eUnited granted Swole Patrol's IEM Sydney spot following acquisition of core
Following a period of deliberation, ESL have determined that eUnited will receive the IEM Sydney spot previously held by Swole Patrol.
This decision follows eUnited's acquisition of three of Swole Patrol's players at the start of February. Although Swole Patrol originally bested eUnited in the IEM Sydney North American Qualifier, the loss of the majority of their players raised questions about whether they would still be allowed to attend.
In this case, the rulebook sided with eUnited as due to Swole Patrol not being an organization they were granted a "restricted license" putting certain requirements on them attending IEM Sydney. Most important in this situation was rule 2.10.7 which states:
If a license holder loses over 67% of their starting lineup, ESL can review the license and possibly withdraw it, if the license-holder cannot convince ESL about his ability to continue in IEM on a similar level of play
As Braxton "Swag" Pierce is the only remaining member of the Swole Patrol lineup that participated in the qualifier the spot was transferred to eUnited.
As such the current list of teams attending IEM Sydney is:
FaZe | Fnatic |
Liquid | MIBR |
mousesports | Ninjas in Pyjamas |
NRG | Renegades |
BIG | eUnited |
BOOT-d[S] | MVP PK |
ViCi |