New Intel Grand Slam season starts in Rio
IEM Rio is the first competition of Intel Grand Slam Season V, which will run through the end of CS:GO, and continue during the first months of Counter-Strike 2.
There's still a chance the $1,000,000 are claimed before the release of the newest Valve title if the same team wins IEM Rio, IEM Dallas, IEM Cologne, and ESL Pro League Season 18, depending on the release date of CS2.
With FaZe recently claiming the million dollars after ESL Pro League Season 17, the fifth edition of the Intel Grand Slam is starting with IEM Rio, the immediate ESL competition after EPL S17.
The format of the IGS hasn't changed from the last edition, with the $100,000 bonus for the team that stops another team from winning the Grand Slam continuing to be a thing, just like Cloud9 could have done against FaZe.
The biggest question is if this season will stretch onto Counter-Strike 2, given the state of things. With Valve not giving a specific date for the release of the new game, ESL can't confirm if the fourth competition of this Intel Grand Slam season will be played on CS:GO or CS2, despite the TO being "cautiously optimistic" about IEM Cologne being the first-ever tournament played in CS2.
If a team is able to reproduce what Liquid did in 2018, then there's a possibility that Intel Grand Slam Season V will be strictly played in CS:GO, meaning no North American team would be able to claim the prize, as there's no representative of the region playing in IEM Rio.
Who will be the next team joining Astralis, Liquid, NAVI, and FaZe? Will there be a repeat winning team this season? Can Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken claim a third one?
