Update: IEM Cologne invites sent out
Unlike the race to qualification for IEM Katowice 2023 at the beginning of the year, it was a much more mild attempt for North American teams hoping to qualify for IEM Cologne 2023.
With the world ranking cut-off happening today for IEM Cologne 2023 and ESL Pro League Season 18, Dust2.us has identified the preliminary invites for the upcoming event in Germany based on the latest updated points and rankings from the ESL World Ranking.
North America will be represented by FURIA, Liquid, and paiN while South America will see Imperial make the journey to Europe in hopes of kicking off the second half of the season. Each of the aforementioned teams will be participating in the IEM Cologne 2023 Play-in, meaning that there is a chance that they might not even reach the main event.
The aforementioned teams might also have a different lineup for IEM Cologne, considering the various rumors floating around. It is now well documented that Imperial's talisman Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo is taking a meeting with FURIA and is simultaneously being chased by paiN. Imperial players have also expressed that several roster moves will likely happen this offseason.
For Liquid, they have massive shoes to fill with Nick "nitr0" Cannella stepping down following the birth of his second child. The American squad will have to focus on finding an in-game leader to replace their former captain. Should they shift the full-time IGL responsibilities to Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis, that opens up the potential to add another powerful rifler and help the organization lift a trophy for the first time since 2019.
Below are the full preliminary invites for IEM Cologne 2023. As a reminder, ESL prioritizes regional invites before global invites, meaning that FURIA and Liquid have earned the North American invites, rather than global invites.
Group Play Invites
G2: 1,187 Points | IEM Katowice 2023 FaZe: 1,656 Points | ESL PL 17 Vitality: 2,743 Points | Rio & Major ENCE: 1,127 Points | IEM Dallas
Heroic: 2,621 Points | ESL WR
Cloud9: 1,242 Points | ESL WR
NAVI: 1,155 Points | ESL WR GamerLegion: 772 Points | ESL WR
Play-in Invites
MOUZ: 620 Points | ESL WR EU Apeks: 596 Points | ESL WR EU
9INE: 475 Points | ESL WR EU
FURIA: 667 Points | ESL WR NA
Liquid: 530 Points | ESL WR NA Imperial: 358 Points | ESL WR SA
Mongolz: 83 Points | ESL WR AS
Grayhound: 120 Points | ESL WR OCE Fnatic: 451 Points | ESL WR paiN Gaming: | 449 Points ESL WR Monte: 448 Points | ESL WR NIP: 429 Points | ESL WR FORZE: 424 Points | ESL WR Astralis: 420 Points | ESL WR
Into the Breach: 362 Points | ESL WR
BIG Academy: 360 Points | Meisterschaft
EDIT: After publication, ESL officially announced the invites for IEM Cologne 2023. The invites confirmed our reporting from this morning.
