With IEM gamescom, featuring a peculiar four-lives format, coming up in just under two days, we've compiled a viewer's guide with everything you need to know about the $85,000 event.

Six teams will gather in Cologne during the traditional gamescom festival from August 5-8 for the first Intel Extreme Masters stop for CS:GO, which features a rather untraditional format.

As explained before, teams will be assigned four lives before the event starts and with every loss, a team will lose a life. That means we will get to see between 20-23 best-of-one matches before five teams are eliminated and a champion is crowned.



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On top of that, a team that wins will get to decide which two teams play in the next match-up, and the community decides on maps played. IEM gamescom will be a winner-takes-all-type tournament, as the bulk of $85,000 will go to the last team standing.

TSM TSM EnVyUs EnVyUs Renegades Renegades CLG CLG mousesports mousesports SK Gaming SK Gaming

To avoid unnecessary repetition of matches, ESL have enforced a rule for winners to pick one of the teams in the next match out of those who played the least. Also, no team can play twice in a row unless it's unavoidable.

Times shown below are only an estimate, as usual with ESL's events, next matches will start as soon as possible after previous ones end:

Wednesday, August 5th 10:45 Match #1 12:15 Match #2 13:45 Match #3 15:15 Match #4 16:45 Match #5 18:00 Showmatch (Pro versus audience) Thursday, August 6th 10:45 Match #6 12:15 Match #7 13:45 Match #8 15:15 Match #9 16:45 Match #10 18:15 Match #11 Friday, August 7th 10:45 Match #12 12:15 Match #13 13:45 Match #14 15:15 Match #15 16:45 Match #16 18:15 Match #17 Saturday, August 8th 10:45 Match #18 12:15 Match #19 13:45 Match #20 15:15 Match #21 (if needed) 16:45 Match #22 (if needed) 18:15 Match #23 (if needed)

The event will naturally be streamed by ESL TV by a part of the usual cast crew and a couple of guests, although the whole list is yet to be revealed by the organizers.