In October, IEM Sydney will feature some of the very best Counter-Strike teams and players in the world.
But two of the teams we will not get to see are the two full Danish lineups in Astralis and Heroic. The omission of Heroic as the number #1 team in the world is especially eye-catching, which can only mean that the Norwegian-owned team has declined an invitation. The same go for Astralis, who are placed 8th on the new ESL World Ranking, which would have been enough to secure themselves qualification for the event.
11 teams have so far been invited (and accepted):
Vitality, G2, ENCE, FaZe, GamerLegion, Cloud9, NAVI, MOUZ, Fnatic, Monte, Grayhound.
The last five spots will be handed out in regional qualifiers. Here teams such as NIP, OG, and Complexity are in the mix. You can see the teams who are ready for the closed qualifiers here.
