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Intel Extreme Masters Returns to Sydney in May

Sixteen of the best CS:GO teams in the world are set to return down under to compete for a $250K prize pool.

Ozzie Mejia

January 30, 2018 2:40 PM

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Intel Extreme Masters is making its return to Australia in May, following a successful first event in 2017. The announcement for IEM Sydney 2018 was made on Tuesday afternoon, with 16 of the top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams set to compete for a $250,000 prize pool from the Qudos Bank Arena.

"What happened at last year's Intel Extreme Masters Sydney event completely blew us away," ESL VP of Pro Gaming Michal Blicharz said on the Intel Extreme Masters website. "The Australian esports audience was extremely engaged in the event and became a part of the show. That type of atmosphere is very rare. They left us no choice but to come back and do it again."

IEM Sydney 2018 will count towards the Intel Grand Slam, which rewards a bonus $1 million to the team that can win four the most recent tournaments in the ten ESL/DreamHack Masters circuit. Participating teams will be named in the coming weeks. Look for defending IEM Sydney champions SK Gaming to be among them, as well as FaZe Clan, who not only came in second place at the event, but also finished in 2nd at this past weekend's ELEAGUE Major: Boston.

IEM Sydney will run from May 4-6.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?