IEM Sydney viewer's guide

2-5-2017 14:55

With the ~$200,000 event in Australia set to start tomorrow, HLTV.org brings you a viewer's guide for IEM Sydney 2017, with the information about the teams, talent and schedule all in one place.

Eight teams will be competing in the tournament Down Under from May 3-7, six teams that received invites and two regional ones that got their spots at the event through online qualifiers.

FaZe and North could face off again in Sydney

ESL invited some of the world's top teams to the event, with FaZe, Astralis and SK all in attendance, but the tournament will also feature the home crowd favorites Renegades, the up-and-coming Aussies Chiefs and ViCi who will LAN debut their current roster in Sydney.

The full team list is as follows:

SK	Renegades
OpTic	North
Astralis	FaZe
ViCi	Chiefs

IEM Sydney 2017 will feature a BO1 Swiss system group stage, similar to the one we saw at ESL One New York, with the top four teams advancing to the playoffs.

The group stage will take place on the first two days, May 3-4, and after a day off, the action will move to the Qudos Bank Arena for the playoffs that will feature BO3 semi-finals and a BO5 grand final.

The schedule is available below:

Wednesday, May 3rd
05:00	North	vs. OpTic	BO1
06:10	SK	vs. ViCi	BO1
07:20	Astralis	vs. Chiefs	BO1
08:30	FaZe	vs. Renegades	BO1
09:40	Swiss Round 2 Match 1		BO1
10:50	Swiss Round 2 Match 2		BO1
12:00	Swiss Round 2 Match 3		BO1
13:10	Swiss Round 2 Match 4		BO1

Thursday, May 4th
05:00	Swiss Round 3 Match 1		BO1
06:10	Swiss Round 3 Match 2		BO1
07:20	Swiss Round 3 Match 3		BO1
08:30	Swiss Round 3 Match 4		BO1
09:40	Swiss Round 4 Match 1		BO1
10:50	Swiss Round 4 Match 2		BO1
12:00	Swiss Round 4 Match 3		BO1
13:00	Swiss Round 5 Match 1		BO1
14:20	Swiss Round 5 Match 2*		BO1
	*If required

Saturday, May 6th
07:00	Semi-Final #1		BO3
10:50	Semi-Final #2		BO3

Sunday, May 7th
05:00	Showmatch
07:00	Grand Final		BO5

To broadcast and break-down the action, ESL hired a mixture of well-known CS:GO personalities and local talent.

IEM Sydney 2017's broadcast will feature the following crew:

OJ Borg - Stage Host
Miles Ross - Reporter

Mitch "Uber" Leslie - Desk Host
Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill - Analyst
Iain "⁠SnypeR⁠" Turner - Analyst
Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović - Analyst

Matt "Sadokist" Trivett - Commentator
Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer - Commentator
Lauren "Pansy" Scott - Commentator
Jason "⁠moses⁠" O'Toole - Commentator

Michael "⁠MC⁠" Campagna - Observer
James "FiishyD" Dolphin - Observer

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

2017-05-02 14:56

17 replies

Starts at 5am gg

2017-05-02 14:57

12 replies

its good for me cuz i can watch in school xd

2017-05-02 14:59

5am in what time zone?

2017-05-02 15:06

2 replies

Cest

2017-05-02 15:07

1 reply

Thank you

2017-05-02 15:08

First time I will get to experience a tournament that isn't during the middle of the night. Let us have this one would you?

2017-05-02 16:21

7 replies

u are 100% right

2017-05-02 16:23

Can finally have a night where we can grab some drinks, pizza and KFC and watch a match that isn't at 2am

2017-05-02 16:35

Ye, as I'm really annoyed when this happen, I know the struggle, hope you'll enjoy the tournament!

2017-05-03 12:23

Enjoy!

2017-05-02 18:10

2017-05-02 18:11

SK's game at 1am ow fock It must be hard for australians csgo fans to watch events

2017-05-02 18:50

You have no idea mate :')

2017-05-04 01:11

SK VS RENEGADES... EZ FOR RENEGADES 16-0.. kappa but it should be ez for SK, my bet at this point is, then SK will win it, maybe FaZe, but astralis will loose at semi final. Have a nice day

2017-05-02 15:42

Starts Wednesday the 4th not 3rd

2017-05-02 16:27

Lol wednesday is the 3rd smfh

2017-05-02 17:03

Wednesday the 3rd btw

2017-05-02 17:22

nice one

yes vari nice times)))) eksdee

ez faze

ez 4 vici

FaZeUP bois

Good time for EU Kappa

Impossible to watch, fucking timezone. What a fuking place to do a tournament

You're like a stupid little girl who complains about everything. You don't understand that everyone in Australia and New Zealand have to stay up at 3am - 9am depending on where the tournament is located. Which is fit for everyone in EU and NA. But as soon as we get a chance to watch a tournament that all Australians and New Zealanders can watch, stupid retards like you start complaining. It's pretty funny cause now you have to experience what we have to every time we want to watch a tournament in a different country.

