The group draw for ESL One Katowice has taken place, with the 16 participants having been drawn into four groups.

From March 12-15, 16 teams from all over the world will lock horns in the fifth community-funded major tournament in the history of CS:GO, with $250,000 up for grabs.

Eight teams - called legends - received direct invitations to the tournament after reaching the playoffs in the last major, DreamHack Winter, while the remaining participating sides - known as challengers - came from the offline qualifier that took place in Katowice two weeks ago.

Each group features two legends and two challengers, who will face-off in a double-elimination stage. The top two sides from each group will advance to the playoffs.
DH Winter champions EnVyUs have been drawn alongside fellow countrymen Titan in a group that also features PENTA and LGB, while NiP, who will attend the event with Aleksi "allu" Jalli as a ringer, will take on HellRaisers, Counter Logic Gaming and the former KaBuM team, now known as Keyd Stars.

Virtus.pro, who won the last edition of ESL One Katowice, will have to fend off competition from Team SoloMid, Cloud9 and 3DMAX, whereas fnatic will tackle Na`Vi, Vox Eminor and FlipSid3 Tactics.

Below you can find the draw in full:

Group A

- Na'Vi
- Fnatic
- Vox Eminor
- Flipsid3 tactics

Group B

- EnVyUs
- PENTA Sports
- LGB eSports
- Titan

Group C

- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- HellRaisers
- CLG
- Keyd Stars (Ex-KaBuM)

Group D

- Virtus.Pro
- Team SoloMid
- Cloud9
- 3DMAX

/Source: HLTV.org

Ninjas in Pyjamas have announced that they have secured the services of Aleksi "allu" Jalli for ESL One Katowice.

The Finnish talent has joined NiP on a short-term deal with a view to signing a permanent contract should he manage to impress at the upcoming major next month.

He had been playing for NiP as a stand-in in the last week and was favoured over Marcus "Delpan" Larsson, who also played for the team on trial.

Aleksi "allu" Jalli, who will step into the shoes of Mikail "Maikelele" Bill, is already at NiP's mansion, in Halmstad, as the Swedish giants are preparing for the event in Katowice.

"Firstly, I have to say that allu is a player that I have been impressed with for quite some time, and it is going to be fun to see what he can bring to the table," NiP owner Emil "HeatoN" Christensen told Aftonbladet.se.

"Moreover, I want to thank 3DMAX, on the behalf of myself and the team, for making the transition run smoothly by acting as true professionals throughout the process.

"I want to wish allu the best of luck with NiP and 3DMAX all the best for the future."

NiP will attend ESL one Katowice with:

- Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund
- Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg
- Richard "Xizt" Landström
- Adam "friberg" Friberg
- Aleksi "allu" Jalli

/Source: HLTV.org

KaBuM's players have parted ways with the organisation ahead of ESL One Katowice, the organisation has announced.

The Brazilian team booked their place at the upcoming $250,000 major via the offline qualifier, where they defeated INSHOCK and dignitas after losing to mousesports in the first round of the tournament.

During the qualifier, Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo stated that the team would try to fly back to Katowice one week before the major to prepare for the tournament, which left fans scratching their heads as the players had only been able to fly to Poland because of a crowdfunding campaign.
After it was rumoured that the players were considering their options to be able to attend ESL One Katowice, KaBuM confirmed last night that the team are in talks with other organisations.

After returning to Brazil, FalleN contacted KaBuM claiming that the sponsorship contract should be amended because the fees paid monthly were no longer enough for the team to be able to participate in the tournaments they wished to attend," a statement from KaBuM reads.

"KaBuM, however, responded by saying that this information was not accurate because the sum of the fees paid by KaBuM and Target Down would be enough to pay for the trips in question.

"At this moment, FalleN claimed he never got a dime from Target Down and, as such, the team would need to receive this additional fee - but they wanted this figure to be paid by KaBuM, since he had 'not been involved in the agreement with Target Down'.

"The question we raised was: how was there no involvement from him with Target Down, since FalleN orchestrated, coordinated, presented and executed the merge between the two teams? KaBuM never met or discussed terms with Target Down, since we only sponsored the players.

"At this moment, FalleN also informed us that the players were already looking for another sponsor in case we did not accept to pay the monthly fee that the other organisation was not paying. But, again much to our surprise, not to replace Target Down but to replace KaBuM (who respected all the clauses in the contracts and paid everything in time).

"Today, February 23, after talking to FalleN, we were informed that the contract will not be renewed and that the players are already negotiating with another organisation.

"We also received a lot of criticism from fans who said we "did not invest" in CS:GO because the prizes were low. We would like to point out that this is not relevant to our organisation because we did not get a percentage from the tournament winnings of our FPS team.

"We will continue investing in tbe Brazilian FPS scene and, soon, we will announce more details about this new project.

The Brazilian team, who are currently known as Games Academy until a new organisation is found, have:

- Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo
- Fernando "fer" Alvarenga
- Lucas "steel" Lopes
- Caio "zqk" Fonseca
- Ricardo "boltz" Prass

Source / HLTV.org

3DMAX star Aleksi "allu" Jalli will be a ringer for Ninjas in Pyjamas in tonight's FACEIT League 2015 match against Titan.

NiP are currently in the market for a new fifth player after deeming that Mikail "Maikelele" Bill lacks the necessary experience to succeed on an international level, four months after he was brought in as a replacement for Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson.

Marcus "Delpan" Larsson was the first player that NiP tried out officially, with fans certainly left disappointed to see the team record just one victory from five matches with the former SK Gaming and fnatic member as a stand-in.

For FACEIT League 2015's opening match, against Titan, NiP will be taking a close look at Finnish star Aleksi "allu" Jalli, who recently joined 3DMAX after being released from mousesports.

NiP will feature the following line-up against Titan tonight:

Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund
Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg
Richard "Xizt" Landström
Adam "friberg" Friberg
Aleksi "allu" Jalli (stand-in)

/Source: HLTV.org