SK Gaming and FaZe Clan are Invited to IEM Sydney 2018

ESL revealed the first two teams that received direct invites to participate in their upcoming event in Australia – IEM Sydney 2018. These teams are none other than SK Gaming and FaZe Clan.

This May Qudos Bank Arena will again host the biggest esports event in Australia – a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament with a $250,000 prize pool presented by ESL and Intel. Both SK Gaming and FaZe Clan participated in the previous IEM Sydney event, which took place in May 2017. Then these teams faced each other in the grand finals, with SK Gaming beating their opponents 3-1 and securing their first place.

This time the number of participating teams was doubled (from 8 to 16), the prize pool was increased by $50,000 (from $200,000 to $250,000). The tournament’s format was also changed: now 16 participating teams will start their competition in two GSL groups, with the best team from each group advancing directly to the semifinals, while the teams placed 2nd and 3rd will make it to the quarterfinals. In the playoffs the teams will play best-of-three regular matches and best-of-five grand finals, which is rather unusual for Counter-Strike. The group stage will take place on May 1-3, while the playoffs will be held from May 4 to May 6.