FaZe win marathon IEM Katowice 2022 Grand Final

IEM Katowice 2022, the first major Counter-Strike event of the year ended with FaZe taking down G2 in a showstopper of a Grand Final in the Spodek Arena. Here’s what happened at the event, including the full schedule, results, and how the final went down.

• FaZe wins OT-packed Grand Final match against G2 3-0
• G2 fly past NAVI 2-0 to secure first Grand Finals spot
• FaZe take down Heroic 2-0 to face G2 in finals

IEM Katowice might not be a Major, but it’s still one of Counter-Strike’s biggest events. Returning to Poland again for 2022, 24 teams duked it out for a share of $1 million ⁠— including $400,000 for the winners.

All the big names were there, and the action was definitely intense. Here’s all you need to know about IEM Katowice 2022, including full results, teams participating, and how the Grand Final went down.

Contents

• Recap
• Schedule & results
• Final placements
• Teams

IEM Katowice 2022: Recap

Following the Group Stages, eventual champs FaZe were forced to play with stand-in jks in place of Rain for the entire knockout portion. However, they made quick work of Gambit, taking them down 2-0. On the other side of the bracket G2 also made quick work of Virtus.Pro, also winning 2-0.

The semis were full of even more sweeps. FaZe would get past Heroic unscathed with a 2-0 score, and G2 pulled off the upset against NAVI with their own 2-0 sweep.

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This set up the FaZe vs G2 Grand Final, and despite finishing with a score of 3-0 in FaZe’s favor, it was a much closer match than that.

On the second map Mirage, the two teams would slog it out in more than 50 rounds of Counter-Strike for a map that ended up lasting over 2 hours in total. FaZe would end up winning 31-27 in one of the most memorable matches in recent CS history.

After that, Dust II seemed to fly by with FaZe wrapping things up 16-14, and an emotional karrigan raised the Katowice trophy along with the rest of his teammates.

IEM Katowice 2022: schedule & results

Playoffs: February 25 ⁠— February 27

Day 1: February 25

Day 2: February 26

Day 3: February 27

Group Stage: February 17 ⁠— February 20

Day 1: February 17

Day 2: February 18

Day 3: February 19

Day 4: February 20

Play-Ins: February 15 ⁠— February 16

Day 1: February 15

Day 2: February 16

Qualified teams: CPH Flames, Astralis, OG, FaZe, MOUZ, NIP, ENCE, Fnatic

IEM Katowice 2022: Final placements

IEM Katowice 2022: Teams

24 teams descended on the Spodek for IEM Katowice 2022. They were split into two seeds ⁠— eight teams going right through to the Main Event, and 16 teams who had to tackle the Play-In gauntlet.

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NAVI, Gambit, G2 Esports, and Vitality pushed through to the Main Event, and so did Liquid. However, names like Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis, and MIBR started in the Play-Ins.

Stephanie Lindgren / PGL

s1mple’s NAVI are hot favorites for IEM Katowice 2022.

You can find the full list of teams who played at IEM Katowice 2022 below.

Teams qualified for Play-ins

Note: Due to multiple infection cases, TYLOO and Complexity withdrew from the event. They were replaced by Sprout and Movistar Riders.

Note 2: FaZe’s Robin ‘ropz’ Kool and MOUZ’s Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras have tested positive ahead of the event. Complexity benched player Justin ‘jks’ Savage will step in for FaZe, while MOUZ have brought in academy player Jon ‘JDC’ de Castro for the event.

Teams qualified for Group stage