IEM Katowice 2020 is upon us. The 2020 season of CS:GO has just begun with several qualifers underway alongside BLAST Premier Spring 2020 group stage happening each weekend until last week while the two rival leagues materialize – ESL Pro League & FLASHPOINT. Yet another DreamHack Open is around the corner prior to commencement of IEM Katowice 2020. The 2020 season will be blast for fans with uninterrupted blazing action!

Photo: ESL

The 7th edition of IEM will return to Spodek arena in Katowice, Poland with a whopping prize pool worth $500,000. The indoor stadium can accommodate 11,500 hardcore and roaring Counter-Strike fans. Katowice will host 16 teams between February 24 and March 1; 12 out of top 15 teams will mark their attendance at the Masters Champ event. IEM Katowice 2020 is a $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam series event and a Master Champ event for ESL Pro Tour.

All five Intel Grand Slam Season 3 contenders – Astralis, mousesports, Evil Geniuses, Fnatic and Team Liquid will attend the event. Michal Blicharz from ESL revealed that a previous winner of IEM Katowice will bring trophy on the stage during the opening ceremony.

As a reminder: for the opening ceremony of #IEM Katowice we invite a previous winner of the trophy to bring it on stage. It's a nod of respect to those that contributed to the championship's history.



We will make the #IEM Katowice trophy bearer known on Saturday. Any guesses? — Michal Blicharz (@mbCARMAC) February 21, 2020

Participants

Group A Group B Ninjas in Pyjamas [Invited] 100 Thieves [Invited] Team Vitality [Invited] G2 Esports [Europe Qualifier] Astralis [IEM Beijing 2019 winner] mousesports [ESL Pro League S10 winner] Cloud9 [North-America Qualifier] TyLoo [Asia Qualifier] Natus Vincere [Invited] Team Liquid [Invited] FaZe Clan [Europe Qualifier] Virtus.pro [Invited] Renegades [Ocenia Qualifier] MAD Lions [Europe Qualifier] Fnatic [DreamHack Masters Malmö winner] Evil Geniuses [Invited]

Format

Photo via ESL

16 teams are divided into two groups of 8 teams each. The teams will play in double-elimination best-of-three group stages with upper-brackets and lower-brackets. Two teams from upper-brackets and one team from lower-brackets from each group will advance to playoffs.

The winner from upper-brackets finals will advance to semi-finals while the loser will fight against lower-bracket finalist. The playoffs will feature single-elimination best-of-three format in quarter-final and semi-final while the grand finale will be a best-of-five encounter to seize glory.

The group stages will be conducted from 24th till 27th February while the playoffs will seal the weekend between 28th February and 1st March.

Talent Crew

Analyst Desk –

Tres “stunna” Saranthus

Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill

Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez

Jacob “Pimp” Winneche

Casting duos –

Henry “HenryG” Greer & Alex “Machine” Richardson

Anders Blume & Jason “moses” O’Toole

Jason Kaplan & Tom “Tombizz” Bissmire

Stage Host –

OJ Borg

Sideline Reporter

Frankie Ward

Observers –

Alexander “Rushly” Rush

Jake “Jak3y” Elton

Streams

Two matches will be hosted simultaneously during group stages on primary and secondary stream. As we enter playoffs, the broadcast will be focused onto primary stream with one match at a time.

Prize Distribution

1st: $250,000

2nd: $100,000

3rd-4th: $40,000

5th-6th: $15,000

7th-8th: $7,000

9th-12th: $4,000

13th-16th: $2,500

Never miss the action, TalkEsport will be extensively covering the revered event.