IEM Shanghai groups and first round matches determined
The groups for IEM Shanghai 2018 have been drawn, the $250,000 tournament will run from August 1st to August 6th. IEM Shanghai will feature an array of Asian and European teams, with NRG serving as the event's only North American squad.
The eight teams will be split into two groups and will follow the GSL format. Every series in this tournament will be contested in a Bo3. The top two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs of IEM Shanghai and have a shot of the grand prize of $125,000.
| Group A | Group B |
 NRG |
 Gambit |
 Virtus.pro |
 TyLoo |
 HellRaisers |
 BOOT-d[S] |
| 5POWER |
 Grayhound |
The playoffs will be contested in a Single-Elimination bracket with the top team from Group A facing the second place team from Group B, and the second place team from Group A will be facing the top team from Group B. After the semifinals conclude, the remaining two teams will battle it out for the $125,000.
The first round will see:
| NRG |
vs. | 5POWER |
| HellRaisers |
vs. | Virtus.pro |
| Gambit |
vs. | BOOT-d[S] |
| Grayhound |
vs. | TyLoo |
In the last few days, a few changes have been made to lineups and coaches of the teams attending the event. Kristjan "fejtZ" Allsaar will be standing in for HellRaisers as Özgür "woxic" Eker is unable to attend the event due to "personal issues." For BOOT-d[S], Leslie "Bobosaur" Soen will be standing in for Alikhan "w1nt3r" Kopzhanov due to visa issues. On the coaching side, Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy has begun to coach Gambit and will be attending IEM Shanghai with the team.
IEM Shanghai has been scheduled and will take place during the player break. The tournament will be the last significant LAN that teams will play in before the break ends. For the teams at this tournament, it is the last opportunity to impress the world before the end of the player break.
