

17:15 OpTic vs. FaZe BO1

18:30 Immortals vs. fnatic BO1

18:30 FaZe vs. Astralis BO1

18:30 OpTic vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas BO1

Thursday, March 2nd

11:00 Natus Vincere vs. Virtus.pro BO1

11:00 Cloud9 vs. SK BO1

12:15 Natus Vincere vs. SK BO1

12:15 North vs. Heroic BO1

13:30 North vs. Virtus.pro BO1

13:30 Cloud9 vs. Heroic BO1

14:45 SK vs. Heroic BO1

14:45 Cloud9 vs. Virtus.pro BO1

16:00 Natus Vincere vs. North BO1

16:00 SK vs. Virtus.pro BO1

17:15 Cloud9 vs. North BO1

17:15 Natus Vincere vs. Heroic BO1

18:30 Heroic vs. Virtus.pro BO1

18:30 North vs. SK BO1

18:30 Cloud9 vs. Natus Vincere BO1

Friday, March 3rd

12:45 Quarter-final #1 BO3

16:35 Quarter-final #2 BO3

Saturday, March 4th

12:30 Semi-final #1 BO3

16:20 Semi-final #2 BO3

Sunday, March 5th

18:15 Grand final BO5

The prize distribution for the tournament has yet to be revealed by ESL. The following broadcast crew will be doing play-by-play commentary and will be breaking down the action live from Katowice:

O. J. Borg - Stage Host

Alex "Machine" Richardson - Desk Host

Joona "⁠natu⁠" Leppänen - Analyst
Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill - Analyst
Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - Analyst

Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer - Commentator
Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett - Commentator
Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Commentator
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole - Commentator

Mitch "Uber" Leslie - Reporter

Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen - Facebook Live

very easy for FaZe

2017-02-27 21:43

14 replies

EZ FOR NIKO

3 replies

No chance for faze with 1 week practise.

2017-02-27 22:09

2 replies

3-0 at this moment 4-0 bc optic ez

2017-03-01 19:22

LOL

2017-03-01 19:25

lol 250k

2017-02-27 22:16

When will be Arena open for premium tickets please?

2017-02-27 22:31

WTF WHY FNATIC ONLY 4 MATCHES and ALL TEAM HAVE 5 MATCHES

2017-02-28 00:01

4 replies

I count 5 not sure what are you want

2017-02-28 00:14

All have 5 matches. Fnatic too

2017-02-28 11:21

Whats that meme about never going full retard?

2017-02-28 12:14

Omg

2017-03-01 07:36

superEZforC9 But no seriously OpTiC are probably NA's best hope at this point. I'm predicting NiP & Fnatic will both be back in form & FaZe will come out strong with Niko fragging like mad but in the end VP & SK will stomp out any hopes & dreams. C9 will still win the whole event though :D

2017-02-28 05:15

optic sucks, and hiko is a bot, he's only gonna make the team worse. they should have picked up elige

2017-02-28 17:48

1 reply

m1xwell + tarik = enough to over come bot hiko, elige looks like a transgender.

2017-02-28 20:01

EZ 4 C9

nope

yes

So Hyped ! GG

w0w

lets go NA

Yeeeeeee

ez for vp <3

2017-02-27 21:44

b05 finals !!!!!!!!!!

Ez for SK

2017-02-27 21:45

Last event Fnatic won: Katowice 2016 Next event Fnatic win: Katowice 2017

Fnatic won becouse at the time fnatic was realy skill based team, and they had a natural synergy between players. Now the skill is not where it used to be, so either they step up in terms of player skill, or add more in depth tactics. I can see them being good in future, but it will take some time.

2017-02-28 13:26

They have a pretty easy group tbh

2017-02-28 18:38

Bo5 woho

2017-02-27 21:46

pansy casting semis LUL

Prize distribution is probably: 1st - $100k 2nd - $50k 3rd/4th - $20k 5th/6th - $10k 7-12th - $6500

2017-02-27 21:47

i hear they had huge problems with their LoL crap last weekend already. lets see how much they can manage to fuck csgo up! hope yall bought plenny of ganja already to help u thru the downtime! and just to say it again: pls dont hire fucking natu as an analyst. oh and also no pala pls. thx.

