Intel Extreme Masters: Katowice 2016 - A map assessment

Some maps have had a much higher exposure to the public at IEM Katowice than others and a few have proven to be the favourite battleground for specific teams. We will provide full statistics for each team over their wins and losses on each individual map.

de_cache - Played seven times

Playoffs qualified teams Win-Loss Group stage teams Win-Loss Luminosity 0-1 FaZe 1-0 Natus Vincere 0-0 E-Frag 1-1 Tempo Storm 0-1 EnVyUs 0-2 fnatic 2-1 Mousesports 0-0 Virtus.Pro 1-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-0 Astralis 2-0 MongolZ 0-1



This map was one of the most played overall with the strongest teams being fnatic and Astralis. Ironically, as both teams met up on it Astralis was able to take it over convincingly, which has to say something since they lost their other two maps against fnatic in a disappointing fashion. EnVyUs, who used to be present on this map, have had to face two crushing losses as well as Luminosity, who ended their second Grand Final map on a 16-3 score, not in their favour. It seems to be a map that only few are really strong at playing as for instance Astralis, fnatic and FaZe. The Brazilians cannot be counted to that group and surely LG need to work on it if they want to remove it from their pool of weaker maps to convincingly go into MLG Columbus.

de_cbble - Played five times

Playoffs qualified teams Win-Loss Group stage teams Win-Loss Luminosity 1-0 FaZe 0-0 Natus Vincere 2-1 E-Frag 0-0 Tempo Storm 2-0 EnVyUs 0-0 fnatic 0-0 Mousesports 0-2 Virtus.Pro 0-1 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-0 Astralis 0-0 MongolZ 0-1



Cobblestone was another well-featured map, mainly Tempo Storm and Natus Vincere were active on it. It is interesting to see that the teams who fell out in the group stages had nothing to say on this map as they either avoided it or got crushed right away. Astralis are rarely seen playing this map, whereas fnatic have - this year - been decently active on it and it would actually have been featured in the grand finals if Luminosity only had brought it that far. Natus Vincere had two not-so-close encounters on it but then got actual competition in the form of Tempo Storm who managed to acquire their overtime win 19-15 despite heavy choking in the last rounds.

de_train - Played three times

Playoffs qualified teams Win-Loss Group stage teams Win-Loss Luminosity 0-0 FaZe 0-0 Natus Vincere 0-0 E-Frag 0-0 Tempo Storm 0-0 EnVyUs 1-1 fnatic 1-0 Mousesports 0-0 Virtus.Pro 0-1 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-0 Astralis 1-0 MongolZ 0-0



Train was featured less than the others as more than half of the teams avoided it. It would have been interesting to see Luminosity play on it, as it was the one map that would surely have surfaced as a win for them in the Grand Finals, but sadly they let it get the decider they could not reach out to. One of EnVyUs' two wins happened on this map over Virtus.Pro, but this was just to show that they had not fallen as much as the Polish squad had. On the second occasion they were obliterated by Astralis.

de_mirage - Played eight times

Playoffs qualified teams Win-Loss Group stage teams Win-Loss Luminosity 1-1 FaZe 0-1 Natus Vincere 1-1 E-Frag 0-1 Tempo Storm 1-1 EnVyUs 0-1 fnatic 0 Mousesports 1-0 Virtus.Pro 1-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 Astralis 1-0 MongolZ 0-1

This was the most played map in the group stages, as it was only featured in the playoffs once when Tempo Storm battled it out against Natus Vincere in the semi-finals. The Ninjas showed up strong there as they delivered two wins but failing on the other maps they had no chance to advance any further. As it can be seen every team played it - to either their advantage or disadvantage - apart from fnatic. It has really proven to be some kind of kryptonite for them as they have kept away from it in safe distance ever since Luminosity beat them on it, and to be realistic there is no reason to learn it either since in every matchup they will at least have one veto.

de_inferno - Played eight times

Playoffs qualified teams Win-Loss Group stage teams Win-Loss Luminosity 0-1 FaZe 1-0 Natus Vincere 0-0 E-Frag 1-1 Tempo Storm 0-1 EnVyUs 0-2 fnatic 2-1 Mousesports 0-0 Virtus.Pro 1-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-0 Astralis 2-0 MongolZ 0-0

Inferno was the battleground mostly seen in the playoffs as Luminosity and fnatic preferred it on their way to the Grand Finals. Fnatic won it three times in the playoffs, Luminosity just once as they took it over versus Na'Vi but then fell short to the Swedes in overtime. There have been plenty of highlights on this map, mostly coming from Gabriel "Fallen" Toledo, who had been holding the B bombsite and in doing so many times contributed to the team in getting entry-frags or shutting the entrance down completely. It needs to be mentioned that this is the strongest map for fnatic and - considering the other maps they play to a huge win percentage - this needs to be underlined again.

de_overpass - Played seven times

Playoffs qualified teams Win-Loss Group stage teams Win-Loss Luminosity 1-1 FaZe 0-0 Natus Vincere 2-1 E-Frag 0-1 Tempo Storm 0-1 EnVyUs 0 fnatic 2-0 Mousesports 0-0 Virtus.Pro 1-1 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-1 Astralis 1-1 MongolZ 0-1

Overpass experienced a total rebirth at this event. At no point we have seen so many new and inventive boosts (that were actually legal) and Natus Vincere were responsible for many of them. Nonetheless they lost, but it has been an exciting game to watch and we can only hope for such boosts to be featured more in the regular gameplay, as it will force the teams to heavily adapt on their CT-sides. Fnatic are currently (as in 2016) undefeated on this map and really proved their capabilities as they crushed Astralis on it, a team that was always considered to be very strong on this map. Luminosity later had to face a resurging fnatic that won the map despite being down 13-3 initially.

de_dust2 - Played four times

Playoffs qualified teams Win-Loss Group stage teams Win-Loss Luminosity 0-0 FaZe 1-0 Natus Vincere 0-1 E-Frag 0-0 Tempo Storm 0-1 EnVyUs 0-0 fnatic 2-0 Mousesports 1-1 Virtus.Pro 0-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-0 Astralis 0-0 MongolZ 0-1

Dust2 was not actually featured in the playoffs and in general is a map that not many teams prefer to play, except for the Germans that regularly play this map and almost went over fnatic in doing so, but sadly lost in overtime. For the Swedes this is the map with their highest win amount and rate (6-0, 100%) in 2016 so far as they have been undefeated on it, same as for Overpass and Cobblestone.