ESL have announced group draws for the round-of-24 main event and the bracket for the round-of-36 play-in stage at IEM Katowice 2023.

The play-in stage sees sixteen players compete in a double elimination bracket, with the top four players advancing on to the main event (RO24 group stage). The RO24 group stage is played out as four separate round-robin groups, with 12 players advancing to the single elimination playoff round.

IEM Katowice will be played from February 8-12.

Round of 24

Round of 36

TheCheapSkate

Slovenia317 Posts

January 19 2023 19:34 GMT

Is it already announced at what time the finals will be played? Is it going to be the same as last year?

Die4Ever

United States17720 Posts

January 19 2023 22:43 GMT

Aw man, DRG got a really tough group

Rob-Zero

Germany460 Posts

January 19 2023 23:28 GMT

Group of death?
I would say Group A.
Gabes draw against three top korean terrans is pretty hard for him, too. Maybe Lambo is at least happy that he has only one matchup so far

dysenterymd

1250 Posts

January 19 2023 23:53 GMT

Cure and Zoun feel like locks to make it through the ro36, the last two slots will come down to who plays well on the day. If Ryung wasn't against Zerg first round I wouldn't hate his chances.

B is the easiest group, I think you can make an argument for any of the others being the hardest.

tigera6

3444 Posts

January 20 2023 02:09 GMT

Group A is definitely toughest for the top seed, with Clem having issue with beating most the guys in the group. Followed by group C where I think the ZvZ might give us some upset. Group B and D have the top seed play their best matchup (ZvP and TvT) so it should be easier to predict Reynor and Maru to advance in 1st place.
Btw, they still havent announced the patch mod to be used for IEM?

zumpy

United States122 Posts

January 20 2023 03:55 GMT

Nice group of life for group B. i feel like that's going to be a really close group compared to the others.

Cure seems the favorite for the bottom side of the bracket but top bracket is almost anyone's game (strong feeling for soO)

tlnetuser108

83 Posts

January 20 2023 05:10 GMT

Finally Serral gets a group where its not just easy wins

Drfilip

Sweden591 Posts

January 20 2023 09:37 GMT

To me it seems like group D has the highest current form. Too bad it's mostly TvT. Bunny and ByuN are playing really well, and Maru keeps being very good despite slumping a bit. I am unsure about the form of Heromarine, but he has had a stable high skill level for a couple of years. With Lambo as the runt, the lowest skilled player is also quite high.

Compare that with group B were the top players are way better than the bottom. Reynor has been a bit shaky this year but he has always sharpened up for these huge events in the past. I expected him to top his form yet again. Astrea has been on an absolute tear in recent time and is deserving of praise. Creator had a good half of 2022 but fell of a bit. Showtime has not impressed me much of late, Him beating the one man army in his prime (ByuN lost vs Showtime in the group stage of the Blizzcon ByuN won) is a far off thing now. Lastly, we have GuMiho. He plays great TvT, but his experiments and general understanding of the other match ups look very shaky. I don't think he'll win a single match vs the other 4 in his group.

Group A has 3 question marks. Is RagnaroK good or great? Will his nerves manage? Can Neeb keep doing well or was his recent performances a fluke? I suspect he will put more effort into SC2 than his studies so he has the possibility to be great. Oliveira is a player that rises and falls regularly, but I have not seen a pattern yet. He can play like a top 3 player in the world, like a semi pro, or anything in between. Will we see the greatness in Katowice? I don't know, but I hope.

Group C has 2 absolute beasts in herO and Serral. Solar is known to make huge blunders but play amazingly the rest of the time. If he can isolate blunders to a few games then he can crush anyone. If not, then he can go out with 0 map wins. DRG looks like a solid player. Worse than the best, better than many. SpeCial has been playing way worse since TY went military/pandemic times. TY is back and pandemic is winding down in non-China. Will SpeCial improve to enough to be competitive? I doubt it.

I wonder if any of the play in players will spice things up.

ZeroByte13

780 Posts

January 20 2023 09:45 GMT

#10

Maru and lots of TvT in his group - not the first time it happens.

Creager

Germany1920 Posts

January 20 2023 11:02 GMT

#11

I mean I sure love TvT, but group D looks ridiculous...

Nakajin

Canada8989 Posts

January 20 2023 12:24 GMT

#12

On January 20 2023 08:53 dysenterymd wrote:
Cure and Zoun feel like locks to make it through the ro36, the last two slots will come down to who plays well on the day. If Ryung wasn't against Zerg first round I wouldn't hate his chances.

B is the easiest group, I think you can make an argument for any of the others being the hardest.

I think Elazer should be the favorite to get out from the upper bracket with Scarlett and Nightmare being in the chase. I don't really believe in either Ryung or soO atm.

The lower half is a lot harder to call, since we don't really know Cure or Armani form, but Zoun should be the favorite.

Drfilip

Sweden591 Posts

January 20 2023 12:45 GMT

#13

Cure looks like 2013-2015 INno. Both in style and ability. It's like an optimised build performed very well with the occasional offensive cheese mixed in. Very rigid and solid play. Great vs weaker players, a struggle vs better players.

Irukandji30

15 Posts

January 20 2023 14:12 GMT

#14

what a awfull draft

JJH777

United States4415 Posts

January 20 2023 18:25 GMT

#15

A finals with 2/3 of DRG/Solar/Ragnarok is about the most I can hope for from this event. ZvZ upsets please.

ZeroByte13

780 Posts

January 20 2023 18:51 GMT

#16

On January 21 2023 03:25 JJH777 wrote:
A finals with 2/3 of DRG/Solar/Ragnarok is about the most I can hope for from this event. ZvZ upsets please.

Who are you kidding, we all know finals will be Serral vs Reynor, Serral vs Dark or Dark vs Reynor.

tommey.liang

United States363 Posts

January 20 2023 21:12 GMT

#17

Can't believe it's almost time for Katowice 2023 - still remember when it was online only and Reynor won it all in 2021. Excited to tune into all of the matches and group stage play.

TossHeroes

281 Posts

January 21 2023 16:07 GMT

#18

As usual Serral has the group of death

First challenge as the defending champion

Maru in ez pz tvt group

As long as Classic and Harstem gets out of the bracket, I’m a happy dude

QOGQOG

834 Posts

January 21 2023 18:24 GMT

#19

On January 22 2023 01:07 TossHeroes wrote:
As usual Serral has the group of death

If he manages to lose to DRG and SpeCial, he deserves death.

tigera6

3444 Posts

January 21 2023 19:10 GMT

#20

On January 21 2023 03:51 ZeroByte13 wrote:

Show nested quote +