2017-05-02 16:22

He has every right, and understandable. The AU/NZ scene is tiny compared to EU/NA. The viewership numbers are gonna hurt big time for IEM. Plus not a single game here fits when anyone in EU/NA are either off work or even awake. Staying up to 3 AM is 20x easier than staying up to 5 AM or wake oneself up at 5 AM. I say that as someone who has done both.

2017-05-02 21:07

wow look at big shot over here who has stayed up to 5am as well as woke up at 5am. He even applied his completely subjective scale of "20x" to illustrate his point of why AU should never have an event.

2017-05-02 23:56

Can you all shut your mouths for 1 tournament? Australians have to watch games between 12am-7am all the time, but one tourney in our country and all you can do is fucking whinge

no one fucking care about NA or AU,cs its based on EU,fuck off AU

2017-05-02 16:30

lul mad kangaroos are mad

2017-05-02 16:48

We aren't really mad. You're mad because you; for the first time, can't watch a tournament.

2017-05-03 23:39

Viewers guide when only Chinks and Kangaroos can view LUL

Cant wait for the cream and butter casting duo

2017-05-02 14:58

Guys u know, that its ezzzz for astralis and sk

only 12 kangaroos watching this rip na and eu viewers

2017-05-02 15:00

Gave sk a easy start.. shuda vs astralis.. 1st Astralis 2nd/3rd Faze/sk 4th/5th North/optic 6th/7th Vici/renegades 8th chiefs

Why do you want astralis to get rekt on their first game?

2017-05-03 00:14

Now all the butthurt EU and NA kids see how we feel during 80% of tournaments :))

2017-05-02 15:01

10 replies

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ i feel so powerful :D

2017-05-02 15:03

haha

2017-05-02 15:05

Atleast i have stuff to do at school Now and ill have problem getting up at 5 am

2017-05-02 16:03

I don't feel butthurt.

2017-05-02 15:10

+1 finally I can wake up at a normal time and see all the games at a normal hour.

2017-05-02 15:15

It's a good day for Asian/Australian fans

2017-05-02 15:34

lol who cares about this event the players said they only went to go to Australia once

2017-05-02 15:37

True story

2017-05-02 15:48

Woo

Faze vs. SK in final - unless they meet each other before Astralis 3-4 together with North.

2017-05-02 15:02

fucking timezone +999 Impossible to watch for Brazil, USA and EU

3 replies

Thank god

2017-05-02 15:04

LUL

I'm not saying that I don't like Australia, but this time zone will drop so many viewers

2017-05-02 15:17

Rip me watching this, first game starts at midnight, and it ends at 5 in the morning.... Welp

6 replies

story of our life 90% of the time. Try and be happy for us that we can get a normal experience for once.

5 replies

Its not out problem that the asian/australian scene dont have any good team :/

2017-05-02 16:05

the argument isn't about whether we have good teams or not. It's true our scene is much smaller. But the general viewership here has suffered the NA/EU timing for most tournaments. I don't blame ESL/Dreamhack, I understand that viewership is most definitely higher in NA/EU. But I'm just trying to appreciate that we can finally enjoy at least one event where we aren't time fucked.

2017-05-02 16:10

Whilst you express your grattitude the countries that make up 99% of the playerbase and viewerbase will be complaining. As they have just as much right to do so.

2017-05-02 21:10

IMo having a weak scene is not the only reason , but the fact that AU is in the midle of FUCKING NOWHERE IN THE OCEAN MAYBE IS A GOOD FACTOR M8

2017-05-02 21:19

that's why am saying "rip me", maybe on finals day they could put in a more friendly time, but again, i'm not complaining

2017-05-05 23:13

yess, an event starting in the afternoon, finally

worse than fucking NA

one thing is for sure: na will get STOMPED once again xd

2017-05-02 15:09

YNk o/

2017-05-02 15:11

I'm just curious about this showmatch..

guys please there are tournaments like every week wtf are you want?

