INTEL EXTREME MASTERS SEASON XVI KATOWICE
Counter Strike: Global Offensive Intel Extreme Masters XVI Katowice starts from 15 February to 27 February 2022. It will be Offline tournament that locate in Katowice. There will be 24 teams to participate. There are six best teams from Colonge in Europe and two best teams from Cologne in North America. Three more teams from Europe will be advance to Play-In, while other two teams from North America and three other teams from South America, Oceania and Asia. The prize pool of the event is 1,000,000 USD. The winner of the competition alone will get 400,000 USD.
IEM SEASON XVI KATOWICE Format
CSGO IEM XVI Katowice plays in three stage of Play-In, Group Stage and Playoffs.
- Play-In: It starts from 15 February to 16 February 2022. This round, they will play as a Double-Elimination Bracket. There will be two type of matches that are Upper Bracket and Lower Bracket. Moreover, the play-in will have 3 rounds of both bracket. The Round 1 of Play-In matches are Best of 1 (Bo1). The rest following matches are Bo3. The top eight teams are advanced to the Group Stage.
- Group Stage: It starts from 17 February to 20 February 2022. Base on the performance from Play-In, the teams will separate in to Upper Bracket and Lower Bracket. In addiction, they will play in two groups of 12 teams. However, in each group split into Upper Bracket and Lower Bracket. The top teams of Play-In will be in Group Upper Bracket, while the bottom team will be in lower bracket. The first place of the two advance to Semi-Finals. The winner of the Lower Bracket will compete with the 2nd place of the Upper Bracket to take a place in Semi-finals. All matches are Bo3.
- Playoffs: It starts from 25 February to 27 February 2022. All teams play as a Single-Elimination bracket. The matches in quarterfinals and semifinals are Bo3. Therefore, in the grand final, matches are Best of 5 (Bo5).
About intel Extreme Master
Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a series of tournaments of Counter-Strike which is known as S-Tier tournament. This is the international esports events that was found in 2007. IEM is a global event that play in five regions such as Europe, North America, South America, Oceania and Asia. Intel is the main sponsor of the tournament. While the organizer is ESL.
Each year, CSGO IEM play for upgrade season. Each season splits into different individual tournament base on location. The winner and runner-up of each location participant in the Masters Champions that play twice a year.