IEM Katowice 2017 IEM Katowice 2017

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
Denmark Astralis Poland Virtus.pro
United States OpTic Brazil SK
Europe FaZe Denmark North
Sweden NiP United States Cloud9
Sweden fnatic CIS Natus Vincere
Brazil Immortals  Denmark Heroic

Wednesday, March 1
11:00  United States OpTic vs. Denmark Astralis BO1
11:00 Sweden NiP vs. Sweden fnatic BO1
12:15 Sweden NiP vs. Denmark Astralis BO1
12:15 Europe FaZe vs. Brazil Immortals BO1
13:30 United States OpTic vs. Brazil Immortals BO1
13:30 Europe FaZe vs. Sweden fnatic BO1
14:45 Denmark Astralis vs. Brazil Immortals  BO1
14:45 United States OpTic vs. Sweden fnatic BO1
16:00 Sweden NiP vs. Europe FaZe BO1
16:00 Denmark Astralis vs. Sweden fnatic BO1
17:15 Sweden NiP vs. Brazil Immortals BO1
17:15 United States OpTic vs. Europe FaZe BO1
18:30 Brazil Immortals  vs. Sweden fnatic BO1
18:30 Europe FaZe vs. Denmark Astralis BO1
18:30 United States OpTic vs. Sweden NiP BO1
 
Thursday, March 2nd
11:00 CIS Natus Vincere vs. Poland Virtus.pro BO1
11:00 United States Cloud9 vs. Brazil SK BO1
12:15 CIS Natus Vincere vs. Brazil SK BO1
12:15 Denmark North vs. Denmark Heroic BO1
13:30 Denmark North vs. Poland Virtus.pro BO1
13:30 United States Cloud9 vs. Denmark Heroic BO1
14:45 Brazil SK vs. Denmark Heroic BO1
14:45 United States Cloud9 vs. Poland Virtus.pro BO1
16:00 CIS Natus Vincere vs. Denmark North BO1
16:00 Brazil SK vs. Poland Virtus.pro BO1
17:15 United States Cloud9 vs. Denmark North BO1
17:15 CIS Natus Vincere  vs. Denmark Heroic BO1
18:30 Denmark Heroic vs. Poland Virtus.pro BO1
18:30 Denmark North vs. Brazil SK BO1
18:30 United States Cloud9 vs. CIS 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: 

