IEM Sydney invites revealed

9-8-2023 10:29

Eight of the current top 10 teams are slated to travel to the Australian event in two months' time.

IEM Cologne winners G2 will attend IEM Sydney in October

ESL has announced the list of teams invited to compete at IEM Sydney. Seven teams have been invited as partners with the tournament organizers, four more via their standing in the ESL Ranking, and one ticket went to local heroes Grayhound.

The most notable omissions from the list of invites are current No. 1 team HEROIC and Astralis, whose standing in the ESL Ranking made them eligible for a direct invite, which they have declined.

Otherwise, eight of the current top 10 teams according to HLTV and two more from the top 15 will be in attendance, including IEM Cologne champions G2, IEM Dallas winners ENCE, BLAST.tv Paris Major winners Vitality, ESL Pro League S17 winners FaZe, and the new lineups of Natus Vincere, MOUZ, Cloud9, GamerLegion, Monte, and fnatic.

Qualifiers in Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania will determine the last five teams who will attend the $250,000 event taking place on October 16-12.

EU qualifier

NA qualifier

Asia qualifier

Oceania qualifier

Gamerlegion and monte still this high in the ranking wtf?

2023-08-09 10:29

28 replies

what wrong with monte? Lose to Heroic and Cloud9 it's okay :) But GamerLegion..

2023-08-09 10:32

23 replies

nothing wrong with them, it's just in my eyes I still see them as a tier 2 team and would've loved for another t1 team to have gone, edit looking at it now all the t1 teams pretty much got invited liquid or nip may have been great but tbf they are on the same level as monte or worse.

2023-08-09 10:59

15 replies

monte has been looking like a tier 1 team lol, definitely welcomed imo, idk who else to even invite?

2023-08-09 11:02

7 replies

yea neither, i guess the invite was warranted considering how bad all the others team are rn.

2023-08-09 11:07

2 replies

Heroic and Astralis seemed to have denied their invites so...

2023-08-09 12:26

Brands don't play the game. Actual players do

2023-08-09 13:46

at least heroic

2023-08-09 12:05

1 reply

They refused

2023-08-09 12:14

Tier 1 teams like furia, Imperial and mibr. This event already is a flop with those L invites

2023-08-10 20:59

monte better than all of those

2023-08-10 21:53

Grayhound is invited, you see them as T1?

2023-08-09 11:25

3 replies

Grayhound doesn't count in that discussion, I think we can all agree - its IEM Sydney, and they want a home team there. That's fine and expected, regardless where they are placed

2023-08-09 11:38

god no, I honestly don't think they should be invited and should go through the AU qualifier, there shouldn't be 2 AU teams at an event of this caliber we have Dreamhack Melbourne for that

2023-08-09 14:01

The only real T1 left is Heroic, we can argue about Liquid or Astralis who are in good form but I don't know who else is missing.

2023-08-09 11:37

monte are decent, this event is stacked for what and where it is

2023-08-09 11:57

Stop going by name and look at performances of the teams instead.

But GL what ? They finished higher than Monte in Cologne

2023-08-09 10:58

GL lost to monte and c9, so not bad as well

2023-08-09 11:56

How is GL worse? They also lost to C9, at a later stage. Sure they lost opener to Monte, big woff. First game with new team (new IGL as well) so doesn’t really say much. They also played a much closer game with C9 than Monte did. Stop watching with your flag and see reality.

2023-08-09 12:19

Anonymo is calling to tell you what exactly

2023-08-09 12:42

Gl was doing pretty well considering they won against teams like mongolz and fnatic.

2023-08-09 14:03

Are you dumb o dumb?

2023-08-09 18:02

Gamerlegion got a way better position in IEM COLOGNE compared to Monte so idk what are you smoking

2023-08-09 19:55

gamerlegion had a 7-8th finish at cologne, make sense they are still top10

2023-08-09 10:33

Pretty much. And overall, they played solid CS, and still very much have showed that they belong, so I hope they manage to amass some points to stick around for a while. Nothing bad in some different teams earning it and getting a chance to show what they can do.

2023-08-09 12:33

gamerlegion finished in top8, monte in top12 in cologne, that's what gave them last bit of points needed to qualify for example apeks didn't get invite

It's a point based system, could be that they are consistently in playoffs of late (but goes out directly) while a big team like Faze or Navi sometimes wins a tournament but sometimes not even gets through groupstages...

2023-08-09 12:08

Ez for c9

2023-08-09 10:30

Why isn't Astralis invited?

They skipped Iem Sydney last time, maybe because of travel times

2023-08-09 10:39

they refused

2023-08-09 10:44

cuz they bad

2023-08-09 10:46

are you going for a record of posting useless replies to every topic?

2023-08-09 11:01

the only useless reply of this thread is yours <3

2023-08-09 11:23

Sure, nothing beats your useless replies in every single topic. Nothing useful whatsoever

2023-08-09 11:33

they need to change name to australis to get invited

2023-08-09 10:47

Nice

2023-08-09 11:44

Ba dum tsss

2023-08-09 17:16

They aren't invited to the Closed Qualifier either because they declined the offer. It says so in the article Same for Heroic and Liquid however they are probably skipping it because they have to play both Gamers8 and then ESL pro league i guess they didn't feel like going to Australia

2023-08-09 11:48

11 replies

It's the last T1 one lan of the year unless you count blast, and even if you do, there's an almost 2 month break between the end of EPL and the beginning of Blast Finals. I don't get why you would decline an invite for this. Also if you don't qualify for EPL playoffs you'll have even more time in between

2023-08-09 14:52

9 replies

Probably because Heroic and Astralis both have money problems. 1) Flights to Australia is expensive, probably $2000 per person, so minimum $12,000 to send a team with purely coach and players. 2) Australia is fucking expensive, hotels are expensive, food is expensive. Even if they won the event, the bulk of that money will go to the players so the team loses money just to attend the event.

2023-08-09 17:30

8 replies

i dont think so, if that was the reason, there wouldnt even exist money to pay salaries. the most reasonable explanation is that they decided to skip the tournament, the priz pool isnt that amazing tbh and astralis has done this in the past

2023-08-10 04:13

Saving money from an event that is significantly more expensive to attend does not mean they can't pay salaries. There is probably multiple reasons, cost, travel time and using the time to get more rest.

2023-08-10 05:21

why would you get invited to a tournament just for them to tell you to pay for your expenses? ESL covers hotels, flights and everything there. You go there essentially for free

2023-08-13 18:16

5 replies

No they don't.. Valve events (Majors) are the only events where the TO pays for all travel and accommodation. ESL probably covers a portion, but definitely is not paying the entire amount. ESL does provide food.

2023-08-14 17:36

4 replies

Thanks for the info

2023-08-14 20:40

reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/41.. reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/15.. And its even in the handbook for esl pro tour that its all covered. Why would TOs directly invite orgs to come out to play for their tournament just to make them pay most of their expenses? If a team with no roster makes it through qualifiers do you think IEM/ESL would expect them to cover all their expenses? pro.eslgaming.com/csgo/proleague/wp-cont.. It is stated in this agreement here too

2023-08-15 05:07

Pro League is an entirely different event with an entirely different structure to IEM. As mentioned, IEM covers a portion, there is likely a $X per person stipend. But there is still a significant financial burden for teams.

2023-08-15 15:47

I mean this in the most respectful way but are you even trying to read? ESL Pro Tour events = All IEM/ESL related events. Teams already pay enough to the TOs being partnered with them, no org is going to pay a TO to go play at their event, that sounds backwards right? We saw s1mple literally complain about the hotels they were given at malta and different esl related events. The only significant financial burden would be the orgs paying their roster 5-6 figures just for them to not win anything like heroic or who are getting constant 5-8th place finishes or 3-4th place finishes or eg who it wouldnt matter because eg has a shit ton of money

2023-08-15 17:43

I think the calendar so crowded, they need rest, and preparing for ESL pro league

2023-08-10 05:14

They don’t have money to travel

2023-08-09 16:20

esl covers everything

gl c9

device robbed

2023-08-09 10:31

VP and Spirit should get spots over Monte/GL/fnatic imo

Cologne: GL top8 Monte top12 Also include stat from last major, so we have way better teams(in terms of placement on big events)

Howcome ? What did they achieve in the past months aside of participation in CCT and Pinacle cup ?

2023-08-09 10:42

pro.eslgaming.com/worldranking/csgo/rank.. why again?

flair

2023-08-09 15:19

so? VP and Spirit did even less than fnatic lately.

2023-08-09 15:59

imagine cct/thunderpick/pinnacle being in the esl ecosystem

2023-08-09 10:45

because they did well in tier3 cct event fighting top50 teams? lmao

2023-08-09 10:48

FNATIC HAS DEXTER SO NO lol

2023-08-09 10:56

No.

