diff --git a/docker-compose.jsonnet b/docker-compose.jsonnet
index 6c168f5..659c704 100644
--- a/docker-compose.jsonnet
+++ b/docker-compose.jsonnet
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@
   // Channels suffixed with a '!' are considered "important" and will be retried more aggressively
   // and warned about if they're not currently streaming.
   channels:: [],
-  follow_games:: ["Crypt of the Necrodancer"],
 
   // Stream qualities to capture
   qualities:: ["source"],
@@ -190,9 +189,7 @@
     [if $.enabled.downloader then "downloader"]: {
       image: "quay.io/ekimekim/wubloader-downloader:%s" % $.image_tag,
       // Args for the downloader: set channel and qualities
-      command: $.channels + std.flattenArrays([
-        ["--follow-game", game] for game in $.follow_games
-      ]) + [  
+      command: $.channels + [
         "--base-dir", "/mnt",
         "--qualities", std.join(",", $.qualities),
         "--backdoor-port", std.toString($.backdoor_port),
diff --git a/downloader/downloader/main.py b/downloader/downloader/main.py
index 0731fea..9d05ed2 100644
--- a/downloader/downloader/main.py
+++ b/downloader/downloader/main.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import argh
 import gevent
 import gevent.backdoor
 import gevent.event
+import mysql.connector
 import prometheus_client as prom
 import requests
 from monotonic import monotonic
@@ -590,14 +591,15 @@ class SegmentGetter(object):
 			stat.set(max(stat._value.get(), timestamp)) # NOTE: not thread-safe but is gevent-safe
 
 
-@argh.arg('channels', nargs="+", help=
+@argh.arg('channels', nargs="*", help=
 	"Twitch channels to watch. Add a '!' suffix to indicate they're expected to be always up. "
 	"This affects retry interval, error reporting and monitoring."
 )
-@argh.arg('--follow-game', action='append', default=[], type=str,
-	help="Follow given game name and download all channels which stream that game",
+@argh.arg('--league-db', default="necrobot-read:necrobot-read@condor.host/season_9", help=
+	"Connection string for database to check for racers and commentators. "
+	"Should be of form USER:PASSWORD@HOST/DATABASE.",
 )
-def main(channels, base_dir=".", qualities="source", metrics_port=8001, backdoor_port=0, follow_game=None):
+def main(channels, base_dir=".", qualities="source", metrics_port=8001, backdoor_port=0, league_db=None):
 	qualities = qualities.split(",") if qualities else []
 
 	managers = {}
@@ -618,6 +620,14 @@ def main(channels, base_dir=".", qualities="source", metrics_port=8001, backdoor
 	if backdoor_port:
 		gevent.backdoor.BackdoorServer(('127.0.0.1', backdoor_port), locals=locals()).start()
 
+	if league_db:
+		user, rest = league_db.split(':', 1)
+		password, rest = rest.split('@', 1)
+		host, db = rest.split('/', 1)
+		conn = mysql.connector.connect(host=host, user=user, password=password, database=db)
+	else:
+		conn = None
+
 	prev_check = 0
 	CHECK_INTERVAL = 60
 	while workers or not stopping.is_set():
@@ -625,15 +635,32 @@ def main(channels, base_dir=".", qualities="source", metrics_port=8001, backdoor
 			for channel in managers.keys():
 				logging.info("Stopping channel {} for shutdown".format(channel))
 				managers.pop(channel).stop()
-		elif time.time() - prev_check > CHECK_INTERVAL:
-			logging.debug("Checking channels for games: {}".format(follow_game))
+		elif conn and time.time() - prev_check > CHECK_INTERVAL:
+			logging.debug("Checking for new racers")
 			prev_check = time.time()
 			try:
-				game_channels = list(gevent.pool.Group().imap(lambda g: list(twitch.get_channels_for_game(g)), follow_game))
+				cur = conn.cursor()
+				# We're looking for all racers and commentators with an unfinished match
+				# that starts before 5min from now
+				cur.execute("""
+					SELECT
+						racer_1_name,
+						racer_2_name,
+						cawmentator_name
+					FROM match_info
+					WHERE scheduled
+					AND scheduled_time < NOW() + INTERVAL 5 MINUTE
+					AND NOT completed
+				""")
+				channels_from_db = set()
+				for channels in cur.fetchall():
+					# filter out null commentators
+					channels = [channel for channel in channels if channel]
+					channels_from_db |= set(channels)
 			except Exception:
-				logging.warning("Failed to fetch channels for games", exc_info=True)
+				logging.warning("Failed to fetch current races", exc_info=True)
 			else:
-				new_channels = set(channels).union(*game_channels)
+				new_channels = set(channels).union(channels_from_db)
 				old_channels = set(managers.keys())
 				for channel in new_channels - old_channels:
 					logging.info("Adding channel {}".format(channel))
diff --git a/downloader/setup.py b/downloader/setup.py
index 2928579..e527e23 100644
--- a/downloader/setup.py
+++ b/downloader/setup.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ setup(
 		"python-dateutil",
 		"gevent",
 		"monotonic",
+		"mysql-connector-python",
 		"prometheus-client==0.7.1", # locked version as we rely on internals
 		"requests",
 		"wubloader-common",