Group Stage Draw for IEM Shanghai Revealed

ESL have revealed the group stage draw for their upcoming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event IEM Season XIII Shanghai, where eight teams will compete for their share of a $250,000 prize pool.

The event will begin on August 1st and continue till August 6th. It will be held at Shanghai New International Expo Center. The line-up consists of eight teams, five of them accepted direct invites from the organizers – Gambit Esports, HellRaisers, NRG Esports, TyLoo, Virtus.pro, while the other three teams made it through the regional qualifiers – 5Power Gaming (China), B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape (Asia), Grayhound Gaming (Oceania). The group stage, which will take place on August 1-3, will follow the GSL format with best-of-three matches. The teams were seeded into groups as follows:

In the opening matches of Group A NRG Esports will face 5Power Gaming, while HellRaisers will play with Virtus.pro. In Group B Gambit Esports will compete with B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape, while Grayhound Gaming will play with TyLoo. The group stage will determine four participants of the playoffs stage, which will be held on August 4-6. Top two teams from each group will compete in a single-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches.