IEM Cologne 2022 talent lineup announced

The talent lineup for Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2022 has been announced by ESL. For fans of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, there aren’t many surprises in the IEM Cologne talent lineup, with the exception of a couple new faces.

The IEM Cologne talent lineup is as follows:

• Tres “stunna” Saranthus — Desk Host
• Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere — Desk Host
• Jasmine “Veracity” Kanuga — Desk Host
• Sudhen “Bleh” Wahengbam — Analyst
• Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez — Analyst
• Janko “YNk” Paunović — Analyst
• Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg — Analyst
• Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill — Caster
• Alex “Machine” Richardson — Caster
• Jason “moses” O’Toole — Caster
• Anders Blume — Caster
• Harry “JustHarry” Russell — Caster
• Hugo Byron — Caster
• Adam “Dinko” Hawthorne — Caster
• Alex “Hawka” Hawkins — Caster
• Jamie “TheEternalJay” Martin— Caster
• Joshua “Dweg” Nathan — Caster
• Freya “Freya” Spiers — Sideline
• Oliver James Borg “OJ Borg” D’Anastasi — Stage Host
• James Banks — Stage Host/Sideline
• Pala “Pala” Gilroy Sen — In Arena Experience

Barring any unexpected changes, the casting pairs for Cologne will be SPUNJ/Machine, moses/Anders, Harry/Hugo, Dinko/Hawka and EternalJay/Dweg. Based on previous events, the headline playoffs matches will be cased by the first three pairs, who boast years of experience casting ESL events.

Veracity is one of the newest faces on the lineup for most CS:GO fans. She’s previously worked as a desk host for the ESL Impact circuit, including the Season 1 finals in Dallas, and other ESL Challenger tournaments.

Cologne also marks another CS:GO event for Sjokz, who built her name in the League of Legends esports scene. She returned to Counter-Strike with PGL Major Antwerp 2022, acting as desk host for the Valve-sponsored major.

IEM Cologne runs from July 5-17 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. Twenty-four of the world’s best CS:GO teams will battle it out for their share of the $1 million prize pool. The event, a Masters championship, is one of the biggest in the ESL Pro Tour, one of the biggest esports circuits in CS:GO.