ESL announce IEM season 6 format

13-7-2011 16:32

The Electronic Sports League has announced the format for the sixth season of the Intel Extreme Masters.

Season six of the prestigious tournament was announced last month, with Counter-Strike once again featured as one of the three main titles.

The ESL has now released information regarding the format for the sixth season. The season will have a total of five Global Challenges, where the first has already been announced to be staged in Cologne during gamescom and will not feature Counter-Strike.

Each Global Challenge will have qualifiers on three continents: America, Europe (incl. Africa), Asia (incl. Australia). The ESL also state that there will be an "overall ranking" for all Global Challenges, where teams and players earn points depending on their performance at the Global Challenge.

ESL has released the following information, about how to qualify for the season six World Championship:

Step 1
One highest ranked team or player from each of the three Intel Extreme Masters regions (the Americas, Europe and Africa, Asia and Oceania) will be invited to the World Championship.

Step 2
The top 2 teams or players from every Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge will be invited to the World Championship.

Step 3
The remaining World Championship slots will go to the highest ranked teams or players in the season (those that haven't been invited in steps 1 and 2).

Regarding the Global Challenges and the World Championship, following information was released:

Global Challenges
The Counter-Strike 1.6 and League of Legends tournaments in every Global Challenge will each feature 8 teams, while every StarCraft II Global Challenge will have 16 participants.

World Championship
The Intel Extreme Masters World Championship will feature 12 Counter-Strike 1.6 teams, 12 League of Legends teams and 16 StarCraft II players.

As the bright eye might notice, no information has been released about American, European or Asian Championships and there is a reason for this. Season six will not feature an online season for these continents and neither will there be any Championship Finals, like we've seen the previous seasons.

Stay tuned as we will be updating you with more information about season six of the Intel Extreme Masters, once the ESL release more details surrounding the Global Challenges.

nice

2011-07-13 16:33

yaiya

cool

2011-07-13 16:34

Nice

nice!

2011-07-13 16:35

2011-07-13 16:37

very nice :-D

2011-07-13 16:38

If I get it right all matches from IEM 6 will be played offline?

2011-07-13 16:39

9 replies

Except the qualifiers for the Global Challenges, they will be played online.

2011-07-13 16:47

8 replies

do u know date next Global Challenge with cs16?

2011-07-13 18:18

3 replies

Next Global Chanllenge is gonna take place in Guangzhou, China coming this October.

2011-07-13 18:38

2 replies

Do you think this new format is a good thing ?

2011-07-14 17:20

nice dude, and what about Global Challenge 3?

2011-07-28 14:36

I'm assuming if you qualify online for one of the global challenges you have to pay to get there yourself? If that's the case, it pretty much rules out any team who isn't in a big org attending any of the global challenges.. that's what was so good about having the European championship qualifiers etc online before.

2011-07-13 19:29

teams that live close to the global challenge wouldnt need to pay anything except esl premium ..

2011-07-14 09:11

there was never any european championship qualifier ...the winner of the online season groups always paid their own travel , IEM only paid for the winners of global challenges ..thats how its been since season 1.

2011-07-14 09:12

1 reply

Yes but if you qualified for the LAN you got 1000 dollars, plus 200 dollars per win in the groups, which is a big help towards covering the costs.

2011-07-14 19:30

Actually not cool... no online qual... it means less known countries will have no chance to participate in such an outstanding event as it was before...

2011-07-13 16:40

and less known teams will have less chance to cheat their way to the offline finals and get raped =)

2011-07-14 06:38

Please delete first 11 comments. Anyway LoL is already over CS...

2011-07-13 16:41

7 replies

What's your point? It's two completely different games.

2011-07-13 16:48

6 replies

Yeah i know...but..this game was started to be played in 2010, and in one year was above CS[i'm talking about prizes], soon all big CS sponsors will turn their attention to LoL...

2011-07-13 16:57

Ok so why didnt all CS sponsors turn their attention to SC2?

2011-07-13 17:00

Hmmm.. good point.. maybe you're right :D

2011-07-13 17:10

owned

2011-07-14 09:04

yea delete the first 11 posts... if i got it right there is no chance for smaller teams to get a slot at IEM world championship because all the teams are invited so screw iem

2011-07-13 18:21

small teams never reached the globals anyway ...its easy , if u want to play at the globals u have to be one of the best teams in the world ..its always been like this .... i dont see why people are whining like little bithes its actually better cus there is no more online season for onliners to win....the only online matches are global challenge qualifiers

2011-07-14 09:14

yeah

great ;D

2011-07-13 16:42

LOL is so over cs :(

5 replies

Don't be sad. There is a reason why there is no CS at gamescom. The event will clash with e-Stars, Carmac said on LO3 they would not feature CS at gamescom, it would be stupidity.

