We’ve made the decision to play Intel Extreme Masters Katowice: StarCraft II online with players remaining in their homes for cross-region play. After consulting with players and authorities regarding requirements for travel and comfort levels this is our best way forward to continue the competition.
To account for online play we’ve made several adjustments to the tournament. Players will now compete for a prize pool of $250,000, with the remaining prize that was set for the event to be spread across qualifier, regional, and season final events in the next two seasons of ESL Pro Tour SC2 ending at IEM Katowice 2023. This prize will remain in the regular ecosystem and be attainable to those participating in the coming months and years.
To adapt to the changing landscape the schedule will be adjusted to play on February 20-28. These three additional days are added to account for schedules around the world to allow players to compete at more comfortable times in their local time.
Following the event we will still proceed with resetting yearly EPT points in order to begin the ESL Pro Tour SC2 2021-22 season fresh, using the yearly total for invitations and seeding only for the first event, following our planned off-season. During this period we will continue with our regularly weekly ESL Open Cups however no EPT points will be awarded for them.
