Six teams – Astana Dragons, compLexity Gaming, VeryGames, Clan-Mystik, Fnatic, and Team iBuyPower – were directly invited to participate in the tournament. In addition to those six teams, ten other teams qualified through various tournaments and qualifiers. For instance, Ninjas in Pyjamas were eligible for the tournament because it won the DreamHack Summer 2013 tournament; Copenhagen Wolves qualified after it won EMS One Fall 2013; LGB eSports qualified through an online qualifier; and Reason Gaming qualified through the BYOC qualifier. These qualifiers made up the last ten teams for the tournament. Teams were split up into four groups. All group matches were best-of-ones. The highest seed would play the lowest seed in each group and the second and third seeds would play against each other. The winner of those two matches would play each other to determine which team moves on to the Playoffs; the loser of that match would play another match against the winner of the two losing teams. The loser of the lower match is eliminated from the tournament. The last two teams would play each other and the winner of that match moves on to the playoffs, whilst the loser is eliminated. This format is also known as GSL Format. The playoffs bracket consists of eight teams, two from each group. All of these matches are a best of three, single elimination format. Teams advance in the bracket until a winner is decided.
Broadcast Talent
Hosts
Scott "SirScoots" Smith
Jonas "bsl" Vikan
Commentators
Corey "dunN" Dunn
Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen
Suart "TosspoT" Saw
Analyst
Duncan "Thorin" Shields"
Teams
Format
The sixteen teams were divided into four groups, with the two first match winners playing off against each other to find the groups top seed for the knockout stages. The losers of the first match played off in a knockout match, with the winner facing the loser of the winner's match to find the second seed. With eight teams remaining, the competition reached the quarter final stage, with all knockout matches hereon played in a best-of-three format.
Map Pool
There were five maps to choose from. In the group stage, each team bans two maps so that one remains. In the playoffs, each team bans one map and chooses one map; the remaining map would be the decider map of the series.