2011-07-13 16:52

4 replies

Hi any team can play this online for the playoff which will be at lan ?

2011-07-13 16:58

I'm quite sure there will be some in-dept selection of the teams that will be allowed in the online qualifiers. We will just have to wait and see.

Yes because last season i participated on the IEM American Qualifiers, So i wanted to know if they gonna do it this season too.

2011-07-13 17:17

I hope so , i mean LOL is 1year old or 2? i dont know, but cs i legendary :)

2011-07-13 21:09

nicee!

2011-07-13 16:43

we want Joe streaming this time , not some jumbo guys...

2011-07-13 16:45

We want RAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEET JUMP!!! :D

2011-07-14 01:29

fuck him

2011-07-14 13:28

It's a bit confusing :/ Can anyone explain? About 1.6! :S

guns, shooting, pro's, complete chaos!

funny! ^^

2011-07-13 17:04

Actually it's not that nice.

2011-07-13 16:50

so so so nice~

2011-07-13 16:51

africa lolwut?

in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) there is a large community, I remember a season when a Moroccan team played well during the online qualifers ^^ tunisia & algeria have eswc qualifers so why not giving them a chance in the IEM qual?

2011-07-14 06:24

then go and tell them to participate in this

2011-07-14 14:55

It's kinda sad, that we won't see the online qualifier anymore. Not because, that we won't see the entertainment that teams gave us from the online quals, we will see the entertainment at lan tournaments of course, but because, countries who don't have good teams or good sponsors, won't be able to attend these EM events. Usually the online qualifier had a lot of teams. Like every country would participate and they had a chance to get into the group stage with SK, mTw, Na`Vi etc. It had the QR1, QR2 too. Now, without these qualifiers, lesser teams won't be able to participate or have a chance to get to the lan finals. I mean, from time to time, the IEM online matches were DDoS'ed etc. Maybe that's one of the reasons why they didn't want the online qualifier anymore.

I don't really agree. You can play against them if you work your ass up in the rankings. And if you are not ranked high enough, you simply shouldn't be there.

2011-07-13 17:06

Where do they can play against them?

2011-07-13 17:38

Where, do, they, can, play, against, them you mean?

2011-07-13 23:27

What I meant is that, where teams like HSBG etc, can play against teams like SK, mTw, Na`Vi etc ? Once a year in Adepto BH open maybe, but never in IEM tournaments and without these qualifiers, for sure they won't be able to play against the topteams at the online qualifiers at least and no point to talk about the lan tournaments. The best chance to the lesser teams to play in good tournaments, is to win a lan qualifier like ESWC, WCG and maybe other tournaments, but I doubt it.

2011-07-13 23:34

+1, true words, pal

2011-07-13 17:58

agreee

2011-07-13 19:55

Which countries, in Asia, will feature Global Challenge? (except Australia and, most likely, China)

2011-07-13 16:56

Asia Australia Rofl

2011-07-13 21:07

Politically correct, yes. Australia is not part of Asia. But, in sport competition, such as World Cup, Australia is included in Asia Qualifier since the 'continent' is close to Asia. I presume IEM takes the same approach here.

2011-07-13 21:46

Australia is not included in Asia Qualifier in Football WC , it`s included in Australia and Oceania

2011-07-13 23:19

I won't argue with you. But here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Cup_qualifie..

2011-07-14 00:53

either did the commentator last year fail when he said what I previously wrote or wikipedia failed here :p lol

2011-07-14 00:57

lol no CS European Championship finals -.- it was like a top cs event with all those top teams

i think teams will take more notice of the IEM tour stops now, last year not that many teams went to the shanghai one. I think there will also be an EU tour stop. Which will be virtually the same

2011-07-13 17:32

classic

2011-07-13 17:01

ESL announce IEM season 6 :facepalm:

whats the problem?

2011-07-14 09:17

they haven't paid out previous seasons` money yet...

2011-07-14 12:12

Kinda lame so not every country will get a change to represent now?

