IEM Shanghai announced; NRG invited to represent North America
ESL have revealed an IEM stop in Shanghai, set to take place during the August player break and running from August 1st - August 6th. The $250,000 event will play out in Shanghai's New International Expo Center, with five teams receiving direct invites.
Due to the event conflicting with the player break and to take pressure off of top tier teams declining invites to the tournament, IEM Director and VP of Pro Gaming at ESL Michal "CARMAC" Blicharz announced via Reddit that IEM Shanghai would not count towards or against Intel's $1,000,000 Grand Slam competition.
Headlining the event will be the Polish powerless-house Virtus.pro, Gambit, HellRaisers, TyLoo, and North America's most recent team to advance to the top tier, NRG. Damian "daps" Steele and co. will be the sole North American representation for the event as the three remaining qualifier slots going to teams from China, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand.
The team list for IEM Shanghai currently consists of:
 HellRaisers |
 Gambit |
 TyLoo |
 Virtus.pro |
 NRG |
[oce] Qualifier |
| Qualifier |
 Qualifier |
NRG are currently competing at ECS Season 5 Finals, and look to further impress off the back of a surprising 2nd place finish at StarSeries i-League Season 5 Finals.
