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IEM Cologne 2022 - the history of the main tournament of the summer season

ESL IEM

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Summer is traditionally one of the busiest periods in the world of eSports. Peak online, finals of major championships, countless different exhibitions take place during the period from June to August.

Among the impressive flow of competitive games, you can easily forget yourself and lose focus on the main thing. This is especially true in CSGO, where the professional scene, although it has its drawbacks, definitely does not suffer from "dehydration".

The culmination of the summer season in CSGO will traditionally be the Intel Extreme Masters. This year, one of the most prestigious and revered series will go to German Cologne, the place that has become the unspoken capital of CSGO.

On the eve of the imminent start of one of the biggest tournaments of the season, let's remember the IEM series and get ready for a bright CSGO in Cologne.

How it all started

The Intel Extreme Masters is the longest running global professional gaming tour in the world. In 2006, when an Intel-sponsored European tournament found an opportunity to expand beyond Europe, especially to North American markets, Intel provided the funds to host a worldwide tournament, naming it the Intel Extreme Masters. In 2007, after its founding, IEM sets the format for the qualifying events that will lead up to the big final event held at CeBIT}} . Since 2008, the tournament has been declared worldwide, with participants from Europe, North America and Asia.

For 17 seasons, competitions are held on different continents for various games, including Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, Quake Live, DotA, StarCraft II, League of Legends and others.

}} CeBIT is once the world's largest international exhibition dedicated to information and telecommunications technologies. It is an indicator of the information technology sector, owning an exhibition area of 450,000 m² and attracting up to 850 thousand people.

The Counter-Strike 1.6 tournament was considered one of the majors of Counter-Strike from 2008 to 2012.

The first IEM held on Counter-Strike 1.6 was in 2007. Then the Poles from Team Pentagram managed to win it, having managed to overcome the difficulties of the lower bracket, the team defeated the formidable fnatic, SK and H2k Gaming in the grand final. For the first place, they were entitled to €40,000, which at that time was a lot of money for eSports.

IEM Cologne 2022 - the history of the main tournament of the summer season. Photo 1

Since 2017, dozens of tournaments have taken place as part of the IEM series, but a qualitatively new round for the Intel Extreme Masters auspices happened in 2019. Valve 's changed approach to holding CSGO title championships made it possible for ESL (who organize iEM) to get the status of "Major" for the tournament of the series.

The first World Championship for IEM took place in 2019 in Katowice, Poland.

First IEM in Major status in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

In 2019, the Astralis team, in their most productive roster, managed to win the first IEM in Major status. The Astralis team were at their best then, so it is not surprising that they won the tournament.

IEM Cologne 2022 - the history of the main tournament of the summer season. Photo 2

Natus Vincere fans will remember this tournament very well, because they were one step away from the grand final, and s1mple was close to winning his first Major. In the semi-finals against ENCE, I remember very well the moment s1mple vs xseveN. With a score of 13:13, Alexander Kostylev is left alone against three, he managed to neutralize two and plant a bomb, but at the very last moment he picks up an AWP and misses. It was this round that could have been decisive for both teams, Natus Vincere lost the decisive Mirage map with a score of 14:16.

The next round of development for IEM happened in 2020. With the advent of the coronavirus, the rules of competitive CSGO were laughed at.

Quarantine restrictions have thrown back progress, and the esports world has returned to online battles. For some, this was a fatal turn of events, but even in these, frankly, gloomy times, ESL managed to organize several memorable events.

COVID restrictions, new RMR system and Intel Extreme Masters

Regional Major Rankings is a points-based qualification system that was introduced to determine invitations to the Major to replace the Minors and the old invitation system. Teams earn points towards RMR in various competitions that will take place in the months leading up to the Major. There are two/three (depending on the region) RMR series for the regions: one in spring, one in summer and one in autumn.

Before COVID-19 took humanity by surprise, Natus Vincere managed to win the IEM XIV World Championship, even though it was not awarded Major status. For the club, this gave an unrealistic boost, and with their updated squad, they began to show good results. This was the last IEM before the dark times for the CS:GO scene, because due to COVID a number of restrictions were introduced, in all countries of the world. In this regard, it became impossible to hold LAN events.

IEM Cologne 2022 - the history of the main tournament of the summer season. Photo 3

All bad things come to an end sooner or later. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has not completely subsided, it has clearly slowed down, which made it possible to partially return to the traditional CSGO with large arenas and fans in the stands.

The IEM series has also returned to comfortable conditions.

505 days online and starting point for NaVi

Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI - Cologne was the first offline IEM tournament after the pandemic period. The championship was attended by all teams with a high level of play. The stars were formed in such a way that Natus Vincere again faced G2 in the grand final and won. Natus Vincere become the first team to win a LAN tournament after 505 days of online tournaments. For the new player of the NAVI team, Veleriy "B1T" Vakhovsky, this was the first participation and victory at the LAN event.

IEM Cologne 2022 - the history of the main tournament of the summer season. Photo 4

We remember Cologne 2021 for a reason. The German championship, which ended on July 18, 2021, launched a new "CSGO era". It was that championship that became the starting point for the “born to win”. A year later, the Ukrainian club, like other participants, returned to the stage of Cologne in an attempt to repeat its former success.

A long and difficult year for CSGO, 2021 has turned into a much darker and more tragic 2022 for players and clubs from Ukraine, which has been defending its right to exist for 5 months, fighting against Russian intervention. No matter how much someone would like to ignore what is happening in the heart of Europe, but this will not work.

Against the backdrop of the Russian invasion, IEM Cologne 2022 will be the main test for the "born to win", and risks becoming a new spark of the dead "NaVi era".

Intel Extreme Masters XVII Cologne 2022

The play-in stage will begin on July 5th. The group stage will last 10 days, from July 7th to 17th. All participants are already known and divided into pairs.

First couples of the group stage

Heroic vs Sprout
MOUZ vs paiN Gaming
Team Spirit vs Complexity
00 Nation vs Astralis
BIG vs ORDER
Outsiders(Virtus.pro) vs Imperial Esports
MIBR vs. Movistar Riders
TYLOO vs Team Vitality

Teams that will start from the group stage

Group A: Natus Vincere , NIP , G2 , ENCE

Group B: FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, FURIA Esports, Cloud9

$1,000,000 prize pool distribution

Place

$ USD

Team

1st

$400,000

TBD

2nd

$180,000

TBD

3rd-4th

$80,000

TBD

5th-6th

$40,000

TBD

7th-8th

$24,000

TBD

9th-12th

$16,000

TBD

13th-16th

$10,000

TBD

17th-20th

$4,500

TBD

21st-24th

$2,500

TBD

Will Natus Vincere be able to repeat their success in Cologne, but with sdy? Can s1mple take the MVP again? Will FaZe secure the status of the first team in the world after the disastrous BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022? Will the outsider teams be able to get into the playoff stage and take a prestigious place?

We will find out the answer to all these questions only on July 17th, and to make it easier for you, follow the Intel Extreme Masters XVII Cologne 2022 together with the EGamersWorld team, we will publish all the news related to this event!

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Danil Chepil

Danil Chepil is an expert in the world of esports, having been following the esports scene since 2014. He specializes in Counter-Strike, Dota 2, and VALORANT.

Danil began his acquaintance and collaboration with EgamersWorld in 2022 when, after the Russian aggression, he could no longer continue his career as a bartender.

At that time, he didn't realize that he had a talent for writing news and articles on esports and gaming topics.

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