2011-07-13 17:08

2011-07-13 17:09

Not good and not bad.

Well, the fact there's qualifiers for "Europe (inc. Africa) means that there will definitely not be any African teams competing. There's just no way African teams can afford to just fly to Europe to qualify. Why not an Africa stop?

2011-07-13 17:12

On second thoughts, it's actually entirely ridiculous that we have to qualify (as a continent) in the same zone as Europe. That's like expecting North America to qualify alongside North Korea in SC2.

2011-07-13 17:15

Yeah but tell that to the organizers, not us. Honestly though yeah every country capable, or used to be capable should have a chance to compete or a qualifier atleast, for more competition and longer tournaments.

2011-07-13 18:09

Yeah of course, but the organisers often just brush African teams and opinions aside. When SK played bvd (A South African team) like 3 years ago (albeit with Spawn subbing for Tentpole), they took SK to overtime on nuke, SK's statistically best map. It's a shame none of the organisers actually read the comments/opinions.

2011-07-14 16:23

Nowadays it's not that big in south africa though. is it?

2011-07-14 18:19

It's never been "huge", and the CS:S vs 1.6 rift has been quite large, but for the larger tournaments they scrape like 32 teams maybe? If there was an ESWC or IEM qualifier, I'd say 32 for sure, maybe 40.

2011-07-15 09:37

Yeah but you also gotta think that might not happen untill CS 2 gets released or a new Promod or something. We need a higher graphics game so they can actually risk the prizemoney. You understand? Otherwise it's loss of prizemoney and I don't think alot of poeple would like that but eitherway, it's hosted in alot of countries. The WCG qualifier.

2011-07-15 12:45

Well, SA had an ESWC and Kode5 qualifier. I mean, if Brazil can have a qualifier ;)

2011-07-15 20:04

step 1: pay navi!

2011-07-13 17:25

2011-07-13 17:29

World Finals: -SK -FX -fnatic -NaVi -mousesports -mTw -MoscowFive -Lions -EG -FG -tyloo -project_kr EPIC

+ESC Gaming +ROCCAT

2011-07-13 17:31

+TCM +eSahara

2011-07-13 18:15

There are too many top CS teams in Europe to fill IEM World finals participant list.

2011-07-13 18:24

I didn't get it, will there be qualifiers for the events or will it all work with the rank? For example how will a new team like eSahara qualify?

2011-07-13 17:40

2011-07-13 18:43

there will be online qualifiers for the single events. The ranking only consists of the results from the global challenges and only matters for the selection of teams for the final event

2011-07-13 18:54

ok thx

2011-07-14 18:11

kinda bad :P

2011-07-13 17:55

SK will win this. Don't worry guys:))

how about start paying the prizes

2011-07-13 18:19

I think that there's no way that the America's qualy would have 8 teams ready to play, because is a very large continent, and its very expensive to travel to any place where it could be held. If it is done in USA, will be hard for the southamerican teams. If it is held in Brazil, Perú or Argentina, It will be hard to the teams from USA, Canada, Mexico, etc...

2011-07-13 18:23

gl NaVi and FX

go Fail eXecutors :D

2011-07-13 18:32

lol cs is dying

2011-07-13 18:34

Guys, next IEM Global Chanllenge is gonna take place in Guangzhou, China coming this October. Trust me.

2011-07-13 18:39

good idea :)

sad, that every event only features 8 teams. Would be nice to see some random teams from the regions instead of the top contenders facing each other again and again..

2011-07-13 18:49

No CS at GamesCom ? WTF ? WHY ?

e-Stars will be same dates, thats why.

2011-07-13 19:14

Ok, thanks. It seems they're not as stupid as in France :)

2011-07-13 20:05

same days of e-Stars

2011-07-13 19:18

Africa <33 !!

2011-07-13 19:03

well and very well ,p

2011-07-13 19:07

ZOMG, not Online qual and European Championship in this time? What a stupid move.

2011-07-13 19:19

instead of those 2 there will be 5 Global challenges (last 2 iem seasons there were only 2 i think)

2011-07-13 19:28

So what? You rly interestingly to see when 8 same teams will be play in 5 GC again and again?

2011-07-13 21:23

2011-07-13 22:04

u really are stupid arent you?? its better this way cus u qualify online for the GC just like for the european championship last year and if u loose u can try again at the next GC , if u win u dont joina again ..