2023-08-09 11:04

Lol :D

2023-08-09 16:05

Another easy tournament win for the Finnish IGL Aleksi "Aleksib" b

need to make it through groups first

2023-08-09 10:34

csgo or cs2?

probably csgo since i dont see cs2 being released this month and teams need a grace period to acknowledge all the changes

well that sucks

we do know that it will be released before the end of September

2023-08-10 12:02

Who the fuck knows

2023-08-09 10:53

Stop inviting these flukers like GL or Monte ffs

6 replies

Why are they flukers? Decent performance at Cologne

2023-08-09 13:34

GL maybe, but Monte got destroyed by every1 except for GL. Would be better to invite teams like VP and Astralis

2023-08-09 15:13

Lmao vp been playing CCT for half of the year now. They're not tier 1. Astralis turned down the invite

2023-08-09 17:29

You can't fluke both Paris and Cologne (the latter after your top-stars left, which only proves that these teams have good structure and core)

2023-08-09 13:57

they aren't flukers lol

2023-08-09 18:31

they just got into one t1 tournament playoffs and #141, they surely are.

2023-08-09 18:47

No Mongolz, no watch ;-;

2023-08-09 10:37

They’ll probably make it through the Asian qualifier

2023-08-09 10:41

I hope so...

They likely will since they're the most stable Asian team right now. Unless Lynn Vision or ex-RA prove they're just as legit at EPL which starts in 3 weeks.

2023-08-09 16:19

Good point btw

GL and Monte over Astralis?

it literally says they declined the invitation

Sorry, didnt read the Article inshallah

Hopefully Jks won’t be eliminated by mouz again at playoffs

free for Grayhound Gaming

2023-08-09 10:43

That Prize pool is a joke. I'm sure multiple teams would resign if they could. I bet there will be cases of 'visa issues' and some teams will skip that event.

iem rio literally same prize pool goofball

2023-08-09 11:06

I mean, those 250k is the normal prize pool for IEMs for years now (outisde of Kato and Cologne), which makes sense, since they are one "tier" below those too (and majors obviously)

2023-08-09 11:32

They should at least adjust it for inflation.

2023-08-09 11:47

What heroic and Astralis cooking ?

don't want to get bitten by spiders

2023-08-09 10:50

typo in text under the picture

2023-08-09 10:52

Or actually the wrong tense, whatever

ez for jks

ez for rooster

2023-08-09 10:54

Its the first I'm hearing of it and its friggin sold out :(

Wonder why Astralis refused. Also disappointed to see that only one Asian team and even that through a qualifier . Could have direct invited Mongolz and then another slot .

2023-08-09 11:00

heroic????

probably make some roster change or practice more after that choke in Cologne

2023-08-09 11:09

The organisation will be bought out on Oct 9th. Maybe the change of owner would change something else.

2023-08-09 11:27

LOL no brazilians from invites and qualifier

2023-08-09 11:21

mibr (and TeamOne I think) play in NA quals, don't they? At least they did for Gamers8

2023-08-09 11:29

yes but like no targeted qualifiers or invites for the SA region specifically. As for the qualifier for this event Furia and MIBR gonna play the open qual for EU.

2023-08-09 11:31

Yeah true, kind of weird Also cool piece of info I didn't know that, makes sense looking that they keep playing EU online cups now

it wont be weird if eu just lets go of that second spot so that every region gets a chance instead of a roulette on who gets left out every time. but u know that wont happen

2023-08-09 11:42

I mean, it's ESL's call, there's no "EU regional federation" or anything

2023-08-10 00:09

because there is 0 good br teams

2023-08-09 15:22

VP should be invited, Jame humbles all those fluke teams like Monte and GL

2023-08-09 11:28

They're neither a partner team nor high in ESL Ranking (at 24 at this moment)

2023-08-09 11:30

GL top 8 in cologne and top 2 in major. What has vp achieved in recent months?

2023-08-09 11:35

monte, fnatic and GamerLegion bruh

Monte, fnatic and gamerlegion are better than your favorites

2023-08-09 18:44

said man with tier 10 eyeballers in favorites xd

2023-08-10 09:46

SA where? no invite nor even qualy for us? :/

2023-08-09 11:36

get better and maybe you get invited

we are already better

2023-08-10 10:14

Tyloo will upset some teams

WHERE IS S.A.? WTF

2023-08-09 11:52

Nowhere near Sydney mens, I live in S.A.

2023-08-09 12:52

GamerLegion again???? Fuck OFF man…

cry is free

2023-08-09 16:06

why the grayhound i mean oceanie get this opportunity at big tournament every time ? seriously how they have 2 aus spot its more than asia is crazy and its been like this they dont deserve more than 1 !! such a based tournaments

2023-08-09 12:11

no spirit = no donk = not watching = cct better

2023-08-09 12:15

they're playing the open qualifier today

LESGOOOOOOOO how many games do they have to win and at what time?

