ESL have announced the official IEM Katowice 2022 schedule. The tournament will run for five days between February 23rd and February 27th. The most notable change from 2021 is that the RO24 group stage will be played over two days instead of four, with two groups played per day (this is the same as previous IEM Katowice tournaments that were held offline).
Schedule:
Feb 23: RO36 play-in stage
Feb 24: RO24: Groups A & B
Feb 25: RO24: Groups C & D
Feb 26: Playoffs: RO12 and RO8
Feb 27: Playoffs: RO4 and grand finals
All start times are 10:00 GMT (+00:00), except Feb 27 which will start at 09:00 GMT (+00:00)
"Armani has confirmed he is unable to attend and Ryung has accepted the invite as the next player available from the Korea standings.
Update:Cyan and TIME have been approved for visas to travel to Katowice (ESL Tweet).
TIME and Cyan are awaiting a final decision from local authorities, anticipated this week.
If TIME is unable to attend: An additional slot will open in the Ro24 with the procedure outlined above.
If Cyan is unable to attend: Due to the time remaining ahead of the tournament and as our rules outline a replacement from Europe the next in line is uThermal."
ESL have also announced the COVID protocols for the event. The most notable ramification of the protocols is that a player testing positive for COVID—and thus required to quarantine for seven days due to Polish regulations—will be unable to participate in the event.[Read full announcement]
From the protocols page:
"While in Katowice
In Poland, a positive COVID-19 test currently means a mandatory 7-day isolation period (should the authorities change this rule, teams will be informed). Fully vaccinated close contacts do not need to be isolated.
Should a player show symptoms, a manager or ESL representative may request an additional test at any time. A test may also be requested if required for departure back to the respective home country.
Specifics Related to Competition
It will not be possible to play out of isolation due to the vast difference in the tournament environment (i.e. spectators, loud cheering, stage audio system, etc). All players will be required to be on stage and any player which may be positive and in isolation will not be allowed to continue the competition.
We reserve the right to review these decisions based on the situation relating to COVID-19 at the time of the play-off stages."
Players are required to take PCR tests 24 hours before travel to Katowice and at least once upon arrival at the event according to ESL's IEM Katowice protocols page.
Imagine disqualifying a top contender because they test positive and have to quarantine when you decided to make it in-person yourselves. One of the big tests for the players this year will be managing to avoid getting infected by one of the most transmissible viruses of all time while traveling to Katowice and being exposed to people all over the world.
This is, quite frankly, idiotic, and if comes into play this IEM will forever have an asterisk next to it.
You should be ashamed if you induce someone to travel across the world to compete in a tournament in person, causing them to get infected, and then you bar them from playing from isolation even if they are physically able or unsymptomatic.
The way I see it, if players can make it to Poland, they should all be able to compete no matter what happens with COVID test results. Whether or not they end up playing from isolation is by far the lesser of two evils here, compared to potentially disqualifying most of the participants from playing even if they feel perfectly healthy.
The biggest problem with online competitions is latency. If everyone's in Poland, that's not a problem anymore. All players should be given the opportunity to compete that they have worked very hard to obtain, and even a competition with some players playing from isolation is a lot more fair than any online competition.
In addition to covid potentially messing up a bracket... the regional instability right now could impact our tournament as well. Been waiting for kato for a while and really looking forward to it. Hope nothing crazy happens so we can enjoy our little tourney
On February 18 2022 01:48 TheLordofAwesome wrote: The way I see it, if players can make it to Poland, they should all be able to compete no matter what happens with COVID test results. Whether or not they end up playing from isolation is by far the lesser of two evils here, compared to potentially disqualifying most of the participants from playing even if they feel perfectly healthy.
The biggest problem with online competitions is latency. If everyone's in Poland, that's not a problem anymore. All players should be given the opportunity to compete that they have worked very hard to obtain, and even a competition with some players playing from isolation is a lot more fair than any online competition.
100% I can't imagine being so callous to force people to play on the stage after they have invested so much to be there. For what?
At this point, ESL is just better off making IEM an online event, with so many potential way that Covid could screw up the organization plan of the event. I assume that most player will probably self-quarantine for 7-10 days before traveling to limit their chance of getting the virus. Hopefully we wont have any regrettable case this tournament, imagine missing any of top players just because they strictly follow the local mandate to take the vaccine but that doesnt matter because the vaccine does stop people from getting the virus.
Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
On February 18 2022 02:03 JJH777 wrote: Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
What day off? 26th is ro12 + ro8 and it's saturday
On February 18 2022 02:03 JJH777 wrote: Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
I missed that part. Wow. I'm sure this is going to nerf the audience size, good job ESL!
On February 18 2022 02:03 JJH777 wrote: Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
What day off? 26th is ro12 + ro8 and it's saturday
While the decisions IEM made aren't the decisions I would've made, I'm happy to have an offline SC2 tournament. Fingers crossed as few people come down with COVID as possible.
