IEM Global Challenge groups and schedule announced
Natus Vincere and Heroic are in group B, while Vitality and Astralis are in group A of the $500,000 tournament.
The four-team groups for IEM Global Challenge, which will take place online on December 15-20, have been drawn. Aside from the aforementioned teams, Complexity and Chaos slotted into group A, while group B was finalized by two North America-based teams, Liquid and FURIA.
The event, which was originally planned as a LAN, will be the last big tournament of the year, featuring some of the best teams from the two most prominent regions. On Monday, it was announced that Evil Geniuses will not be attending the tournament due to "COVID-19-related travel restrictions", seeing their countrymen Liquid come in as a replacement.
IEM Global Challenge will be played out using a BO3 GSL group stage, followed by a single-elimination bracket that will conclude in a BO5 grand final. The tournament will span from Tuesday to Sunday, with the champions taking home $200,000.
The group draw is available below:
The tournament will kick off with a match between Vitality and underdogs Chaos, who earned their spot by winning IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020 North America after upsetting Evil Geniuses in the semi final.
The full schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, December 15
12:00Vitality vs.
Chaos (BO3)
15:30Astralis vs.
Complexity (BO3)
19:00Natus Vincere vs.
FURIA (BO3)
Wednesday, December 16
12:00Heroic vs.
Liquid (BO3)
15:30 Group A elimination match (BO3)
19:00 Group A winners' match (BO3)
Thursday, December 17
16:00 Group B elimination match (BO3)
19:30 Group B winners' match (BO3)
Friday, December 18
16:00 Group A decider match (BO3)
19:30 Group B decider match (BO3)
Saturday, December 19
16:00 Semi-final #1 (BO3)
19:30 Semi-final #2 (BO3)
Sunday, December 20
17:00 Grand final (BO5)