2023-08-09 12:32

faceit.com/en/championship/0b55dfb0-226c.. The qualifier starts at 6 pm. Not sure how many games they have to win but usually it's 5/6. Should be clear once the bracket is available.

2023-08-09 12:34

oh man i really need them to qualify, i wanna watch donk in a big event, and zont1x too, im still not sure artfrost is good enough to this team but lets go

2023-08-09 12:36

yeah i hope they manage to qualify for sydney as well. wanna see them on lan ArtFr0st will be fine, he just had a bad day yesterday trust me bro

2023-08-09 12:37

can they qualify to the pro league?

2023-08-09 12:43

nah, i think the groups have already been announced, haven't they? TSA were one map away from qualifying for EPL but crumbled when the pressure was on

2023-08-09 13:07

oh ffs

2023-08-09 13:13

Monte AHAHAHHAHA

2023-08-09 12:17

free event for grayhound

2023-08-09 12:23

LFG

NIP Cant even get invited to tournaments any more so bad xd

2023-08-09 12:27

Hello where is spirit??? Why the fuck is a dog team like Fnatic here

2023-08-09 12:28

I went to check the rankings and couldn't find spirit either, probably has something to do with why they aren't directly invited and have to qualify.

2023-08-09 12:59

"event taking place on October 16-12" what format is that lol

iem sydney fantasy waiting room

2023-08-09 12:30

Monte Gamerlegion L M F A O

2023-08-09 12:39

It saddens me to see so many international rosters. I miss having country flags with teams.

2023-08-09 12:53

Nothing wrong with international rosters, I quite like them

2023-08-09 16:12

i will not be surprised if another big asian team disbands cuz there is just not much support from valve or any other big tournament i mean just look at their spots only 1 team will qualify from such a big region we are talking about whole asia middle,south,east, with chinese,even east part of russia play at asian qualifiers and only 1 team will qualify , meanwhile aussises always get 2 spot no matter what result is crazy to me,

2023-08-09 12:49

The BIG reunion but BIG not invited, lul

2023-08-09 12:50

Astralis where????

In the article they speculate Astralis declined the invite but they need the points to stay in top-10 so gotta wonder what's going on ..

2023-08-09 13:20

Oh boy, epic teams list! Hope the qualifiers deliver too

2023-08-09 13:01

no EG no watch

2023-08-09 13:04

No SA qualifier. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2023-08-09 13:17

Why would Heroic and especially Astralis decline? Astralis just got into top-10 and won't be attending Gamers8 which might push them back out of top-10, they need to play tournaments to get the points..

2023-08-09 13:19

Astralis & Heroic decline maybe due to the travel / jetlag issues. Getting from Copenhagen to Sydney is 20h+ with at least 2 connecting flights.

2023-08-09 13:25

CS2 ???

2023-08-09 13:36

Why are OG & 9INE invited for closed qualifier?

2023-08-09 13:54

small typo in the dates right before the teamlist attendance it says "October 16-12" and should say "October 16-22" I think thanks for the report ! really happy we get another Australian tournament, the crowd was incredible the last time

2023-08-09 13:58

1 aus team 1 asian team :)))

Just out o curiosity! Why not a SA Qualifier?

2023-08-09 14:35

nice Monte lets go

2023-08-09 14:40

So much EU flag is boring as fuck Go go cloud 9

2023-08-09 14:53

2 aussie spot for this xd asia died for this

2023-08-09 14:59

So the two danish teams are the only ones in top 10 not invited. Strange coinsidence ;-)

2023-08-09 15:10

1 asian spot when Atox, LV, RA, Mongolz, TYLOO all can play at this level, aussies with racism always

2023-08-09 15:12

Hmm no SA qualy?

2023-08-09 15:32

$250,000 event taking place on October 16-12 is this happening because we are from Australia?

2023-08-09 15:40

AU tournaments are nice

2023-08-09 16:07

fun fact: NaVi never played in Australia

2023-08-09 16:11

So.... when will this invite bullshit end... open qualifiers for every tournament! now! High rank = invite to get high rank you need to play in high tournaments... so if you are not invited.... dumb

2023-08-09 17:45

Imagine Inviting fnatic but not NiP

2023-08-09 18:14

wow so many EU teams

2023-08-09 19:40

No SA Qualifier?

2023-08-10 05:37

Navi didn't used to play this shit, GL squeezed us

2023-08-11 05:55

Wonder why Astralis refused, also disappointed to see that only one Asian team and even that through a qualifier . Could have direct invited Mongolz and then another slot .

2023-08-11 15:22