Surprise in Asia and another failure from 9INE – results of the regional qualifiers for IEM Sydney 2023

The complete list of participating teams for IEM Sydney 2023 has been revealed, with five slots being contested in four regions. Some teams surprisingly stood out during the qualifiers, and not always in a good way.

North America

The two most intriguing teams in the North American qualifier for IEM Sydney 2023 were Complexity with EliGE and the new club M80. The latter made it to the finals of the upper bracket qualifiers, beating Nouns and Forsaken with stanislaw.

However, despite a shaky start, Complexity rallied in the lower bracket and won three consecutive matches, securing their spot. Whether they can advance from the group stage in their current form at IEM Sydney remains to be seen, but they have over a month to prepare.

Oceania

No major surprises here – without Grayhound, the only potential competition for VERTEX theoretically was Rooster, but they lost outright. Notably, VERTEX features only two familiar nicknames – malta, well remembered from his time with Renegades, and coach Kingfisher, who's seemingly coached almost every team in his native region.

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Asia

The Asian region had enough suspense to capture the attention of the average professional CS:GO viewer. The main contenders for a slot were The Mongolz, known for causing upsets against the world's top teams at international tournaments, as well as 5yclone (formerly Rare Atom) and Lynn Vision. The latter will represent Asia at IEM Sydney, but it's almost certain they'll place 13th-16th since, unlike the Mongols and 5yclone players, they last faced European teams mid-last year. Where would they get the necessary experience for the big stage?

Europe

The European region was the only one allocated two slots instead of one. One of the winners here were Apeks, who in recent tier-1 tournaments were finishing last or second to last. They secured their Sydney slot after a tough match against 9INE. The Poles had a second chance in the lower bracket, but failed there too, losing to Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov's team BetBoom – they secured the second slot.

IEM Sydney 2023 will take place from October 16th to 22nd at the Aware Super Theatre in Sydney, Australia. 16 teams will compete for a prize pool of $500,000. The winner will not only get $100,000 but also an invite to IEM Katowice 2024.