IEM returns to Taipei

ESL has announced that the Intel Extreme Masters circuit is returning to Taipei to host Valve's first minor tournament.?

Yesterday we reported that Valve has revealed a brand new plan featuring not only major, but also minor tournaments. The tournaments will focus on less popular regions, where they will offer small teams a chance to climb their way up and perhaps end up at the next major.

Today, ESL revealed that Intel Extreme Masters will have their last stop in Season 10 at Taipei, where they will be hosting a $50,000 Valve's regional minor tournament. This will not be the first time we see Intel Extreme Masters' circuit being played in Taipei, as the last time they visited this place was back in 2010.

The tournament will commence on January 29th and end on February 2nd. The top eight Southeast Asian teams will battle it out and the winner will be awarded with a spot at the offline qualifier for Valve's next major tournament.

To be eliglible to participate at this tournament all teams must have players who are citizens of Southeast Asian countries, including Australia. Futhermore the aforementioned teams cannot be Legends or Challengers from Valve's last major, DreamHack Cluj-Napoca.

With Intel Extreme Masters, we've taken Counter-Strike competition to Chengdu, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai and Guangzhou. We're no stranger to Asian and South Pacific teams and with Season 10 marking the comeback of Counter-Strike, there's no better way to honour where we came from than with a return to our Intel Extreme Masters Counter-Strike roots. This is the kind of competition we started out with back in seasons two and three. Now, there's a lot of North American and European Counter-Strike available, but I'd like to see what these regional teams bring to the table in Taipei.” - said Michal Blicharz, VP Pro Gaming at ESL.

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