ESL has announced that IEM Gamescom will host a six-team CS:GO tournament with $85,000 in cash prizes.

Last month, ESL caught headlines when it announced that Counter-Strike would once again be featured in the Intel Extreme Masters event circuit after being left out of seasons 7 through 9 following the game's decline as a global product.

The first IEM event to feature a Counter-Strike tournament will be the one taking place at Gamescom, in Cologne, from August 5-8.



TSM to attend IEM Gamescom event

Six teams from all over the world will duke it out in this invitational tournament, which will use a rather peculiar format: each participant will be assigned four lives, and every defeat costs a life. The match winners get to pick which two teams will play next.

The winner of the tournament will be the last team standing, who will get the bulk of the tournament's $85,000 purse.

"We are very proud of our Counter-Strike legacy, so it was a great pleasure to reintroduce this franchise to the Intel Extreme Masters," said Michal Blicharz, managing director of pro gaming at ESL. "This showcase format will hopefully be a great one-time warmup for the rest of what’s to come this season."

Each team will have four lives. Every game a team loses will cost them a life, while every game they win will allow the victors to select which two teams must play each other next. Play will continue until one team remains - the ultimate victor and winner of the lion’s share of the $85,000 prize pool.

In addition to this thrilling format twist, map choices will be in the hands of the fans, thus allowing them to decide where these titans of the CS:GO world will do battle

Below you can find the teams that will compete at IEM Gamescom:

Team SoloMid Team SoloMid Renegades EnVyUs CLG mousesports SK Gaming

Meanwhile, ESL has announced that the IEM stop in San Jose, on November 21-22, and the IEM World Championship, in Katowice, next year, will also feature Counter-Strike as one of their official titles.