Photo Credit: Oracle Arena *note: picture dates are playoff dates*
Intel Extreme Masters are a prestigious series of esports tournaments held around the world, sponsored by Intel. Their latest tournament brings them to Oakland in Northern California at the Oracle Arena. The tournament will feature a CS:GO and League of Legends tournament running alongside one another. Both tournaments have teams from around the world such as Natus Vincere from the CIS region, Tyloo from China, Flash Wolves from Taiwan, and many more teams. The tournament begins today with group stages and will conclude on the weekend with playoff games.
CS:GO Tournament
A total of twelve teams were invited or qualified for the CS:GO tournament. Cloud9, Liquid, SK Gaming and Immortals are the hometown favorites with their origins coming from North and South America. The rest of the teams come from all around the world, with the previously mentioned, Na’Vi and Tyloo, as well as NiP from Sweden, mousesports from Germany, G2 Esports from France, Heroic and Astralis from Denmark, as well as the international super-team, FaZe Clan. The teams were split into two groups and the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. The first place team from each group also get a bye and move directly to the semifinals. The total prize pool for the CS:GO tournament is $300,000 and the winner will take away $125,000 of that.
| Group A | Group B |
| Natus Vincere | SK |
| G2 | Cloud9 |
| Liquid | NiP |
| Immortals | mousesports |
| Astralis | FaZe |
| TyLoo | Heroic |
League of Legends Tournament
Photo Credit: IEM Oakland
The League of Legends tournament has one team from each major region, and also one team from Brazil. The participants are Flash Wolves from Taiwan, Unicorns of Love from Europe, INTZ Gaming from Brazil, Chiefs Esports from Australia, TSM from the US, and LongZhu Gaming from Korea. The teams will be placed into a playoff bracket with TSM and Flash Wolves getting a bye due to their performance at MSI and making it to Worlds. The total prize for League will be $100,000 with the winner getting half of that amount.