IEM Chicago groups revealed; new seeding method introduced
ESL has unveiled the groups and their seeding for IEM Chicago, which is set to begin in four days. Alongside the groups, the organizers revealed in the blog post a new seeding method dubbed "Player Selected Seeding," in which each team ranks each of their opponents. Once all of the surveys have been collected, they're all combined to create the full ranking.
The final team ranking for IEM Chicago is:
Astralis
Natus Vincere
Liquid
FaZe
MIBR- mousesports
BIG
NRG- North
Fnatic
AVANGAR
Renegades
LDLC- Luminosity
- eUnited
MVP PK
With the ranking doubling as the event's seeding, the brackets for the group stage have also been revealed alongside the groups. The double-elimination bracket format has not been changed by ESL, with the initial matches being played in a best-of-one, while the rest of the group stage is played in best-of-three's, with three teams from each group moving on to the playoffs stage.
The groups and initial matchups for IEM Chicago are:
| Group A | ||
| Astralis |
vs. | MVP PK |
| North |
vs. | NRG |
| MIBR |
vs. | Renegades |
| LDLC |
vs. | FaZe |
| Group B | ||
| Natus Vincere |
vs. | eUnited |
| Fnatic |
vs. | BIG |
| mousesports |
vs. | AVANGAR |
| Luminosity |
vs. | Liquid |
IEM Chicago begins on November 6th, with the initial matches starting at 12:30 PM EDT. The even will feature a $250,000 prize pool and is the next event in the Intel Grand Slam.
