IEM Katowice 2019 format changes

New seeding rules and Bo3 deciders

IEM Katowice 2019 organizers unveiled the details regarding the format of the major and the new team seeding system. As before, the “New Challengers” and “New Legends” will employ the Swiss system, but the decider fights will see Bo3's instead of Bo1's.

As for seeding, ESL uses the system that was first seen at IEM Chicago 2018. Thus, the participants of the event will be given the opportunity to make their own rating of the teams participating in the competition. The Buchholz system, which was used for the 3-5 rounds at FACEIT Major, will be replaced by the ELO rating system.

Further, the rating of teams will change depending on the results in each individual match: the winners will take some rating from the losing team. At later stages, the organizers of the competition will form pairs, based on the established ratings of the teams.

IEM Katowice 2019 will begin on February 13 from the “New Challengers” stage, where teams that took the 9-14 places on the FACEIT Major, as well as 10 from the qualifying Minor, will clash. Subsequently, 8 of the best teams from the "New Challengers" will make it into the "New Legends". NAVI will start from this stage. Its beginning is scheduled for February 20th. We believe that our guys will spend the time they have wisely, and achieve a positive result in the Major tournament! #NAVINATION