Cloud9 continue downward trend, end up in Sydney
The current Major champions from Cloud9 have joined the team list for IEM Sydney, set to take place from May 1st - 6th. They are joined by the finalists from IEM Sydney 2017, SK and FaZe, along with mousesports and the resident Australian squad of Renegades.
Cloud9 are the fifth team to receive an invite to Sydney, leaving two invites left to be distributed. Three teams from Asia and the Oceanic region will join them through their respective qualifiers, leaving two qualification slots for Europe and one for North America.
Cloud9 have struggled to play up to their standards ever since their victory in Boston, falling in the group stage at StarSeries i-League Season 4 to mousesports and following up by losing their rematch against FaZe in the quarterfinals of IEM Katowice. An invite to Sydney gives Cloud9 yet another tournament to compete against their rivals on FaZe, among other top tier teams.
DreamHack Masters Marseille, which precedes Sydney, will give Cloud9 the chance to begin redeeming themselves on LAN. With both Marseille and Sydney rewarding wins in the Intel Grand Slam Challenge, the North Americans will have every reason to put up solid performances at both events.
Signups for the North American Open Qualifier are still open on ESEA. Teams looking to compete against the world's best can signup here.
The current list of teams who will be attending IEM Sydney is as follows:
 SK |
 FaZe |
 Renegades |
mousesports |
 Cloud9 |
 Invite |
| Invite |
GG: Origin winner |
| EU Qualifier |
 NA Qualifier |
| Asia #1 |
Asia #2 |
| Asia #3 |
[oce] Oceania #1 |
| [oce] Oceania #2 | [oce] Oceania #3 |
