The first day of IEM Katowice 2023 concluded with Classic, Cure, Elazer, and Spirit advancing from the round-of-36 play-in stage and earning spots in the group stage of the tournament.
At first it seemed like Classic might have an easy path to the RO24, as he defeated Scarlett and NightMare 2-0 in BO3 series before going up 2-0 against Elazer in the BO5 qualifying match. However, a disastrous Disruptor shot on his own Adepts in game three cost Classic a chance to close out the series, and Elazer put him against the ropes by tying things up at 2-2. Fortunately for Classic, he averted a total collapse by finishing Elazer off in game five.
Cure also had a tough day at the MCK arena as he won by the narrowest margin possible in every match: 2-1 vs Armani, 2-1 vs Harstem, and 3-2 vs Spirit. The final series against Spirit was especially nerve-wracking, as he went down 0-2 to start. However, thanks to his strong macro play, and also some mistakes on Spirit's end, Cure managed to pull off a thrilling reverse-sweep victory. The scrappy series was clearly the most entertaining match of the night and is well worth a watch for any SC2 fan (VOD).
Despite suffering a heartbreaking reverse-sweep at the hands of Cure, Spirit was able to compose himself and advance with a 3-2 victory against Zoun in the lower bracket. While not quite as entertaining as his match versus Cure, this was a fun series as well—especially the BattleCruisers vs. Skytoss war on NeoHumanity (VOD). Unfortunately for Zoun, the 2-3 loss may have been his last series as a professional StarCraft II player, with commentator Artosis noting he was due to begin his military service in the near future.
Although Elazer suffered a painful 2-3 to Classic in the upper bracket qualifying match, everything worked out fine in the end as he faced Ryung in the lower bracket qualifier. With a well-known weakness in Terran vs Zerg, Ryung simply couldn't put up much resistance as he surrendered a 0-3 sweep.
The effect of the new map pool was felt more than the new patch, with the overall larger maps leading players to aim for longer macro games. While this was sometimes for the benefit of the viewers as in Spirit's exciting games, it also led to some Protoss vs Zerg standoffs reminiscent of darker days in SC2 history.
Following the conclusion of the RO36, the four advancing players were drawn into the RO24 groups. This year's RO24 group stage will be played out on a different schedule from previous years, with all four groups having their games spread out over three days (February 9-11). Detailed match scheduling is expected to be revealed shortly before the RO24 matches begin.
Elazer Ryung series aside, we've seen a lot of great series yesterday expecially in the final matches and it has been a very entertaining day!! Can't wait to see what today will bring to us!
I don't get it. Players have to play 5 Bo3 games over 3 (!) days. And then they have to play 3 much longer series with Bo5/Bo7 in a single day?
So it's Day 1 - 4-6 maps Day 2 - 4-6 maps Day 3 for 1st place - 2-3 maps Day 3 for 2/3 places - 5-8 maps ...and then... Day 4 - 10-17 maps in a single day, and these games are harder and more important.
It's more of an endurance test than peak SC2 with top concentration from every player. Why..?
On February 09 2023 17:52 Capitanoano wrote: Elazer Ryung series aside, we've seen a lot of great series yesterday expecially in the final matches and it has been a very entertaining day!! Can't wait to see what today will bring to us!
On February 09 2023 19:04 ZeroByte13 wrote: I don't get it. Players have to play 5 Bo3 games over 3 (!) days. And then they have to play 3 much longer series with Bo5/Bo7 in a single day?
So it's Day 1 - 4-6 maps Day 2 - 4-6 maps Day 3 for 1st place - 2-3 maps Day 3 for 2/3 places - 5-8 maps ...and then... Day 4 - 10-17 maps in a single day, and these games are harder and more important.
It's more of an endurance test than peak SC2 with top concentration from every player. Why..?
Take a step back and look at the total amount of games instead of the games of a specific player. This is a consequence of the amount of days scheduled with games and a focus on fairness between players. Instead of having 2 groups per day, with a day's rest for the first 2 groups, all players are chucked into the playoffs with similar amount of downtime. The possibility of scouting out your opponent is more equal between players as well.
I like code S a lot because of the extremely spread out schedule. The weekend events have a lot of negatives that I weigh more than the negatives of a drawn out event. The long days for the players is only one of them. But this is a consequence of the format. It is impossible to get away from when there are a lot of games to be played.and they are played for the viewers.
The why is easy to answer. The event is made to be played in a weekend. ESL has made it as even as possible for the players.
Old schedule was better, just spread the groups like now then it's fair and maybe make semis bo7 + showmatches before the finals to delay. Having the final day be the longest makes no sense. They only did it for na viewership.
Start time of the last match for each day: Fri 19:00 bo3 Sat 20:30 bo5 Sun 21:30 bo7
Day 1 - group rounds 1 / 2 / 3 = 6-9 maps, for all groups Day 2 - group rounds 4 / 5 = 4-6 maps, for all groups Day 3 - Ro12 and Ro8 (6-10 maps for players who start in Ro12, 3-5 for players who start in Ro8) Day 4 - Ro4 and final (7-12 maps)
Less of a marathon on the last day with the highest stakes. The last day is still the most grueling one even in this scenario, but not as bad as current schedule.
But then again, I guess it's made in a way that is optimal for casters/viewers, not players.
On February 09 2023 21:17 ZeroByte13 wrote: Why not make it like this:
Day 1 - group rounds 1 / 2 / 3 = 6-9 maps, for all groups Day 2 - group rounds 4 / 5 = 4-6 maps, for all groups Day 3 - Ro12 and Ro8 (6-10 maps for players who start in Ro12, 3-5 for players who start in Ro8) Day 4 - Ro4 and final (7-12 maps)
Less of a marathon on the last day with the highest stakes. The last day is still the most grueling one even in this scenario, but not as bad as current schedule.
But then again, I guess it's made in a way that is optimal for casters/viewers, not players.
I mean, this was how they did the DH Valencia tournament. Probably has to do with viewership like someone pointed out, and also the last day is where they perform on the big stage, so they try to milk that out as well.
Also, maybe if the "balance council" was able to practice harder, or making better change to the balance, they probably wouldnt be out so quickly in the Ro36.
Just started watching Starcraft II matches.Wanted to ask, how did they get folks for the Groups? Some people there are from the matches, cause they won the qualifying match. Where did the rest of the folks come from though?
On February 10 2023 22:32 popoSK wrote: Just started watching Starcraft II matches.Wanted to ask, how did they get folks for the Groups? Some people there are from the matches, cause they won the qualifying match. Where did the rest of the folks come from though?
IEM Katowice 2023 is the conclusion of the entire ESL Pro Tour 2022/2023. Over the course of the year, players played multiple tournaments to get points. The better placed players got into the main tournament right away, the rest had to play through the Qualifier. You can look the entire Circuit up here: ESL Pro Tour/2022/23
EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/EPT/Katowice2023/ro36bracket_2.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/EPT/Katowice2023/ro24groups_2.png)
ESL Pro Tour/2022/23
