Two weeks before IEM Cologne, ESL announced the lineup of teams that will compete for a combined prize pool of $1 million at the tournament, which kicks off on July 4. The organizer of the event announced the composition of the starting matches of the play-in stage, as well as the distribution of teams that have already earned a place in the group stage.
A total of 16 teams will compete in the play-in stage, eight of which will be able to advance. Among the top performers in this first round of – Vitality, who recently finished second at the BLAST Premier. Spirit, who recently managed to reach the semifinals of a major, will also appear here. However, this time she will have to perform for the first time with a new lineup, which includes Igor «w0nderful» Zhdanov. Heroic, who recently replaced Ismail «refrezh» Ali with Jacob «jabbi» Nygaard, will also have a new lineup.
Most of the participants from the top of the world ranking will start from the group stage. The leading teams in the world, Natus Vincere and FaZe, will start in different groups. Interestingly, NAVI recently announced that Viktor «sdy» Orudzhev will continue to play in its lineup in Cologne as well. Among the competitors with whom NAVI will fight to exit the group are – NIP, G2 and ENCE.