ESL Challenger Katowice Groups announced

ESL have announced the groups for their next Challenger level LAN in Katowice. Originally scheduled to take place at the DreamHack Hannover event, the cancellation of the DreamHack event caused ESL to have to change the location for their tournament. With $100,000 on the line and some serious competition it will be a great chance for Party Astronauts to get experience against EU opposition and for paiN it provides them a serious opportunity to turn their recent form into silverware.

Group A will be where Party Astronauts find themselves. The team features the core of the EG.White squad, who got very limited gametime while with the Blueprint organization. Joining that core in Katowice will be Connor "chop" Sullivan, who was a member of the EG.Black side until November 2022, and Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk. Joining them in their group will be arguably the two favorites for the trophy in ENCE and Virtus.Pro, with the South African underdogs Bravado rounding out the group.

Group A

• ENCE

• Virtus.Pro

• Party Astronauts

• Bravado

Group B will be the home for adopted NA side paiN, with the Brazilians having much higher expectations than their regional compatriots. paiN have had a great run of form since IEM Katowice after which Rodrigo "biguzera" Bittencourt took over the IGL duties and Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato was brought back into the fold. The impressive run saw them make the second round of playoffs in ESL Pro League Season 17 after beating Liquid 2-0, a second place finish in BLAST Premier Spring Showdown North America where they again beat Liquid and winning the ESEA Cash Cup 7 over Nouns. paiN will be joined by FORZE, ECSTATIC and South American team 9z which on paper looks like a very winnable group for the Brazilian team.

Group B

• FORZE

• ECSTATIC

• 9z

• paiN