IEM Sydney 2023: CS2 Teams, Format, Schedule & Preview

The eyes of the eSports world will be on Australia during October as the first-ever Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) event for Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) is staged.

The tournament features 16 of the top 16 CS2 teams in the world, each of whom are battling for the $100,000 first prize and a place at IEM Katowice 2024

Read on as we look at which teams will be competing in Sydney. We also have the format, schedule and a quickfire preview of some of the main contenders.

The world’s top exponents of CS2 will be in action at the Aware Super Theatre in Sydney, Australia, from October 16-22.

The event is expected to attract a massive in-person and global streaming audience as CS2 gets its first airing in a professional eSports tournament.

The game’s launch on September 27 caught many fans by surprise, and was a move which undoubtedly created a conundrum for online sportsbook operators.

Previous form could potentially go out of the window, which makes this tournament an intriguing proposition from a wagering perspective.

Fans partial to eSports betting in Australia can bet throughout event with some of the world’s top gambling brands – here are the latest outright odds.

• Team Vitality - 3.35

• ENCE - 3.55

• G2 eSports - 3.55

• Cloud9 - 9.00

• FaZe Clan - 9.00

• Natus Vincere - 10.00

• MOUZ - 13.00

• GamerLegion - 21.00

• Monte - 31.00

• BetBoom Team - 31.00

• Fnatic - 31.00

• Apeks - 41.00

• Complexity - 41.00

• Grayhound - 101.00

• Lynn Vision - 151.00

• VERTEX - 201.00

The competition starts with a group stage featuring two double-elimination format groups with eight teams in each. The line-up for the opening phase is as follows:

• Group A: Team Vitality, BetBoom Team, FaZe Clan, GamerLegion, Natus Vincere, Apeks, VERTEX, MOUZ.

• Group B: ENCE, Lynn Vision, Cloud9, Fnatic, Monte, Complexity, Grayhound, G2 eSports.

The opening matches are best-of-one, while all following matches are best-of-three. The top three teams in each group advance to the play-offs.

The group stage winners advance to the semi-finals, the runners-up progress to the quarter-finals as the high seeds and the third-place teams move to the same stage as the low seeds.

The tournament becomes single elimination from this point, with best-of-three matches used to determine who will eventually emerge victorious in the final.

The schedule for the opening round of matches on October 16 is as follows:

Group A

• Natus Vincere vs Apeks

• VERTEX vs MOUZ

• Team Vitality vs BetBoom

• FaZe Clan vs GamerLegion

Group B

• ENCE vs Lynn Vision

• Cloud9 vs Fnatic

• Monte vs Complexity

• Grayhound vs G2 eSports

There is little to choose between Team Vitality, ENCE and G2 eSports in the outright betting, which makes picking a potential winner at IEM Sydney 2023 a tough task.

Team Vitality established themselves as the best team in the world in the previous iteration of the game and should make a strong bid to win the title in Sydney.

ENCE and G2 eSports should also be in the mix, with the former fancied to be the biggest dangers to Team Vitality’s chances of winning the tournament.

For punters searching for a value bet, MOUZ could be worth monitoring as they strive to follow up their recent victory at ESL Pro League Season 18.

They have been handed a favourable opening match and could be dangerous if they can carry their recent form into the new version of the game.