Guess I'll be working through every game until the Quarter Finals.. Again :/

2 quarters?

2017-02-27 21:49

top two teams in each group directly go to semis

2017-02-27 21:52

2017-02-27 21:57

Hopefully hiko has found his place in optic and back to his clutch plays. And Cloud9, who knows about cloud9

2017-02-27 21:50

LETS FUCKING G0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O FNATIC LOVE YA ALLL BOYS

2017-02-27 21:51

Good teams in a good tournament, feelsgoodman

so optic plays first match and last match of the day seems stupid

2017-02-27 21:53

They also play 3 times during the middle of the day. So yes, you do seem stupid.

2017-02-28 00:23

bad scheduling. poorly planned event. sad. this is why all future lans should be in NA.

2017-02-28 02:43

Same with Astralis, NIP & Fnatic. All teams have to play the last match at the same time, stop fanboying too much.

2017-02-28 07:45

i dont even like optic just bad scheduling. bad event. sad.

2017-02-28 15:29

no ego thorin, uff

Ez 4 heroic

2017-02-27 21:54

no thorin no anders no semmler = no tournament

2017-02-27 21:58

7 replies

-1

2017-02-27 22:00

semmler is bad, i'm glad he is not here

2017-02-27 22:03

2017-02-27 22:47

Hes good. The fuck u talking about ?

2017-02-27 23:06

he's so bad that you can literally program a script to simulate him. here: however peek a boo! however traded for free however yolo up the site however dead to rights however but guess what? however catch somebody out however feel good moment however so sick however mind games however they line up for him however but since he's not there, take a shot everytime you hear sadokist say "fortunately"

2017-02-28 06:56

glass half empty huh

2017-02-28 09:43

No anders :(

What happened to James Bardolph and Daniel Kapadia? As far as I`m concerned they`re the most entertaining casters out there, way ahead of the burnout, biased Anders&Semmler duo and 2 leagues above Pansy and Moses. This is gonna be detrimental to the event.

Pretty sure I just got trolled but ESL and FaceIt are rivals

2017-02-28 06:58

fakeflagger

2017-02-28 10:05

Why would you think that?

2017-02-28 11:41

I don't know. Your English is too good, but that's kind of discriminating

2017-02-28 11:42

Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen - Facebook Live LUL what the fuck is Pala doing LUL also moses as a caster again lowkey PogChamp also no clowns at the desk but instead 3 explayers who knows this game outside and in, perhaps lowkey PogChamp there lezz find out.

2017-02-27 22:02

moses casting? thats highkey PogChamp

2017-02-27 23:16

maybe, cuz I hef forgotten have it sounds like cuz he become a analyst for some bloody reason

c9 will drop out without a single win, easy prediction is easy

2017-02-27 22:04

no edit my friend

2017-02-27 23:05

So excited about how niko will play in faze

2017-02-27 22:06

No Thorin. No DDK. No Black DDK. NO PARTY!

Only 2 quarterfinal matches? Wut? Explain

2017-02-27 22:15

Group winners going straight to semis 2/3 placed from each group playing quarters

2017-02-27 22:17

Still waiting for tournament with Metuz on talent lineup.

Get rid of annoying ass moses and you have a solid broadcast crew

2017-02-27 22:20

I won't even see 1 match. Why did I move from BaguetteLand to FakeBaguetteLand (Canada) QQ

2017-02-27 22:21

s1-god will take this for sure!

2017-02-27 22:24

bo5 finals? that's just dumb

2017-02-27 22:28

378804 user id expected newfag

2017-02-27 22:30

vp - fnc - astr - sk ez for finals

2017-02-27 22:29

There are 2 games that I would like to watch on group A. Optic vs Astralis and NIP vs Fnatic. Both start at the same time 12:00 (13:00 here) and I will be in the office!

heroic with 4players lul

2017-02-27 22:34

FINALLY GOOD TIMINGS TO WATCH <3 NOT NA TIMINGS LUL

2017-02-27 22:35

no thorin? thanks iem

2017-02-27 22:36

FAK. I have no time to watch games. Job!

