If this upcoming weekend at Intel Extreme Masters Sydney and SXSW Sydney was not packed enough with things to do and see, then get ready for even more as the first ever Counter Strike 2 tournament will take place at the event.

IEM Sydney 2023 will see 16 top Counter-Strike teams compete for a total prize pool of US$250,000, a win in the race to secure Intel Grand Slam V, and a spot in the Group Stage of IEM Katowice 2024, the first ESL Pro Tour Championship event next year. Commencing October 16, contenders from around the globe will compete in Sydney with the six best teams facing off live in front of a packed-out audience at the Aware Super Theatre between October 20 - 22.

The breakdown of events is thus:

16 teams will take part, with the top six moving on to the playoffs, breakdown of this level is below.

• The Group Stage will be a double-elimination bracket.

  • Opening matches are best-of-one.

  • All following matches are best-of-three.

• Group stage winners advance to the Semifinals.

• The Group Stage runner-ups advance to the Quarterfinals as the High Seeds.

• The Group Stage third-place teams advance to the Quarterfinals as the Low Seeds.

The top six teams will then take to the stage over the weekend and battle it out in single elimination, with the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Grand Final all being done in a best-of-three format.

If you are not making it to the show, you can catch the action live on both YouTube and Twitch, with replays being available on YouTube afterwards.