Details that are required for IEM Katowice 2023
Under the IEM and Intel Grand Slam series, the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023 commenced yesterday i.e., the 1st of February. The tournament is organised by ESL and the Sponsors are Intel, Lenovo Legion, DHL, U.S Air Force, 1XBET, Monster Energy and FACEIT. The CS:GO tournament is an offline event which is taking place in Katowice, Poland. The tournament venue is Spodek Arena, but that will be for the Playoffs only. The tournament carries a total of $1,000,000 prize pool and will go on till the 12th of February. A total of 24 teams are seen in this tournament and yesterday, the Upper Bracket of the Play-In stage concluded and BIG, OG, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Cloud9 qualified for the Group Stage.
A detailed recap from the Play-In Stage
The Play-In Stage was played from the 1st of February and will continue till the 3rd of February. It follows a Double-elimination where the opening matches that were played are of best of 1 series and all other following matches will be of Best of 3 games. The top 8 teams will make their way to the Group Stage actions of the tournament. Let’s have a complete detailed look at the Play-In stage matches.
Upper Bracket Round 1
- FURIA Esports vs Permitta – It was played on the Mirage map and FURIA Esports won the game by 16-4.
- BIG vs Complexity Gaming – Anubis was the map and BIG won the game by 16-12 score.
- Fnatic vs Evil Geniuses – It was played on the Inferno map. Fnatic was dominant enough and they won the game by 16-8.
- Sprout vs OG – Inferno was the map and it was OG who won the game with a score of 16-19.
- Team Spirit vs Grayhound Gaming – The game was played on the Nuke map and Team Spirit won it with a score of 16-6.
- MIBR vs Ninjas in Pyjamas – Nuke was the map where these teams met and NIP won the game with a score of 13-16.
- ENCE vs paiN Gaming – It was played on the Vertigo map and ENCE won the game by 16-7.
Upper Bracket Round 2
The Upper Bracket Round 2 featured the best of 3 game series among the eight teams. A total of 4 matches were played and the winners of these matches advanced to the Group Stage. Detailed match recaps are provided below –
- FURIA Esports vs BIG
Map 1 – Both teams played on Anubis’ map. The first-half score remained 7-8 but a 9-3 comeback in the second half from FURIA led them to a victory by 16-11.
Map 2 – It was played on the Mirage map and the first-half score was 5-10 dominated by BIG. The second half was 4-6 and BIG won by 9-16.
Map 3 – It was played on Ancient map and BIG were dominant enough that they made it 3-12 in the first half and the second half remained 6-4. With this BIG won the game by a 9-16 score.
- Fnatic vs OG
Map 1 – It was an Overpass map and the first-half score remained 8-7. Later an 8-4 second-half finish led Fnatic to a victory by 16-11.
Map 2 – Teams began to play on the Mirage map. OG made it 4-11 in the first half and later a 2-5 finish led them to a victory by 6-16.
Map 3 – It was played on the Inferno map and the first-half score remained 7-8, later a 1-8 second-half finish led OG to a victory by 8-16.
- Team Spirit vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
Map 1 – It was played on the Nuke map and the first-half score remained 6-9 and a 1-7 score led NIP to a victory by 7-16.
Map 2 – It was played on the Mirage map and the score remained 7-8. A 1-8 second-half finish from NIP made it an 8-16 win.
- ENCE vs Cloud9
Map 1 – It was played on the Anubis map and the first-half score remained 3-12 and a 7-4 score led Cloud9 to a victory by 10-16.
Map 2 – It was played on the Inferno map and the score remained 8-7. An 8-1 second-half finish from ENCE made it an 8-16 win.
Map 3 – It was played on the Vertigo map and the first-half score remained 8-7 and a 5-9 comeback from Cloud9 secured them the win by 13-16.
So, the Upper Bracket actions are now over and it’s BIG, OG, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Cloud9 that won their respective matches. Now it’s time for the Lower Bracket Fixtures.