16 teams will take part in IEM World Championship Katowice 2018

Organizers of the CS:GO world championship, that will take place in Katowice next year, have published the new details of the tournament.

16 teams will compete in the competition. This happens for the first time in the history of Intel Extreme Masters. Organizers have explained their decision to the fact that CS:GO teams must have more chances to get to the world scene and the shooter eSports discipline world championship. Also, they have informed about their plan to move to the format with 16 teams on a permanent basis.

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Together with the new number of teams, the team format has emerged, which differs from the format with 12 participants of the championship.

Teams will be divided into two groups in the group stage that will be played in a Double Elimination bracket. Both upper bracket finalists will go to the LAN final but in the lower bracket, only the winner of the lower bracket final will receive a chance to reach the final stage.

The playoffs will remain unchanged. The best teams of the group stage will get to the semi-final of the final stage, while teams that hold the 2nd and 3rd places will go to the quarterfinal.

The playoffs will be carried out during three days. On March 2, participants of the quarterfinal will determine who goes to the semi-final and who finishes the participation in the tournament. The semi-final matches will be hosted on March 3. The final match will be run in a Bo5 format on March 4.

It is also worth to notice that Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship Katowice 2018 is a part of Intel Grand Slam. The team that wins four Intel Grand Slam tournaments will earn a money bonus in the sum of $250,000.

The information about participants and other details will be published by the organizers later.