Intel Extreme Masters Season XIII - IEM Katowice Major 2019
The first CS:GO Major tournament in 2019.
Match schedule
Bracket
Group play
Map pool
General description
Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2019 will be taking place from 13 February till 3 March. Sixteen collectives sharing the prize pool of $1,000,000 are participating in the tournament. The event will be taking place in Katowice, Poland, while the holding places will be SL Arena, International Congress Centre and Spodek Arena.
On 13-17 February, the organizers will be holding the first stage of The New Challengers Stage tournament. ESL Arena will become the place where participants will be fighting for getting to the next stage of the championship.
After three-day break on 20-24 February, the second stage of The New Legends Stage will be taking place. This time the place for holding fights will be International Congress Centre.
According to the results of The New Legends Stage, the best eight participants will get to the final stage which is The New Champions Stage, happening on 28 February-3 March. Traditionally, the LAN final, as well as for other major events in Katowice, will be held at Spodek Arena.
Prize pool
General prize pool will consist of $1,000,000. The collectives taking the 17-24 places will leave the tournaments achieving nothing while the teams getting 15-16 positions will get their consolation prizes of $8,750. The participants that can take the 9-14 places will get an invitation to The New Challenger Stage of the next Major tournament apart from a little prize. The best prizes will be gained by the teams getting to The New Champions Stage. Each of the participants of the final stage will get a Legend status as well as an invitation to The New Legends Stage of the next Major championship. The teams taking the 5-8 places will get money reward of $35,000, while the collectives finishing their participation in the tournament at the 3-4 place, will get $70,000 each. The finalist that will not be able to win the final battle will get a money reward of $150,000, while the champion of the first Major tournament in 2019 will take honour of the main money award of $500,000.
Participants
Twenty four collectives will be taking part in the championship. They got a chance to perform at the tournament thanks to their achievements at previous Major championships or their successful performance at Minor. Such collectives as Astralis, Natus Vincere, MIBR, Team Liquid, compLexity Gaming, BIG, HellRaisers, FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Vega Squadron, Cloud9 and TYLOO got invited to IEM Katowice 2019 due to their good results at FACEIT Major: London 2018. The American, the CIS, the European and the Asian Minor tournaments will define two best participants that will get their slots at The New Challengers Stage. Four teams that will get the third positions at the Minor championships will be fighting with each other at Minors’ 3rd Place Play-In, where they will play for two additional invitations.