After the completion of the play-in stage, the final line-up for IEM Cologne was determined. Last to make the list were mousesports and Spirit, who picked up victories in qualifying matches on Wednesday. Thus, sixteen teams will take part in the tournament, which will compete for a total prize pool of 1 million dollars.
Fourteen of the top 15 teams in the world rankings will be present at the tournament, with only OG, who recently lost to Renegades, missing out. Among those who received direct invitations – Gambit, Natus Vincere and G2, while NIP, BIG, Complexity and Vitality made it to the tournament through the qualifying stage. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of the Rengades team, which was considered an outsider as it was ranked fiftieth overall. In its first match it will play against NAVI.
At the play-in stage the teams played matches until the first victory, but the group stage of the main part of IEM Cologne will be held in the format «best of 3». It has already kicked off on Thursday with matches between Gambit – mousesports and Liquid – NIP. The top three teams in each group will advance to the playoffs. At the same time, the leaders of each group will go straight to the semifinals, while the rest will fight for the right to go further in additional matches.