After a prestigious Top 4 at IEM PyeongChang, the StarCraft II tournament that opened the Winter Olympic Games 2018, the Zerg Polish player Mikolaj ‘Elazer’ Ogonowski will try to get the most of an home court advantage at IEM Katowice 2018.

The tournament started on  February 26th with Ro76 and it will end on March 4th, when the last man standing will get his hands to the trophy, gaining a hefty $150.000 and 3.000 WCS Points.

Let the champ speak up!

Elazer worked very hard – as usual – for this IEM Katowice. StarCraft II is a skill-intensive game, where you can’t leave anything to chance: “I want to win. I’ve been training a lot and I feel in good shape – Mikolaj told – In these first few months as a QLASH player I’ve come to learn that being ready both mentally and physically is of the utmost importance”.

Mikolaj is in Group D and he will play on Friday 2nd. His group will be a tough group: from ‘HeRoMaRinE’ to ‘Classic’, from ‘Trap’ to ‘Ryung’, not to mention Kim ‘sOs’ Yoo Jin, defeated by Sasha ‘Scarlett’ Hostyn in the final match of IEM PyeongChang.

“This will be a further incentive to perform good, because ‘sOs’ is one of those players who made the history of StarCraft II. Too bad that Scarlett didn’t qualify for IEM Katowice: I’d like to face her again and take my revenge, since she knocked me out of IEM PyeongChang in our semifinal match”.

IEM Katowice: the tournament

Ro24  – 4 groups of 6 players each – will be played on Thursday 1st (Group A and B) and Friday 2nd (Group C and D), with a round robin Best of 3 format that let the best three players advance to Ro12 (Saturday 3rd).

Ro12 will be a single elimination bracket Best of 5 with the 2nd and 3rd best players of each Ro24 groups; the winners of each respective group will advance directly to the quarterfinals.

Semifinals and Grind Final will be played live from Spodek Arena on Sunday 4th, with a Best of 7 format.

IEM Katowice: prizepool

1st: $150.000 & 3.000 WCS Points
2nd: $65.000 & 2.100 WCS Points
3rd - 4th: $25.000 & 1.350 WCS Points
5th - 8th: $10.000 & 900 WCS Points
9th - 12th: $5.000 & 450 WCS Points
13th - 16th: $3.000 & 150 WCS Points
17th - 20th: $2.500 & 150 WCS Points
21st - 24th: $2.000 & 150 WCS Points
25th - 28th: $1.550 & 75 WCS Points
29th - 36th: $1.250 & 75 WCS Points
37th - 44th: $900 & 75 WCS Points
45th - 60th: $600