United Kingdom O. J. Borg - Stage Host

United Kingdom Alex "Machine" Richardson - Desk Host

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

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

Australia Mitch "Uber" Leslie - Reporter

United Kingdom Pala "Mantrousse" Gilroy Sen - Facebook Live

Finland Joona 'natu' Leppänen
Joona 'natu' Leppänen
Age:
34
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.88
Maps played:
188
KPR:
0.61
DPR:
0.71
APR:
0.16
Serbia Janko 'YNk' Paunović
Janko 'YNk' Paunović
Age:
27
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.97
Maps played:
117
KPR:
0.67
DPR:
0.70
APR:
0.13
United States Jason 'moses' O'Toole
Jason 'moses' O'Toole
Age:
-
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.93
Maps played:
18
KPR:
0.64
DPR:
0.71
APR:
0.15
United Kingdom Henry 'HenryG' Greer
Henry 'HenryG' Greer
Age:
-
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.75
Maps played:
14
KPR:
0.49
DPR:
0.70
APR:
0.16
Australia Chad 'SPUNJ' Burchill
Chad 'SPUNJ' Burchill
Age:
30
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.87
Maps played:
158
KPR:
0.62
DPR:
0.73
APR:
0.18
#1
 | 
Finland neksu 
very easy for FaZe
2017-02-27 21:43
#23
nukkye | 
Lithuania no_report_pls 
EZ FOR NIKO
2017-02-27 21:43
#56
 | 
Finland Abdiqadirosman 
No chance for faze with 1 week practise.
2017-02-27 22:09
#147
NiKo | 
Argentina Yeldon 
3-0 at this moment 4-0 bc optic ez
2017-03-01 19:22
#149
 | 
Finland Abdiqadirosman 
LOL
2017-03-01 19:25
#60
 | 
World Alduric247 
lol 250k
2017-02-27 22:16
#72
 | 
Slovakia YakuZaSvK 
When will be Arena open for premium tickets please?
2017-02-27 22:31
#98
huNter- | 
Indonesia Jobantat 
WTF WHY FNATIC ONLY 4 MATCHES and ALL TEAM HAVE 5 MATCHES
2017-02-28 00:01
#99
Coffee | 
Netherlands p2dr 
I count 5 not sure what are you want
2017-02-28 00:14
#116
 | 
India TYZ4 
15:30 NiP vs. fnatic 18:00 FaZe vs. fnatic 19:15 OpTic vs. fnatic 20:30 Astralis vs. fnatic 23:00 Immortals vs. fnatic
2017-02-28 08:07
#126
GuardiaN | 
Russia lyalyalya_0 
All have 5 matches. Fnatic too
2017-02-28 11:21
#134
Australia decap 
Whats that meme about never going full retard?
2017-02-28 12:14
#146
 | 
Slovakia Martini69 
Omg
2017-03-01 07:36
#111
 | 
United States predac0n 
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
#142
JW | 
Sweden JW_top1 
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
#145
 | 
United States predac0n 
m1xwell + tarik = enough to over come bot hiko, elige looks like a transgender.
2017-02-28 20:01
#6
 | 
Lithuania Tomekas85 
EZ 4 C9
2017-02-27 21:43
#127
GuardiaN | 
Russia lyalyalya_0 
nope
2017-02-28 11:21
#8
mason | 
World PRQN 
yes
2017-02-27 21:43
#9
nukkye | 
Lithuania no_report_pls 
So Hyped ! GG
2017-02-27 21:43
#17
Subroza | 
Yugoslavia senseeee 
n1
2017-02-27 21:43
#18
World HLTVismylife 
w0w
2017-02-27 21:43
#20
kennyS | 
United States re-avenger 
lets go NA
2017-02-27 21:43
#21
 | 
Australia DabBoy 
Yeeeeeee
2017-02-27 21:43
#26
Poland ManFromWoods 
ez for vp <3
2017-02-27 21:44
#27
Greece theophilos13 
b05 finals !!!!!!!!!!
2017-02-27 21:44
#29
World antoniolrod 
Ez for SK
2017-02-27 21:45
#30
 | 
United States ldKuKluxKlan 
Last event Fnatic won: Katowice 2016 Next event Fnatic win: Katowice 2017
2017-02-27 21:45
#136
somedieyoung | 
Latvia Ruddy Poo Candy Ass 
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
#144
 | 
United States ldKuKluxKlan 
They have a pretty easy group tbh
2017-02-28 18:38
#31
Sweden Panama1337 
Bo5 woho
2017-02-27 21:46
#32
United States Stanislavv 
pansy casting semis LUL
2017-02-27 21:46
#33
Jordan NASRALZ3BI 
Prize distribution is probably: 1st - $100k 2nd - $50k 3rd/4th - $20k 5th/6th - $10k 7-12th - $6500
