Two weeks before IEM Cologne, ESL announced the teams that will compete for a total prize pool of $1 million at the tournament starting on July 4th. The event organizer announced the composition of the starting matches of the play-in stage, as well as the distribution of teams that have already won their place in the group stage.
A total of 16 teams will compete in the play-in, eight of which will be able to advance. Among the most successful participants in this first stage – Vitality, which recently took second place at BLAST Premier. Spirit, who recently managed to reach the semi-finals of a major, will also appear here. However, this time she will have to perform for the first time with a new lineup, which included Igor “w0nderful” Zhdanov. The new line-up will also be presented by Heroic, which recently replaced Ismail “refrezh” Ali na Jacob "jabbi" Nygaarda.
Most of the top participants in the world rankings will begin their performance from the group stage. The world's leading teams, Natus Vincere and FaZe, will begin their performances in different groups. Interestingly, NAVI recently announced that Victor “sdy” Orudzhev will continue to play in its composition in Cologne. Among the competitors with whom NAVI will fight to leave the group – NIP, G2 and ENCE.
