The time has (almost) come. One of the biggest tournaments in CS:GO, for which teams have been preparing and qualifying for months, is finally here. All participants are known, unless we encounter more last minute switches (damn you, Covid-19), the countdown has begun, and in a few days we’ll watch the first games of this years’ IEM Global Challenge.

As any real CS:GO fan knows, IEM Global Challenge is the last big tournament of 2020, and it’s going to be held online from December 15^th to December 20^th, even though teams will be travelling to Europe to compete from separate locations provided by the organizers, ESL. Eight teams which have qualified along the way (through prior tournaments and world rankings) are ready to participate and try and win their chunk of the 500,000 dollars prize pool.

IEM Global Challenge Got Hit By Covid-19 Also

Of course, this wouldn’t be 2020 if we didn’t see some major problems. Firstly, Evil Geniuses, who have qualified through the rankings, have backed out of the tournament, because of “travel restrictions related to COVID-19”, so they were replaced with Team Liquid who were next on the leader-board to receive an invitation. But, that wasn’t it. Coronavirus decided to have one more say, this time forcing Chaos, another NA competitor, to withdraw. Two of their players, according to org’s statement, aren’t able to travel due to health reasons (although that is just one side of the Chaos story), so they too have been replaced, with team BIG, who are currently fifth on the world rankings.

Teams are going to compete in two groups of four, with all matches Bo3 and a double-elimination format, meaning that only two teams from each group will advance to playoffs. From there on it’s single elimination bracket, with semifinals in Bo3 format and the grand final in Bo5.

So who are we going to watch at this year’s final CS:GO spectacle? Heroic, who have qualified as winners of Dreamhack Open Fall 2020, FURIA, winners of the IEM New York, Team Vitality, who have won the last qualifying tournament, IEM Beijing, Astralis, NaVi and Complexity, who have all qualified thanks to their world rank status and the two previously mentioned teams who entered as substitutes, Chaos and BIG.

It’s Going To Be Exciting And Here’s Why

And even though there have been some problems with the final list of participants, looking at it, it’s clear it won’t lack excitement. First of all, the top of the world leader-board has been pretty active recently with teams switching places left and right (or up and down). Current leaders, Vitality, have been there for nine weeks in a row, after winning the already mentioned IEM Beijing. But, their arch nemesis, Astralis, are breathing down their necks and waiting to reclaim that first position being one of the strongest teams for the longest time.

Also, there’s Heroic, who feel their time as the best was short lived, and are certainly hungry for more. On the other hand, teams like Chaos and BIG, who have basically gotten the second chance to prove themselves, are not going to back down easily. FURIA will have an agenda with Astralis to redeem their DreamHack Masters Winter loss, NaVi has a score to settle with Vitality and Complexity are still waiting for their big chance, hoping that this may be it.

The full schedule and group matches have been announced and you can check them here. Hopefully, we’ve given you enough info to try out our free2play games with your new knowledge, but don’t forget – this is the last big tournament in CS:GO for this year, and who knows what the next one will bring. For now, we already know that Valve cancelled next Spring Major, meaning that we won’t see a big tournament of that caliber until November next year. So play our Pick 6 while you can!