The organization behind DreamHack has today announced the final list of teams participating at the 16 team event from the 29th April onwards.

Of the ten invites, two different criteria were used. 

Five invites were handed out due to their partnership with ESL, those are; Natus Vincere, FaZe, mousesports, Astralis & G2. The other five were invited on ESL ranking, those being Gambit, Vitality, FURIA, BIG & Virtus.pro. 

With three big CIS teams in NaVi, Virtus.pro & Gambit, we may see here a repeat of the IEM Katowice finals this year, which saw the powerhouses of the contest, Gambit & Virtus.pro coming 1st & 2nd, with Natus not too far away in 6th.

The ten invited teams will join the other 6 who came through other events, Spirit & paiN arrived from DreamHack Open January, then Fiend (known as VOYVODA at the time), Complexity & Heroic from an EU closed qualifier, and finally Extra Salt, the only entry from the NA closed qualifier.

The prize pool contains a high $250,000 dollars, to be split across multiple finishing places. The exact amounts for each position will be announced at a time nearer the tournament. 

DreamHack initially announced that this event was due to be at a studio setting location. However, as follow-up to the decision to host ESL Pro League online, instead of doing the playoffs on LAN, it is fairly likely at this point, the same will be done for this event too to ensure the safety of the teams & crew, given that COVID is in some areas of the globe on the rise once again.

This event will have many storylines to it, with FaZe & mousesports still eager to prove any naysayers about their new lineups, the potential for another landside CIS win, the pure horsepower of Astralis, Vitality & Liquid, and finally of course, VOYVODA being signed by a new organisation named Fiend, will be looking to prove everyone their qualification wasn't just a fluke.