2017-02-27 21:47
#35
Europe fishing_cat 
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.
2017-02-27 21:47
#36
United Kingdom jimak 
Guess I'll be working through every game until the Quarter Finals.. Again :/
2017-02-27 21:47
#37
 | 
Germany zeolikk10years 
2 quarters?
2017-02-27 21:49
#41
Iran Mehrzad 
top two teams in each group directly go to semis
2017-02-27 21:52
#46
 | 
Germany zeolikk10years 
ty
2017-02-27 21:57
#38
Other TheWiz 
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
#39
olofmeister | 
Europe VeryCooolGuy 
LETS FUCKING G0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O FNATIC LOVE YA ALLL BOYS
2017-02-27 21:51
#40
France Justice_has_been_served 
Good teams in a good tournament, feelsgoodman
2017-02-27 21:51
#43
North America [unknown] 
so optic plays first match and last match of the day seems stupid
2017-02-27 21:53
#100
 | 
Australia Tails  
They also play 3 times during the middle of the day. So yes, you do seem stupid.
2017-02-28 00:23
#109
North America [unknown] 
bad scheduling. poorly planned event. sad. this is why all future lans should be in NA.
2017-02-28 02:43
#115
Vietnam MaybeIWill 
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
#137
North America [unknown] 
i dont even like optic just bad scheduling. bad event. sad.
2017-02-28 15:29
#44
s1mple | 
Poland magicmaus 
no ego thorin, uff
2017-02-27 21:53
#45
World qndS 
Ez 4 heroic
2017-02-27 21:54
#47
 | 
Poland ramones1 
no thorin no anders no semmler = no tournament
2017-02-27 21:58
#49
 | 
Germany kick_friberg_ffs 
-1
2017-02-27 22:00
#53
Poland Marcines 
semmler is bad, i'm glad he is not here
2017-02-27 22:03
#77
 | 
Slovakia LINF 
+1
2017-02-27 22:47
#89
Netherlands FNATICSucksLUL 
Hes good. The fuck u talking about ?
2017-02-27 23:06
#112
Frankie | 
United States lybrel 
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
#121
Australia Aussiebattla 
glass half empty huh
2017-02-28 09:43
#78
Brazil Hyzek 
+1
2017-02-27 22:47
#48
Argentina viciecal 
No anders :(
2017-02-27 22:00
#51
Romania philoromaios 
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.
2017-02-27 22:03
#113
Frankie | 
United States lybrel 
Pretty sure I just got trolled but ESL and FaceIt are rivals
2017-02-28 06:58
#123
Italy madismad 
fakeflagger
2017-02-28 10:05
#129
Romania philoromaios 
Why would you think that?
2017-02-28 11:41
#130
Italy madismad 
I don't know. Your English is too good, but that's kind of discriminating
2017-02-28 11:42
#52
 | 
Sweden CharlesEmilNilsson 
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
#91
World hltv_sucks_in_2016_newHLTV 
moses casting? thats highkey PogChamp
2017-02-27 23:16
#128
 | 
Sweden CharlesEmilNilsson 
maybe, cuz I hef forgotten have it sounds like cuz he become a analyst for some bloody reason
2017-02-28 11:21
#54
Germany Rudolfthebrownnoseraindeer 
c9 will drop out without a single win, easy prediction is easy
2017-02-27 22:04
#83
Mongolia erkhes 
no edit my friend
2017-02-27 23:05
#55
 | 
Mongolia Schweinepriester 
So excited about how niko will play in faze
2017-02-27 22:06
#57
Raesos | 
Oceania Andrew_Kramer 
No Thorin. No DDK. No Black DDK. NO PARTY!
2017-02-27 22:09
#58
nitr0 | 
Slovakia cheatersw0w 
Only 2 quarterfinal matches? Wut? Explain
2017-02-27 22:15
#61
 | 
Poland SUUL 
Group winners going straight to semis 2/3 placed from each group playing quarters
2017-02-27 22:16
#62
nitr0 | 
Slovakia cheatersw0w 
Ok
2017-02-27 22:17
#59
 | 
Poland SUUL 
Still waiting for tournament with Metuz on talent lineup.
2017-02-27 22:15
#63
France Busy P 
Get rid of annoying ass moses and you have a solid broadcast crew
2017-02-27 22:20
#64
Canada jador 
