Complexity invited to IEM China and drafted to IEM Dallas

ESL announced the invites to IEM China and IEM Dallas with Complexity featured in both lists, having been invited thanks to their ESL World Ranking to go to China and drafted to Dallas along with five other teams.

Due to ESL having 18 ESL partner spots throughout IEM China, IEM Dallas, and IEM Fall, the tournament organizer decided to use a draft system to fill the first 12 spots and then hand out the invites for IEM Fall solely according to their World Ranking. The top two teams in the ESL WR have an advantage in the draft, having their names thrown in there twice, unlike every other team, which has half the chances individually.

With this new system, Complexity could have missed IEM China already if the team had not been ranked #4 globally for ESL. This happened to Vitality and NAVI, who were not drafted but invited, although both declined the invite. Contrary to Complexity, MOUZ, G2, FURIA, Astralis, Heroic, and FaZe were drafted to China, while Virtus.pro, Monte, and Cloud 9 were invited.

For IEM Dallas, the Cowboys have been drafted and are not in danger of missing the event if their performance level drops before the invites are sent to the World Ranking teams. Joining Complexity are Vitality, FaZe, MOUZ, NAVI, and BIG, meaning teams like G2, FURIA, Heroic, and more must fight for 4 ESL World Ranking slots. IEM Dallas will also feature a Local Hero invite, meaning that at least three NA teams will attend the event, as one more will have qualified through the Closed Qualifier.

Speaking of closed qualifiers, M80 and BOSS have also been invited to the IEM China CQ and are waiting for the two teams from each open qualifier. The first OQ starts January 15th, while the second one starts January 17th. The CQ will happen from January 19th until January 20th.