2017-02-27 22:40

faze and navi final

2017-02-27 22:57

BO5 YEEEEEEEEES

I don't like this format at all, having 2 matches at the same time is just dumb, instead have a format with less group stage matches with bo3 as decider

2017-02-27 22:59

Group stage runs from 2-9am pls no more tournaments in shitty eu

2017-02-27 23:01

RiP event.. +Thorin, Anders, Zemmler, DDK, James -pantsy, sadokist, henry G, Natu

5 replies

2017-02-28 08:11

-1 Sado, Moses and Henry>>>all imo

2017-02-28 09:03

You cannot even spell their names properly. dumbass

2017-02-28 16:52

RIP C9. RIP YUNG STEW

Nice.

bo5 PogChamp

hardwell hype

2017-02-27 23:24

facebook live up bois

2017-02-27 23:54

Finally bo 5 final!!!!!!!!!!!

2017-02-28 00:32

Group A:1st-Astralis 2nd/3rd-nip & Faze Group B:1st-SK gaming 2nd/3rd-vp &navi

2017-02-28 01:02

A: 1st - Astralis, FaZe vs Fnatic B: 1st - VP, SK vs NaVi Final again VP vs SK. EZ for VP in Poland.

2017-02-28 02:14

250k for IEM seems really low budget

2017-02-28 01:10

is 200k really gonna make a difference for you, the viewer?

2017-02-28 11:49

FAZE MAYBE

Rip Semmler & Anders

2017-02-28 05:13

O. J. Borg - Stage Host Kreygasm

2017-02-28 07:06

no Anders no party

2017-02-28 09:26

Ez for FaZe i think, if win Vs Astralis in group, i think team can win full tournament.

2017-02-28 09:30

pansy and natu.... :/ i want to see redeye on more cs events

2017-02-28 10:01

Same mate, O. J. is really good host, but Redeye is top tier, also no Anders & Semmler duo, even though some people hate Semmler, I still think it's the best caster duo ;/

2017-02-28 11:56

ez sk

2017-02-28 10:31

Wow the groupstage is a fucking mess.

i'm so sick of optic vs astralis over and over again

2017-02-28 15:33

Thorin was the problem!

2017-02-28 16:42

No Anders no party (

2017-02-28 16:54

pz ez vp

2017-02-28 18:24

bad scheduling

2017-03-01 19:24

BO5 <3333333333333

2017-03-02 16:15

Wednesday, March 1
11:00	OpTic	vs. Astralis	BO1
11:00	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs. fnatic	BO1
12:15	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs. Astralis	BO1
12:15	FaZe	vs. Immortals	BO1
13:30	OpTic	vs. Immortals	BO1
13:30	FaZe	vs. fnatic	BO1
14:45	Astralis	vs. Immortals	BO1
14:45	OpTic	vs. fnatic	BO1
16:00	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs. FaZe	BO1
16:00	Astralis	vs. fnatic	BO1
17:15	Ninjas in Pyjamas	vs. Immortals	BO1
17:15	OpTic	vs. FaZe	BO1
18:30	Immortals	vs. fnatic	BO1
18:30	FaZe	vs. Astralis	BO1
18:30	OpTic	vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas	BO1

Thursday, March 2nd
11:00	Natus Vincere	vs. Virtus.pro	BO1
11:00	Cloud9	vs. SK	BO1
12:15	Natus Vincere	vs. SK	BO1
12:15	North	vs. Heroic	BO1
13:30	North	vs. Virtus.pro	BO1
13:30	Cloud9	vs. Heroic	BO1
14:45	SK	vs. Heroic	BO1
14:45	Cloud9	vs. Virtus.pro	BO1
16:00	Natus Vincere	vs. North	BO1
16:00	SK	vs. Virtus.pro	BO1
17:15	Cloud9	vs. North	BO1
17:15	Natus Vincere	vs. Heroic	BO1
18:30	Heroic	vs. Virtus.pro	BO1
18:30	North	vs. SK	BO1
18:30	Cloud9	vs. Natus Vincere	BO1

Friday, March 3rd
12:45	Quarter-final #1		BO3
16:35	Quarter-final #2		BO3

Saturday, March 4th
12:30	Semi-final #1		BO3
16:20	Semi-final #2		BO3

Sunday, March 5th
18:15	Grand final		BO5