Next Thursday, ESL One Katowice will kick off and see 16 teams bring all they’ve got to succeed in the US$250,000 tournament. To help you prepare for these four days of Counter-Strike action, we’re giving you all the information you need to know in one place.

Key information

• Where? IEM Expo at the Spodek arena, Katowice
• When? 12th to 15th of March 2015
• Homepage: http://www.esl-one.com/csgo/katowice-2015
• Schedule: http://www.esl-one.com/csgo/katowice-2015/schedule
• Stream: http://esl-one.com/csgo/katowice-2015/channel/esltv-cs/
• 16 teams play in four groups of four. The top two of each group will advance to the playoffs and earn Legend status for the next event, with the total prize pool being a massive US$250,000.

The ESL One groups

The four groups of four have two Legends of Jönköping and two qualified teams each. Here is your overview of the groups that will be played on Thursday the 12th of March.
 

Talent lineup

It’s not only ESL One that’s returning to Katowice - some pretty well-known faces from last year’s tournament are also making a reappearance. Enjoy the action as it’s brought to you by the following familiar faces and voices:

• Host: Sean Charles
• Commentator: Leigh "Deman" Smith
• Commentator: Lauren "Pansy" Scott
• Commentator: Anders "Anders" Blume
• Commentator: Stuart "Tosspot" Saw
• Analyst: Alex "Machine" Richardson
• Analyst: Spencer "Hiko" Martin
• Analyst: Casper "Cadian" Møller
• Observer: Halvor "Vendetta" Gulestøl
• Observer: Janko "yNK" Paunovic

Schedule

• Thursday: Groups A to D - Starting at 13:00 CET
• Friday: Quarterfinals one to three - Starting at 13:00 CET
• Saturday: Quarterfinal four and the semifinals - Starting at 13:00 CET
• Sunday: Grand final - Starting at 13:00 CET

Find the full schedule at ESL-One.com.

Tickets

While there are only a few tickets left for Friday to Sunday, tickets for Thursday’s opening day are still available, allowing you to join the group stage and experience the thrills live as teams battle to make it to the next stages of the tournament.

Get your IEM Expo opening day ticket for 60 PLN (€14) while they last, as well as a bunch of goodies including an exclusive t-shirt and more, and see who drops out on Thursday and who keeps the dream of winning ESL One Katowice alive!

ESL Fantasy

The IEM Expo is playing host to multiple tournaments, and you can get involved by joining one or more fantasy leagues and winning some great prizes. For ESL Fantasy CS:GO, choosing the right team could get you a HyperX Cloud II headset, CS:GO skins and stickers for placing among the top 20.

Check out the full prize list below:

• 1st: HyperX Cloud II headset, AWP | Asiimov and ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 2nd: M4A4 | Dragon King and ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 3rd: AK-47 | Blue Laminate (StatTrak) and ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 4th - 10th: Desert Eagle | Naga (StatTrak) and ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 11th - 20th: Tec-9 | Isaac (StatTrak) and ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker

Interviews

In order to prepare you in the best possible way, ESL sat down with some of the participants of ESL One to discuss the latest changes on the teams, their expectations and which teams they see being a threat to them:

• “If EnVyUs stand in our way, we will dismantle them”: TaZ of Virtus.pro
• "Bringing the Norwegian flag back to CS:GO majors is awesome": Rubino of LGB
• "Everyone loves a good underdog story": CLG
• "This major will determine how strong each region is": KRiMZ of Fnatic
• "I'm sure xartE is more than ready": natu of 3DMAX
• "We really want to win two majors in a row": Happy of EnVyUs
• "Europeans are not used to a bunch of loud Australians": jks of Vox Eminor
• "I hope we can provide awesome moments for all our fans": FalleN of Keyd Team

Social media

We’ll do our best to help you stay up to date during the event by using social media to get you the latest results, highlights and VODs. Below you’ll find the accounts to follow to make sure you don’t miss any news from ESL One Katowice 2015:

• ESL Counter-Strike Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ESLCS
• ESL Counter-Strike Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ESLCS
• ESL Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ESL
• ESL Twitter account: https://www.twitter.com/ESL
• ESL One Katowice hashtag: #ESLOne

You can also find the teams’ and talents’ Twitter accounts linked in the sections above.

What team, player or caster are you looking forward to seeing in action the most? Tell us in the comments below!