One of the largest CS:GO events of the year is just around the corner. The IEM Season XVI Cologne event will feature the best teams in the world and will take place between the 6th and 18th of July. Here’s our full tournament guide of the event!
Tournament’s background
Intel Extreme Masters (abbreviated as IEM) is the longest-running global pro gaming tour in the world. This is going to be the second IEM event of the year, as the first one (IEM Summer) was held in June. Here we had OG placing 2nd, and Gambit Esports coming out as eventual winners.
How to qualify for the main event
For the majority of the teams participating in this event, they’ve qualified through the Road To Cologne event. This tournament was hosted for multiple regions, and from it, came 16 teams. The rest have qualified via the ESL World Ranking or other qualifying tournaments.
Prize distribution for the IEM Season XVI Cologne event
There will be a total of $1,000,000 to be split between all participating teams. Here is a list of how the prize pool will be spread:
- 1st – $400,000
- 2nd – $180,000
- 3rd/4th – $80,000
- 5th-6th – $40,000
- 7th-8th – $24,000
- 9th-12th – $16,000
- 13th-16th – $10,000
- 17th-20th – $4,500
- 21st-24th – $2,500
Tournament Format
The event kicks off with the Play-in stage. Here we’ll have 16 teams playing through a double elimination bracket. The opening matches are best of one, whereas the matches that follow are best of 3. Here, only the top 8 teams will qualify onto the next stage (groups).
The group stage will play out in 2 double-elimination format groups. Each group will consist of 8 teams and they are seeded through the ESL Ranking and EPT Rankings. The top 3 teams of each group qualify to the next stage:
- Group stage winners advance to the Semifinals
- The Group stage runners-up advance to the Quarterfinals as the High Seeds
- Group stage 3rd place teams advance to the Quarterfinals as the Low Seeds
The final stage of the tournament is the playoffs. Here, the final 6 teams play in a single-elimination bracket. All of the matches are best of 3, with the only exception being the Grand Finals (best of 5).
Teams Participating at IEM Season XVI Cologne
A total of 24 teams are participating in the IEM Season XVI Cologne. The team list is split in 2, one being the Directly Qualified Teams and the other being the Play-In Teams. Here’s a short list of all teams taking part, separated accordingly:
Directly Qualified Teams:
Play-in Teams:
- Team Spirit
- Complexity Gaming
- Ninjas In Pyjamas
- Evil Geniuses
- Team One
- MiBR
- Renegades
- Vici Gaming
- BIG
- Mousesports
- Team Vitality
- FaZe Clan
- Bad News Bears
- OG
- Team LDLC
- Sprout
Schedule list
The event kicks off on the 6th of July and will continue to play out till the 18th. Here’s a short list of the starting matches:
Upper Bracket Round 1 – July 6th:
- 12:00 CEST – NiP vs LDLC, BNB vs Mouz, Spirit vs MiBR
- 13:30 CEST – RNG vs VIT
- 13:40 CEST – OG vs oNe
- 13:40 CEST – Sprout vs BIG
- 15:00 CEST – EG vs FaZe
- 15:20 CEST – CoL vs Vici
Streaming platform list
The event’s main stream will be in English and it will be on the official ESL CS:GO twitch channel. The tournament will broadcast on Secondary and Tertiary channels too. As a bonus it will also stream in Russian (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary).
Watch the IEM Season XVI Cologne stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the IEM Season XVI Cologne live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
Predictions for IEM Season XVI Cologne
With Gambit being so far ahead at the moment in terms of consistency, it’s hard to not to mention them as our winning prediction. Nevertheless, teams like Astralis, NAVI and Heroic have also proved their worth, and are certainly solid contenders to win. In the end, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out!
Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for all your esports news!
