All teams for the US$30,000 women-only Intel Challenge Katowice 2016 tournament have been confirmed. For the second consecutive year, both Intel and ESL will host the Intel Challenge as part of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice tournament in the Spodek Arena and adjoining Expo Hall in a bid to foster healthy and inclusive spaces for women in gaming.
Featuring eight teams from around the world, competition will be played out on-site in Katowice, Poland, with the playoffs viewable on the IEM Expo Stage on Sunday, March 6th. All games will be streamed live over Twitch.tv.
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the Intel Challenge Katowice 2016:
•EXERTUS (Europe) – A long-standing team whose lineup includes several players from CM Storm, who took second place at the 2015 Intel Challenge Katowice.
•doemouth (Europe) – Relative newcomers to the scene: doemouth picked up some wins last year while playing under the name, Melty eSports Club.
•Team Karma (North America) – A veteran American team, who achieved high placements in global women’s tournaments during 2015.
•Santos.Dexterity (Latin America) – Promising newcomers who are hoping to bring the title home to Brazil.
•Elysium (Asia) – A strong team from China who are eager to prove themselves on an international stage.
Invited teams
The above teams will be joining the following invitees at the competition in Katowice:
•WRTP (Europe) – WRTP, formerly Games4U, has three Intel Challenge Katowice 2015 champions from Bad Monkey Gaming as part of its lineup, and is led by captain Julia “Juliano” Kiran.
•Team ACER (Europe) – Headed up by Laura “NSTY” Déjou, Team ACER have been a staple of the scene for some time now, and were also the 2014 World Champions.
•CLG Red (North America) – CS:GO veterans and former World Champions led by Christine “Potter” Chi, who previously played under the UBINITED banner.