2017-05-02 15:14

07:00 for the finals XDDD

2017-05-02 15:19

Ez 4 fazeuppe

2017-05-02 15:24

nice time for matches xDDDD

2017-05-02 15:26

hope its good

2017-05-02 15:27

easy for faze sk out in semis as usual

07:00 Grand Final BO5 WTF

2017-05-02 15:31

This could fix my sleeping schedule atleast

2017-05-02 15:32

My school starts at 8:00. Now ill have stuff to do over there with a B05 :D

2017-05-02 16:07

No Anders&Semmler no fun

Worst caster I dont want hear they voice and semler just scream like kiddo

2017-05-02 15:46

Cry is free

2017-05-02 15:53

Guys do anyone know what is this show match all about ?

Fucking group stage at 06:00 a.m. & grand final bo5 at 08:00 a.m. fuck you kangaroos! At least you stuck with Pansy as a commentator HAHAHAHA some relief lol!

2017-05-02 15:43

Grand final SK vs Renegades 0:16 0:16 0:16,ez for aussie cs

2017-05-02 15:39

2 ez 4 karrigan, niko, allu, rain, kio and robban

2017-05-02 15:40

Pansy no :( i h8 that voice

i hope she doesnt get semi finals/finals

2017-05-02 15:47

i hope not :S

2017-05-02 15:56

Her and Moses will probably her both semis

2017-05-02 16:09

I like staying up to watch cs e.g. West Coast NA but there's no chance im getting up this early. There's only 4 good teams so i guess im not missing much anyway.

2017-05-02 15:45

11:00 am so good

Start 10.00 Am in here

2017-05-02 15:51

best time zone eu

2017-05-02 16:06

start 05:00 ? omg................

2017-05-02 16:11

can't wait to see our best team get smashed in front of our home crowd

Heh... You think they make it to the crowd...

EZ rng vs chiefs finals

2017-05-02 18:40

RNG 16-0 SK

2017-05-02 16:17

I have two exams tomorrow, I can't stay up to watch the North game, fuck!

2017-05-02 16:18

its called a VOD crazy technology

2017-05-02 16:34

I want to see it L I V E It's not like I won't watch the VOD but I'll already know the score :(

don't look at the score before you watch it :o

2017-05-02 16:36

4 replies

It'll be hard

2017-05-02 16:37

No it's not. Just don't come here. For example, I still don't know that Princess Leia died.

2017-05-02 17:33

>not coming to HLTV >being me CHOOSE ONE :*(

2017-05-02 17:34

you can do it friend

2017-05-02 17:41

worst time possible for brazilian viewers. Matches from 00:00 to 08:00.

Ye but that's us 99% of the time anyway so like Ah well a couple of late nights won't kill ya.

I'm not even mad. I will try to watch it as much as I can.

2017-05-02 16:28

Buy yourself a couple of energy drinks and binge it late night on a big screen.

2017-05-02 16:31

some1 ppl have school

2017-05-02 16:32

Shut up about time zone and put up with it for once in fucking 3 years.

Let's go BRAZIL, my team, my pride, my SK! We smart, we loyal, we friendly, we are from BRAZIL! Kreygasm

too ez for faze

SK vs Renegades (Online 0-16 Pro league season 4) SK vs Renegades (ON LAN 16-0 ELEAGUE season 1) So... This is LAN: 16-0 SK

2017-05-02 16:29

amtV? No Freeman? VICI?

same time zone I love Australia <3

2017-05-02 16:43

2017-05-02 16:50

Miss Havoc #RIPBEARD

2017-05-02 16:51

I'm happy for the aussies. Ppl should just suck it up for once and stop whining. We get plenty of other events at normal hours

2017-05-02 16:53

That's exactly right, most tournaments for us start at around 3am and go until 9am in the morning. Good to see that there are good people out there who are happy for us <3

2017-05-02 18:16

<3 nohomo

2017-05-02 19:37

ez vg

2017-05-02 16:56

I'll watch the whole Event as a workless 24/7 nolifer and german.

2017-05-02 17:08

Gud

2017-05-02 17:28

shittiest timezone ever... It starts at midnight and ends at 8am... gg

2017-05-02 17:49

boring tournament just because of the time

2017-05-02 18:28

Final at 2 a.m is really nice, considering I have to wake up @ 6... But still, that's like, the best event in cs:go for asians because of the time. I hope they enjoy it, but I see viewership dropping harder than my Math grades

2017-05-02 18:39