Accordingly, with the BLAST Premier kicking off last week for CS:GO, the ESL Pro Tour is starting soon. Indeed, it all kicks off in the coming week with the IEM Katowice 2023 CS:GO event. Read on to learn How to Watch this event below!
Event Background
Accordingly. we’ll reiterate, the ESL Pro Tour, or Intel Extreme Masters, is ESL’s franchise of tournaments for CS:GO. Starting off 2023, ESL is taking the community to a legendary venue with a tonne of legacy – Katowice. Moreover, the event will take place from 1st February to 12th February.
Indeed, the Spodek Arena will host the top 24 teams in the world, as they compete for the likes of $1,000,000 prize as listed below:
Directly Qualified Teams
- FaZe Clan
- Team Vitality
- Outsiders
- Heroic
- Team Liquid
- Natus Vincere
- G2 Esports
- MOUZ
Play-In Teams
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Team Spirit
- Cloud9
- Complexity Gaming
- FURIA Esports
- MIBR
- IHC Esports
- Grayhound Gaming
- OG
- ENCE
- BIG
- Sprout
- paiN Gaming
- Evil Geniuses
- Fnatic
- Permitta Esports
So, what’s up for grabs apart from the prize pool? Well, the winner will earn a direct seed for IEM Cologne 2023.
In addition, as traditional with the ESL Pro Tour, this IEM event is part of the Intel Grand Slam Season 4 continuing from last season.
Specifically, the first team to win four S-Tier events organized by ESL in a window of 10 events will earn an additional $1,000,000 of prize pool. Here are how the teams currently stack for this prize:
- FaZe Clan – 3 wins
- Cloud9 – 1 win
- Team Vitality – 1 win
- Outsiders – 1 win
Read on to learn more about the event below!
Format
Overall, the format involves multiple stages of competition.
Firstly, we have the Play-In stage, which takes place from 1st to 3rd February. Here, teams will compete online in a double elimination bracket to try and make it to the offline Group Stage. Moreover, the opening matches are BO1 and all the matches are BO3 – only the top 8 will progress to the Group Stage.
Here are the opening matches as seeded randomly for the Play-In:
Play-In Upper Bracket Round 1
- FURIA Esports vs Permitta Esports
- BIG vs Complexity
- Fnatic vs Evil Geniuses
- Sprout vs OG
- Team Spirit vs Grayhound
- MIBR vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
- ENCE vs paiN Gaming
- Cloud9 vs IHC Esports
Following the Play-In, the Group Stage will take place from 4th to 7th February. In this stage, two double elimination format (GSL) groups take place. Each group has eight teams and they’ll play through BO3 matches to make it to the Playoffs.
Here’s how the 8 directly qualified teams currently stand:
Group Stage:
- A: Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, G2 Esports, FaZe Clan
- B: Heroic, MOUZ, Team Vitality, Outsiders
Moving on to the Playoffs, here’s how performances at the Group Stage will determine how teams progress:
- Winners – seeded to Semifinals
- Runners-up – seeded to the Quarterfinals as High Seeds
- 3rd place teams – seeded to the Quarterfinals as Low Seeds
Once done, the final teams will compete through the Playoffs, taking place from 10th to 12th February. At this final stage, teams will compete through a single elimination bracket. Here, the quarterfinals and semifinals are BO3, the Grand Final is BO5.
Schedule for the IEM Katowice 2023 CS:GO
With regards to the schedule, we recommend tuning into the Intel Extreme Masters Twitter page here for an updated timetable.
Watch the IEM Katowice 2023 on esportsguide
You can also watch the event live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
Predictions
Accordingly, the last international competition for CS;GO was the BLAST Premier World Final 2022 – here’s how the competition stacked up back then:
- #1 – G2 Esports
- #2 – Team Liquid
- #3-4 – FaZe Clan, OG
Indeed, can’t wait to see who could surprise in Katowice!
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