IEM Sydney preview

IEM Sydney 2023 is a $250.000 CS2 event scheduled to take place between October 16 – 22. This will be the first Counter-Strike 2 tournament and should give us a much better idea of how the teams perform in the new edition of Counter-Strike.

Every year, we get to enjoy one Sydney event organized by ESL, and the Australian fans always make the best of it. This time, the country will be represented by two teams: Grayhound Gaming and VERTEX Esports Club.

Their mission will be extremely difficult because of the teams they’ll have to compete against and the format in which the event will be played.

🇦🇺 Have you ever? Ever felt like this? 🇦🇺

🚨 ANNOUNCING: #IEM SYDNEY 2023! 🚨

📅 OCTOBER 20 – 22
🎟️ TICKETS ON SALE THURSDAY ARVO
👊 GET AMONGST IT pic.twitter.com/5VuOoMP3vJ

— ESL Australia (@ESLAustralia) June 20, 2023

IEM Sydney participants

The 16 teams who will take part in IEM Sydney are listed below:

Group A

• Team Vitality
• BetBoom Team
• FaZe Clan
• GamerLegion
• Natus Vincere
• Apeks
• VERTEX ESC
• MOUZ

Group B

• ENCE
• Lynn Vision
• Cloud9
• Fnatic
• Monte
• Complexity
• Grayhound
• G2 Esports

As you can see, both groups are full of world-class teams and only six of them in total will advance to the playoffs. This means that a top 3 is required for anyone who wants to get the opportunity to play in the big arena, in front of the fans.

In group A, the battle will take place between MOUZ, Vitality, Na’Vi, and FaZe. Three of these four teams are almost guaranteed of qualifying.

In group B, G2, ENCE, and Monte seem to be the favorites, but Cloud9, Complexity, and even Fnatic also have a good chance to qualify.

Competitive format

IEM Sydney uses the standard 16/6 format. For the group stage, the competitors are divided into two groups of eight. Each group uses a double-elimination format. The opening matches are Bo1. The rest of the matches are Bo3. Teams who manage to win their first two matches are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

In the playoffs, the format is single-elimination. The group winners advance directly to the semifinals. The other four teams need to fight in the quarterfinals for a chance to play in the semis.

This is a very tough format but it’s exciting to watch. It doesn’t always produce the most fair results, because a team that might be really versatile and strong against most opponents risks running into its nemesis early on, which usually results in disappointment.

Other esports events give teams the chance to play a round-robin, which is a much better format, but we won’t get to see that here.

Header: ESL