Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023, the first major tournament in Counter-Strike 2, is just around the corner, starting on October 16th and running until October 22nd. The prize pool for IEM Sydney 2023 is $250,000. The last tournament of this caliber in Sydney was held in 2019, where Liquid emerged victorious.
Participants
The event will feature 16 teams, including the winners of recent major tournaments: MOUZ (ESL Pro League Season 18), Vitality (Gamers8 2023), G2 (Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023), and ENCE (Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023). Notably absent from the top teams in Australia are Heroic and Astralis.
Of course, IEM Sydney will also see less experienced teams like VERTEX, BetBoom, and Lynn Vision. For the first two, these are their debut S-tier tournaments, while the Chinese team is participating for the second time after their first appearance at ESL Pro League S18.
The full list of participants looks like this:
- ENCE
- FaZe
- G2
- MOUZ
- Natus Vincere
- Vitality
- Cloud9
- GamerLegion
- Monte
- fnatic
- Grayhound
- Apeks
- BetBoom
- Complexity
- Lynn Vision
- VERTEX
Format
The tournament will feature two groups of eight participants each. The initial matches of IEM Sydney 2023 will be played in a BO1 format with MR12 rounds. Given that we haven't seen most teams in Counter-Strike 2, we can expect many unexpected results in the opening rounds. The top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, with the winners of the upper brackets going straight to the semifinals.
Group A
In Group A, four favorites stand out: MOUZ, NAVI, FaZe, and Vitality are expected to reach the semifinals. This quartet is likely to compete for all three playoff spots. MOUZ and NAVI played in the finals of ESL Pro League Season 18, so there are no questions about their form. FaZe last won something at ESL Pro League Season 17.
Vitality is going through changes, as IEM Sydney 2023 will be the last tournament with the team for Dan "zonic" Sørensen. Additionally, the team did not perform well in their previous event, losing to Monte 2-0. It's also worth noting the presence of Lotan "Spinx" Giladi and Shahar "flameZ" Shushan on Vitality, who are currently in a country experiencing active conflicts. It's uncertain if the Israeli players can perform optimally at the tournament.
Group B
Group B looks more intriguing, as only two matches have clear favorites: ENCE and G2 should comfortably win their opponents. The other two matchups are less straightforward.
Cloud9 and fnatic have faced each other twice in the past few months, with the victory tally standing at 1-1. Despite this, Cloud9 is favored by bookmakers. However, the Russian team recently appointed Abay "HObbit" Khassenov as their captain, which could be a factor in their performance decline.
Yes, they won BLAST Premier: Fall European Showdown 2023, but it was an online tournament. The upcoming event will be played on LAN, and they will face an opponent with local support in the form of Australian player Christopher "dexter" Nong, who doesn't need to acclimatize and will have the crowd behind him.
In another closely contested match, we'll see Monte and Complexity, who recently faced off in the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 18. The Ukrainian team won 2-1 on that occasion. Both teams approach the event in good spirits, as Monte reached the semifinals of EPL S18, and Complexity won BLAST Premier: Fall American Showdown 2023. The game should be very close, although North Americans have a slight advantage due to logistical ease and an extra day of preparation.
Reminder: the winner of IEM Sydney 2023 will receive $100,000 and a slot in IEM Katowice 2024. Additionally, this tournament is part of Intel Grand Slam Season 5. Currently, Vitality, ENCE, G2, and MOUZ are all tied with one victory in the race for $1,000,000 in golden bars.
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