Intel Extreme Masters Overview
Tournament Overview
Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a tier of international tournaments started in 2007. This championship is a product of the Electronic Sports League.
Starting from 2008 the mid-season events are held all around the world in cities like Malmo, Chicago or Shanghai. This year’s finals took place in Katowice, Poland.
By far IEM has 16 seasons finished, that include games such as Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, Quake Live, Dota, StarCraft II, League of Legends, and more.
The 17th season is ongoing since May 31, and it will end in 2023. Intel Extreme Masters season XVI had a combined prize of $1,765,000, season XVII’s pool prize will be announced soon.
Schedule
List of the IEM season XVII 2022:
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
| Katowice (season XVI) | 2022-02-15 to 2022-02-27 |
| Dallas | 2022-05-31 to 2022-06-05 |
| Cologne | 2022-07-05 to 2022-07-17 |
Format
The format for an IEM tournament whether we are talking about Cologne or Winter tournament has play-ins, group stages and playoffs.
Play-in
Play-ins are double-elimination brackets. The first games are Bo1 (best of one) and the following are Bo3 (best of three). If the tournament has play-ins, the top 8 teams from it will move forward to Group Stages.
Group Stage
Group Stages two double-elimination format. All games are Bo3 and every group has 8 teams. The seeding depends on the competition but it can be something like EPT Rankings and ESL World Rankings.
The top three teams from each group advance to Playoffs.
- The 3rd place squads go to the Quarterfinals as the Low Seeds.
- Group stage 2nd place squads advance to the Quarterfinals as the High Seeds
- The winners move to the Semifinals.
Playoff
The playoffs are usually a single-elimination bracket. The Grand Finals are Bo5 and the Quarterfinals and Semifinals are Bo3.
Prize Pool
TBA
Previous Winners:
Last year’s season winners are Gambit Esports at IEM XVI Summer and Natus Vincere at IEM XVI Cologne, Renegades for Oceania, Ninjas in Pyjamas for Europe, Bravos for South America, TYLOO in Asia and Furia Esports in North America.
Winners at the Grand Final for other seasons at the World Championship tournament are Gambit Esports, Natus Vincere(3), Astralis (2), Fnatic (3), ESC Gaming, mousesports and Team Pentagram.
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