IEM Chicago 2018: Before the tournament

Main information of the tournament

Autumn tour of the Born to Win continues: after the trip to Moscow for and performance in Denmark in the  NAVI.GG.BET will go to the USA, where on November 6 the IEM Chicago 2018 will kickoff.

First of all, it is worth noting that the Intel Extreme Masters series has a rich history: the debut event took place back in 2007 - the first IEM season began with it, and now it's already the eighth in its full swing! In 2018 alone, three tournaments were held under their banner; in Katowice, Sydney, Shanghai, and two more events are planned for the coming months - they will be held in Chicago and again in Katowice, the esports capital of Poland.

As for the IEM Chicago 2018, the tournament will be held from November 6 to 11 at the Wintrust Arena, which can accommodate more than 10,000 spectators. That's where sixteen teams will fight for a solid prize fund of $ 250,000, the winner, by the way, will get a round sum of $ 100,000. Note that ten contenders for the champion title, including Natus Vincere, were invited by the organizers directly, another five overcame the qualifiers in Europe, North America, Asia, South America, and the last remaining slot went to the winner of GG.BET Shuffle.

Another important point - IEM Chicago 2018 is included in the list of Intel Grand Slam tournaments. Thus, the holder of the champion title and the main trophy will be a step closer to the cherished $ 1,000,000. Under the terms of this challenge, the team needs to win four times during ten tournaments organized by ESL or DreamHack Masters in order to make a really big cash. NAVI already has the trophy of ESL One: Cologne 2018 at their asset - what's left is to get three victories in seven attempts.

By tradition, the IEM LAN-finals includes two stages: group (November 6-8) and playoffs (November 9-11). At the start, the teams that are divided into two groups will play the standard double elimination bracket, with the initial matches being held in the format of best of 1, and all the others - best of 3. The strongest team of each group will go straight to the semi-final of the main stage.

Let's recall that in the formation of groups, the organizers used the new system, which implied that the rating of all teams was made by the participants themselves. Thus, based on the evaluation of professional players, both groups should be approximately equal in strength and competitiveness. Natus Vincere, in the opinion of rivals, occupies the second position in the overall ratings, second only to the Danish team Astralis.

As two main favorites, Born to Win and Astralis ended up in different groups. In the first match of the tournament, our guys will play against the American team eUnited - a triumphant regional qualifier, which other players considered one of the least dangerous competitors. In addition to  FNS and the company, in the same group with the “yellow-black” - fnatic and BIG. It is with the winner or the loser of this pair NAVI will converge in the second installment at IEM Chicago 2018.

In all fairness, let's note that right now the Swedes and the Germans are far from their peak performance, but the meeting of  Natus Vincere and  fnatic within ESL Pro League Season 8 was quite hot - our guys won the first match only in overtime. The match with  BiG in the ESL league for the Born to Win is yet to be played, but the two key matches at FACEIT Major: London 2018 and in the final of the ESL One: Cologne 2018 ended in favor of our team.

AVANGAR in the debut match in Chicago will meet in a battle  mousesports, and Team Liquid will meet the Brazilian five  Luminosity, the winners of the qualifiers. At EPICENTER 2018, a team from Kazakhstan proved that it was premature to write them off - an unforgivable mistake, as well as underestimating the “mices” that conquered ESL One: New York 2018, or the “horseman”, vice-champions ESL One: New York 2018 and ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018, and the bronze medalists of EPICENTER 2018 and the London Major you certainly should not underestimate.

In Group A, the obvious favorites are undoubtedly Astralis and FaZe Clan. In all the recent LAN and online events, both teams showed their best, and probably each of them went to Chicago for victory only. The current form of MIBR and North does not inspire as much fear, however, these compositions are renowned for the individual skill of their shooters. The remaining quartet in the face of  MVP PK,  NRG Esports,  Renegades and  Team LDLC.com are “dark horses” from which you can expect both unexpectedly stunning as well as shallow games.

Without a doubt, the Born to Win can not only overcome the group stage but also lift up the main trophy of the IEM Chicago 2018. At the moment, our team is set up on a winning wave and is 100% ready to meet any opponent. We believe that NAVI will return from the USA with a trophy and a new achievement in their track record! #NAVINATION