ESL has released the initial details regarding the Asian and Oceanic qualifiers for IEM Sydney 2018, with six spots on offer to the main event.
Last year’s edition witnessed Chiefs and ViCi earning their place to the Australian tournament as the best surviving teams from the Oceanic and Chinese qualifiers, respectively. Recently, defending champion SK and runner-up FaZe has been confirmed for the US$250,000 tournament.
Announcing the Asia & Oceania qualifier details for #IEM Sydney 2018!
Sign up for your chance to play at Australia's largest esports event!
?
https://t.co/jfFKSl8pF7 pic.twitter.com/xufnocAk9o— ESL Australia (@ESLAustralia) February 28, 2018
This year, ESL have increased the total slots to the Sydney event and opened the Asian qualifiers to the rest of Asia. Three teams from each region (Asia and Oceania) will be given the opportunity to qualify for the largest esports tournament in Australia.
The Asian and Oceanic qualifiers will feature two parts – an open and closed stage. Six notable teams from each region have been invited to the closed qualifiers, featuring a best-of-three, double-elimination format. Two more teams (per region) will advance to the closed stage from the two open qualifiers held separately on March 10 and March 11. Registrations are now open for teams in the Asia-Pacific region.
READ HERE: ESEA APAC OPEN LEAGUE SEASON 34 – REGISTRATION OPEN
Below are the teams invited to the Oceanic closed qualifier, scheduled to take place on March 17-18, March 24-25, April 3 and April 9:
 Athletico
|
Corvidae
|
|
Chiefs
|
Grayhound
|
|
Tainted Minds
|
ORDER
|
 Open Qual. #1
|
Open Qual. #2
|
The Asian closed qualifier will be held online on Singaporean servers from March 23-26, consisting of the following teams:
 B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape
|
 Flash
|
 TheMongolz
|
 Signature
|
 MVP PK
|
TYLOO
|
 Open Qual. #1
|
Open Qual. #2
|
ESL has confirmed eight out of the sixteen competing teams at IEM Sydney will come from the qualifiers, which suggests six more teams will be invited to the main event. The remaining qualifiers for Europe and North America will be receiving one slot each, details of which will be published soon.
Cover photo courtesy of HLTV.ORG
For the biggest news & insights on the Asian CS:GO scene and upcoming content like this, be sure to scroll down and subscribe to our newsletter.
