Starting this Thursday, ESL will host an epic eSports marathon where players and teams battle it out for over US$500,000 in prize money in Katowice’s Spodek arena. Featuring both of ESL’s premier global competitions, Katowice will see the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship played out in StarCraft 2, League of Legends and Hearthstone as well as the EMS One Katowice CS:GO Championship for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
We have summarized what awaits you in each game as well as gathered some good sources for more information
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
US$150,000 Intel Extreme Masters World Championship
Much like last year, the League of Legends action in Katowice once again promises to be exciting as top teams from different regions meet in a clash of regional metas. With three European, one North American and four Asian teams as well as a star-studded cast of commentators, we can look forward to three days of nail-biting League of Legends action.
Starting on Friday at 13:00 CET with Invictus Gaming and Fnatic and ending at 17:30 CET with the Grand Finals on Sunday, you can look forward to a series of awesome matches.
You can find the full schedule here: League of Legends schedule
You can also find matchup previews here: Group A match 1, Group A match 2, Group B match 1 and Group B match 2
The event will be hosted by the lovely sjokz, while matches will be commentated by none other than LCS regulars Joe Miller, Deman, Quickshot and Deficio, who will be supported by the insight of current Alliance and Evil Genius players Froggen and Krepo.
STARCRAFT 2
US$100,000 Winner Takes All Intel Extreme Masters World Championship
With the winner taking home the entirety of the US$100,000 prize pool, this StarCraft 2 tournament has all the ingredients to go down in history as one of the highest tension events in the history of the game. The lineup of attending players reads like a who's who of StarCraft 2, and features nearly all of the world’s current elite. Even the open bracket, which will see two players proceed to the actual tournament stage, is incredibly tough and stacked with talent.
Open bracket action will kick off at 13:00 CET on Thursday with Evil Geniuses’ JYP facing local hopeful and Liquid player Mana, and will last the entirety of the day. The regular group starts on Friday, culminating in one of the most nail-biting finals of all time at 15:30 CET on Sunday.
You can find the full schedule here: StarCraft 2 schedule
Additionally, here are some interesting pre-match interviews by Team Liquid: Oz and Revival interviews and Nerchio and Mana interviews
Hosted by Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner, the commentator lineup features our very own Apollo and Kaelaris, who will be joined by none other than ToD, LiquidRet, Artosis and iNcontroL. Be sure to tune in for what will surely be a legendary tournament.
COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE
US$250,000 EMS One Katowice CS:GO Championship
Sporting a massive US$250,000 community-funded prize pool and 16 of the world’s best CS:GO teams, the EMS One Katowice CS:GO Championship promises to be one of the highlights of this year’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive calendar. The tournament starts with a double elimination group stage which will be played out on Thursday, leading into a single elimination bracket running from Friday to Sunday.
You can read more about the group stage in our individual highlight pieces: Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D
Below you can find more information on when individual matches will be taking place, as well as links to an overview of different language streams and partners:
- Groups A & B: Thursday 13:00 CET
- Groups C & D: Thursday ~18:00 CET
- Quarter Final 1: Friday 13:00 CET
- Quarter Final 2: Friday ~16:00 CET
- Quarter Final 3: Friday ~19:00 CET
- Quarter Final 4: Saturday 13:00 CET
- Semifinal 1: Saturday ~16:00 CET
- Semifinal 2: Saturday ~19:00 CET
- Grand Final: Sunday, 13:00 CET
Here is the full overview of partner streams: All EMS One Katowice language streams
Go here for our CS:GO survival guide: Survival guide for EMS One Katowice
The event will be hosted by the ever-entertaining Sean Charles, with Lauren "Pansy" Scott, Jason Kaplan, and Stuart "TossspoT" Saw as commentators. Analysis will be provided by the illustrious Scott "SirScoots" Smith and Duncan "Thorin" Shields, with "Joshua "steel" Nissan taking over the role of observer.
Tune into ESL TV for all the action over the coming days: ESL TV
You can also make extra sure to not miss anything by following our social media channels:
- ESL Twitter: http://twitter.com/esl
- IEM Twitter: http://twitter.com/iem
- ESL Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theESL
- IEM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/iem
- ESL Youtube: http://youtube.com/ESL
What are you looking forward to in particular? Let us know in the comments!
