ESL esports organizers will be hosting a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event called IEM Sydney 2018. This means all the CS action will be coming again to Australia’s Qudos Bank Arena, which will be held between the 1st until 6th May 2018. The top 16 esports teams will be competing against each other to win a share from a grand prize pool of USD $250K or AUD$310K.
IEM Sydney will always be an esports event to remember in Australia. Thanks to you, Counter-Strike fans, you will get to see another great tournament which will be streamed online over the course of three days, giving you the ability to place your best CSGO betting on your favorite teams.
Fighting their way into the IEM CSGO event, top teams will earn extra points towards the Intel Grand Slam. The first squad that wins four of the ten Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments like IEM and DreamHack will receive $1 million prize reward. The top ranking CS unit is SK Gaming with 2 victories under their belt at the moment making them closer to the reward up for grabs. Whilst the other four squads, Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Faze Clan, and G2 Esports have all won a CSGO match.
IEM Sydney 2017 proved to be a success, making it the largest esports competition held in Australia. Last year, around 7,000 people attended the esports tournament to witness the grand finale in a best-of-five, where SK Gaming beat Faze Clan with a remarkable score of 3-1. Taking the premier title, SK won the first prize of $100K and Faze took the second prize of $40K. As for the Home Team, Chiefs Esports Club managed to rank in 5th place winning $7,500.
IEM CSGO competition in Sydney will be held at the Qudos Bank Arena, one major venue that was specifically built for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, accommodating 21K visitors. This indoor arena has hosted international singers like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Madonna, Stevie Wonder and P!NK as well as Fast4 Tennis, International Netball and AusX Open Motocross.
The IEM Sydney 2018 will kick start with the Group Stages which will be held on the 1st May till 3rd May. The 16 top esports teams will be divided into two groups of eight, where the best six squads will advance into the main event. The Playoffs will start on the 4th till 6th May in a single elimination bracket, with the Quarterfinals and Semis in a best-of-3, while the Grand Finals will be a best-of-5.
There will also be a Showmatch that will take place on the 6th May 2018. At the moment it is still unknown which of the top CSGO players from different esports teams will come together to put on another show of Counter-Strike action.
IEM has announced the first four invited CSGO teams so far, these include:
Faze Clan
At the moment, Faze Clan is the best CSGO squad in the world with a lineup that consists of professional players like rain, karrigan, NiKo, Guardian, and Olofmeister. They placed second in recent esports events like last year’s IEM Sydney 2017, IEM Oakland, Eleague Major Boston 2018 and IEM Katowice 2018. Faze Clan has certainly shown they have the potential and in fact, they won ESL One: New York 2017 and Eleague CSGO Premier 2017. Is Faze Clan worth your best CSGO betting?
Mousesports
The German CSGO team, Mousesports rank in 5th according to ESL, at the moment. The current top players like chrisJ, Oskar, ropz, sunNy and Styko. The Mouz players have won the recent StarLadder & i-League StarSeries Season 4 while also finishing in second place at the ECS Season 4 and DreamHack Winter 2017. They have the potential to perform better but they are also unpredictable as they lost their spot for IEM Katowice in the qualifying stages and ranked 5-8th at the Eleague Major Boston 2018. Does Mousesports have what it takes to top the leaderboard at the IEM Sydney 2018?
Renegades
The North American CSGO team, Renegades is currently placed in the top 12 of esports teams according to ESL. In 2018, Renegades have placed much better in the qualifiers earning a spot in IEM Katowice 2018 and StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 4 but finished in between 5-12th place. The current RNG roster consists of AZR, jks, USTILO, Nifty and jkaem, a squad who need to work on their mistakes to bring their A-game. Do the Renegades have a trick up their sleeve?
SK Gaming
The top Brazilian team, SK Gaming is ranking in third according to ESL. The CSGO squad kept up their winning streak winning premier events like EPICENTER 2017, Blast Pro Series: Copenhagen 2017 and ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals and more recently the WESG 2017 North American Finals. The squad has lately been caught off guard losing to top teams like Cloud9 and Team Liquid have managed to beat SK Gaming. Will SK step up their game in time to defend the last year’s title, IEM Sydney?