2011-07-14 09:26

Yeah right, i just forget that all teams have a 1 billion dollars in budget, and consequently they easy can to travel in all GC where they would not pass. Nuff said. And what about teams like HSBG, x6tence and other ~top10-15 you rly think that they will be inviting though on one of the GC?

2011-07-14 10:42

NBA CONFERENCES NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA WEST ASIA- QATAR,dubai.. EAST ASIA- KOREA,CHINA.. EUROPE AFRICA- MAGREB AND SA

2011-07-13 19:30

<3 MAGREEEB !!!

2011-07-13 20:37

2011-07-13 19:41

Well, we saw what happened to ICSC online, i think it is a good move :P

2011-07-13 20:02

not that good... in brazil for exemple, just 1 team can go :/

2011-07-13 20:06

instead of holding new seasons why don't they fucking pay out the prizes from the past two it makes no goddamn sense. how do they have money to hold these new seasons and yet are STILL withholding prizes that are 2 years overdue? IEM is a damn fraud and they know it. Shit, Na`Vi is owned for $90,000+ and they still haven't paid them.

2011-07-13 20:14

how do u even know they havent recieved any money??? it would of been in the news after navi finished the 2nd season without getting payed for 1st...

2011-07-13 20:36

Zeus said that in an interview recently

2011-07-13 23:31

recently means almost 1 year ago ...since season 5 finals they havent said anything ..

2011-07-14 09:24

Before dreamhack Zeus said in interview that IEM still haven't paid and they are thinking not to attend this event.

2011-07-14 10:13

Fuck IEM! who cares them anymore? Price money = 0$.

2011-07-14 10:54

Yes they have, stop talking out of your ass if you're clueless grr, it's not the first time i see this kind of shit coming from you, damn gypsy

2011-07-14 13:56

+100

Aw man!! I really liked the continental championships! :( Can anyone explain how "ranking" works?

2011-07-13 20:07

OMG NO MORE AMERICAN/EUROPEAN/ASIAN FINALS :(

Would be great to see a TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR with all top teams beeing invited, because i think there wasn't such tournament with all those teams for years now :P Europe: Na`Vi SK Gaming Frag eXecutors mTw fnatic Lions Moscow Five ESC Gaming TCM Gaming eSahara mousesports Asia: TyLoo project_kr America: Evil Geniuses FireGamers paiN 16 teams

2011-07-13 21:18

that`s why I like IEM , thereonly participate TOP teams

2011-07-13 23:23

i wnat see Global chellenge with C-s 1-6

2011-07-13 21:27

i wasnt reading but when this starts?

2011-07-13 22:03

if IEM doesn't pay previous prizes, they won't see Na'Vi and other top teams

2011-07-13 22:14

why does everyone keep saying this ...navi havent talked about it in 1 year ....

2011-07-14 09:23

2011-07-13 22:37

NICE

2011-07-13 23:20

I liked the Global Challenge more as an additional competition teams could attend besides fighting for their place in the Continental Finals. Losing those, well, it is, from my point of view, quite a big loss. Mainly because local stuff is usually "cheaper" to attend than a global one. Because now those challenges are a must in order to progress to the World Finals earning the ranking points mentioned. And this seems so far to favour teams with big sponsors that can pay those trips instead of those who were happy to first fight to win their local competition and with that as a credential letter so to speak try to find a sponsor to attend the World event afterwards...

2011-07-13 23:39

nice..

2011-07-13 23:54

Will believe "(Incl. Australia)" when I see it.

2011-07-14 02:44

this is awesome news if aus gets a qual :D

2011-07-14 04:14

Don't know why they bother putting including Africa in there either, not like we actually going to have a chance to participate :/

2011-07-14 04:24

Team Norris will win

2011-07-14 04:33

good opportunity for the North Africa !

2011-07-14 05:38

Very Nice

2011-07-14 08:55

stop whining u retards ...there will be a global challenge in Europe ...wich will be exactly like the european finals .....no team was ever invited to the european finals they always paid their trip and its qualified online like always... so its the same thing why are people so stupid?

2011-07-14 09:18

it would be great if some oficial finally addressed the prizemoney situation alot of fans keep saying the prize hasnt been paid?? has it been partially paid? or not paid at all? because if it was true then G7 would of announced a boycott or something ..and navi havent said anything since season 5

2011-07-14 09:30