On February 18 2022 02:03 JJH777 wrote: Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
I missed that part. Wow. I'm sure this is going to nerf the audience size, good job ESL!
On February 18 2022 02:03 JJH777 wrote: Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
What day off? 26th is ro12 + ro8 and it's saturday
Look at the text above the image in OP.
Pretty sure it's a typo, liquipedia also says 26th is ro12 + ro8 (IEM Katowice/2022 )
On February 18 2022 02:03 JJH777 wrote: Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
What day off? 26th is ro12 + ro8 and it's saturday
The list of dates under the title Schedule has got the final 2 days as 27th and 28th, with nothing on 26th.
On February 18 2022 01:26 TL.net ESPORTS wrote: Schedule:
Feb 23: RO36 play-in stage
Feb 24: RO24: Groups A & B
Feb 25: RO24: Groups C & D
Feb 27: Playoffs: RO12 and RO8
Feb 28: Playoffs: RO4 and grand finals
All start times are 10:00 GMT (+00:00), except Feb 28 which will start at 09:00 GMT (+00:00)
It's not like playing from a shitty hotel with covid offers much / any advantage to playing onstage. It'd be better not to completely DQ them if they test positive. This isn't run on LAN anyway is it?
Of course it would be better to allow the isolated players to continue playing, but it could lead to very funny situations. The funniest thing to happen would be having the isolated player win important match or even the whole tournament, while only the defeated player is on the stage with crowd cheering the isolated player, that can't participate in ceremonies etc. at all.
On February 18 2022 02:18 Legan wrote: Of course it would be better to allow the isolated players to continue playing, but it could lead to very funny situations. The funniest thing to happen would be having the isolated player win important match or even the whole tournament, while only the defeated player is on the stage with crowd cheering the isolated player, that can't participate in ceremonies etc. at all.
Imagine thinking this is most important and not the legitimacy of the world championship title.
On February 18 2022 02:03 JJH777 wrote: Is the day off in the middle typical for IEM? I'm pretty disappointed by that. I thought I'd be able to get up early on Saturday and Sunday and catch most of the playoffs live but with Saturday being skipped I'll only be able to watch Sunday live and will miss the championship day.
What day off? 26th is ro12 + ro8 and it's saturday
The list of dates under the title Schedule has got the final 2 days as 27th and 28th, with nothing on 26th.
On February 18 2022 02:18 Legan wrote: Of course it would be better to allow the isolated players to continue playing, but it could lead to very funny situations. The funniest thing to happen would be having the isolated player win important match or even the whole tournament, while only the defeated player is on the stage with crowd cheering the isolated player, that can't participate in ceremonies etc. at all.
Imagine thinking this is most important and not the legitimacy of the world championship title.
It is not about what is important for competition. If they, and viewers, really cared only about the competition and fairness, then there would not be an offline event at all really. Instead everyone would just be just flown in to minimize ping. No need to have big event venue for casters, staff, and crowd. Just have everyone be isolated in bunch of hotels for a whole event. However that would make very weird event.
On February 18 2022 02:20 honorablemacroterran wrote:
On February 18 2022 02:18 Legan wrote: Of course it would be better to allow the isolated players to continue playing, but it could lead to very funny situations. The funniest thing to happen would be having the isolated player win important match or even the whole tournament, while only the defeated player is on the stage with crowd cheering the isolated player, that can't participate in ceremonies etc. at all.
Imagine thinking this is most important and not the legitimacy of the world championship title.
It is not about what is important for competition. If they, and viewers, really cared only about the competition and fairness, then there would not be an offline event at all really. Instead everyone would just be just flown in to minimize ping. No need to have big event venue for casters, staff, and crowd. Just have everyone be isolated in bunch of hotels for a whole event. However that would make very weird event.
If anyone cares more about someone physically lifting up a trophy in front of the crowd than the fairness of the competition, I can't help but think less of them.
Even though I am really looking forward to this, I can't help but think what an unfair prize pool distribution this is. Why not support everyone who qualifies for Katowice? Instead of pouring ~50% of the entire prize money into just the top-2 players?
On February 18 2022 02:20 honorablemacroterran wrote:
On February 18 2022 02:18 Legan wrote: Of course it would be better to allow the isolated players to continue playing, but it could lead to very funny situations. The funniest thing to happen would be having the isolated player win important match or even the whole tournament, while only the defeated player is on the stage with crowd cheering the isolated player, that can't participate in ceremonies etc. at all.
Imagine thinking this is most important and not the legitimacy of the world championship title.
It is not about what is important for competition. If they, and viewers, really cared only about the competition and fairness, then there would not be an offline event at all really. Instead everyone would just be just flown in to minimize ping. No need to have big event venue for casters, staff, and crowd. Just have everyone be isolated in bunch of hotels for a whole event. However that would make very weird event.
Exactly. Competitions are for entertainment and they are not rigorous scientific experiments to find the best player or otherwise, we would probably need a sample size of like 50-100 games for statistically significant results.
EPT
IEM Katowice/2022
