Last year, the SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 Finals hosted some of the greatest matchups of 2016, and it is back once again. The event was won by Ninjas in Pajamas, who will be featured in this year’s tournament. Earlier today, the eight invited teams were all revealed and they are as follows:
Astralis – Still regarded as the best team in the world after their ELEAGUE Major triumph.
Virtus.pro – The old Gods of the battleground who are dangerously close to taking that number one spot off Astralis after last weekend’s performance.
NiP – The Swedish powerhouse who has had a bit of a struggle after failing to make into the major and placing top-eight at Las Vegas.
SK Gaming – Out with the old, in with the new; and they still look scary. SK is out for blood.
Gambit  – Zeus and the crew are hungry to take down their biggest rivals, Natus Vincere, and further ascend through the world rankings.
North – The second best Danish team backed by one for biggest football clubs in Denmark.
Natus Vincere – The CIS mix with the most explosive players in and out of the game.
FaZe Clan – Hot off the roster shuffle in Europe, this will be NiKo’s first appearance under this organization on LAN.
From a small glance at these first eight teams, this tournament is shaping up to be absolutely insane. In terms of top level competition, 2017 is looking fantastic in terms of content and this is only half the teams. The SL i-League Season 3 China Qualifier SL i-League S3 Closed Qualifier teams have also been confirmed and it looks like this tournament could get even better with OpTic Gaming, Cloud9, Team Liquid, Immortals, Team EnVyUs, G2 Esports, Fnatic and more all looking to grab five spots at the finals.
Here are the EU, NA and Asian teams looking to get the remaining eight spots.
Europe: (only three can qualify)
G2
EnVyUs
Fnatic
North America: (only two can qualify)
OpTic
Cloud9
Immortals
Liquid
Luminosity
Asia: (only three can qualify)
EMP
New4
AllGamers
Born Of Fire
B.O.O.T
5POWER
FIVE
HegemonyPerson
Now, imagine this: OG, C9, Fnatic, Kinguin, G2, TyLoo, 5POWER and MVP Project all make it through to the main event. This could be one of the most competitive 16 team global tournaments of the year.
