The first four teams confirmed for IEM Sydney 2018

Yesterday mousesports were announced as the next team invited to IEM Sydney. This now makes 4 out of the total 16 teams that will be traveling to Australia to compete for the Counter-Strike title.

Teams already invited include SK Gaming, FaZe Clan and Renegades. Those teams are returning from last year's IEM, for mousesports it will be a first. Last year SK Gaming took the trophy, with FaZe Clan in second. Renegades are the closest we will have to an Australian home team, other than the OCE qualifiers. The previous team of now analyst SPUNJ, still carries a majority Australian lineup. Mousesports is the second European team of these four so far and like FaZe has players from a variety of countries.

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IEM will come to Sydney later this year in May for the second year in a row. Many who attended last year will be excited to see their favourite teams back in Australia. Those who did not attend last year but would like to this time will definitely enjoy it as last year was an amazing weekend event. Tickets are still available, read our article on which tickets to buy and how to purchase them.

The absolutely packed crowd counting down to the grand finals of IEM Sydney last year

The absolutely packed crowd counting down to the grand finals of IEM Sydney last year. Source: intelextrememasters.com

IEM Sydney teams

As for the rest of the 16 teams that will be attending the tournament, the list is made up of a selection of both invited and qualifying teams:

The Asian and Origin Qualifiers are currently in progress to find the next four teams who will attend the tournament. Speculations can be made about who the remaining invited teams will be, but nothing will be confirmed until it is announced by ESL. The last three invites could go to a number of different teams from those who competed last year to the current top performing teams. Cloud 9, who won the last CSGO Major could be a contender if schedules work out. Fnatic, who won the last IEM at Katowice could also receive an invite. Astralis and OpTiC, who finished 3rd/4th at IEM Sydney last year could also return. Both those teams plus North, who also attended last year, have undergone some roster changes since then.

Are your favourite teams on the list yet? Who are you hoping gets one of the last invites or qualifies for this years IEM Sydney?

Sarah Thomas Hive account@kaida