I won't even see 1 match. Why did I move from BaguetteLand to FakeBaguetteLand (Canada) QQ
2017-02-27 22:21
#65
Iceland subbagod 
s1-god will take this for sure!
2017-02-27 22:24
#66
 | 
Azerbaijan Talley 
bo5 finals? that's just dumb
2017-02-27 22:28
#70
World shield12345 
378804 user id expected newfag
2017-02-27 22:30
#68
 | 
Turkey mrsocta 
vp - fnc - astr - sk ez for finals
2017-02-27 22:29
#69
Turkey SerDeam 
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!
2017-02-27 22:30
#73
 | 
Sweden godname 
heroic with 4players lul
2017-02-27 22:34
#74
NaToSaphiX | 
Finland Slaughtrr 
FINALLY GOOD TIMINGS TO WATCH <3 NOT NA TIMINGS LUL
2017-02-27 22:35
#75
 | 
Russia band1 
no thorin? thanks iem
2017-02-27 22:36
#76
 | 
Poland DelusionalWorshipper 
FAK. I have no time to watch games. Job!
2017-02-27 22:40
#79
 | 
Slovakia J0K3R7371 
faze and navi final
2017-02-27 22:57
#80
ZywOo | 
Macedonia CrneKise 
BO5 YEEEEEEEEES
2017-02-27 22:57
#81
KRIMZ | 
Sweden terminat0r 
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
#82
United States iloveliquid 
Group stage runs from 2-9am pls no more tournaments in shitty eu
2017-02-27 23:01
#84
Xyp9x | 
Sweden v1king 
RiP event.. +Thorin, Anders, Zemmler, DDK, James -pantsy, sadokist, henry G, Natu
2017-02-27 23:05
#85
Croatia NoObish 
+1
2017-02-27 23:05
#86
Xyp9x | 
Sweden v1king 
+1
2017-02-27 23:06
#117
AdreN | 
Pakistan Flamez828 
+1
2017-02-28 08:11
#118
 | 
Russia ZippSluvik 
-1 Sado, Moses and Henry>>>all imo
2017-02-28 09:03
#140
Latvia themakjisapeelv 
You cannot even spell their names properly. dumbass
2017-02-28 16:52
#87
 | 
United States sxg 
RIP C9. RIP YUNG STEW
2017-02-27 23:06
#88
 | 
Denmark potatomato 
Nice.
2017-02-27 23:06
#90
World hltv_sucks_in_2016_newHLTV 
bo5 PogChamp
2017-02-27 23:16
#93
Sadokist | 
Sweden MazyModz 
hardwell hype
2017-02-27 23:24
#95
United Kingdom WhyIsntThereAnAWPSandDune 
facebook live up bois
2017-02-27 23:54
#101
fer | 
Turkey MaskoN 
Finally bo 5 final!!!!!!!!!!!
2017-02-28 00:32
#103
Nepal yuwannano 
Group A:1st-Astralis 2nd/3rd-nip & Faze Group B:1st-SK gaming 2nd/3rd-vp &navi
2017-02-28 01:02
#106
Ukraine BashCSGO 
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
#104
Czech Republic zenren 
250k for IEM seems really low budget
2017-02-28 01:10
#132
 | 
Malta Trance_Lover 
is 200k really gonna make a difference for you, the viewer?
2017-02-28 11:49
#107
Chile Im_not_fan_of_mibr_anymore 
No babam?? ...Boring cast
2017-02-28 02:19
#108
cogu | 
Argentina crow_siegHeilViktoria 
FAZE MAYBE
2017-02-28 02:43
#110
hippien | 
New Zealand TEEZY 
Rip Semmler & Anders
2017-02-28 05:13
#114
 | 
Other VladimirLucas 
O. J. Borg - Stage Host Kreygasm
2017-02-28 07:06
#119
f0rest | 
Hong Kong spaghettid 
no Anders no party
2017-02-28 09:26
#120
 | 
Japan Menedreal 
Ez for FaZe i think, if win Vs Astralis in group, i think team can win full tournament.
2017-02-28 09:30
#122
 | 
Austria gex0r 
pansy and natu.... :/ i want to see redeye on more cs events
2017-02-28 10:01
#133
Poland Daedalus2k 
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
#125
coldzera | 
World 2pacShakeRr 
ez sk
2017-02-28 10:31
#131
 | 
Malta Trance_Lover 
Wow the groupstage is a fucking mess.
2017-02-28 11:49
#138
 | 
North America ksp52 
i'm so sick of optic vs astralis over and over again
2017-02-28 15:33
#139
Sweden DenkanN 
Thorin was the problem!
2017-02-28 16:42
#141
shox | 
Russia StayAway 
No Anders no party (
2017-02-28 16:54
#143
African Union rabz_ 
pz ez vp
2017-02-28 18:24
#148
North America [unknown] 
bad scheduling
2017-03-01 19:24
#150
Germany ConAction 
BO5 <3333333333333
2017-03-02 16:15
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