Intel Grand Slam Season 4 to Likely Witness a Change in Its Format

The Intel Grand Slam (IGS) Season 3 came to an end a few days back on 12^th Sept with Natus Vincere walking away as the winners, claiming their $1,000,000 USD prize reward. Soon after the third season came to an end, discussions started to take place within the community about the whereabouts of the next one.

Giving some clarity on the situation, Michal Blicharz - VP Product Development at ESL came forward to reveal that it is likely possible for the IGS Season 4 to be undergoing a rule change related to its winning criteria. He further reasoned why this change in format might take place while also receiving some feedback from the community member

Intel Grand Slam Season 4 to likely undergo rule change related to winning criteria

Intel Grand Slam has so far witnessed three winners with Astralis winning the first season, followed by Team Liquid and Na'Vi winning the second and third season respectively.

Out of all the three seasons, the one that Team Liquid won was the fastest as it came to an end in a record 63 days, then comes Astralis winning the inaugural season in 144 days, and finally Na'Vi claiming the latest edition in a whooping 756 days.

As the third season lasted for almost two years, having started in 2019 with IEM Chicago it seems the next season might be undergoing a change in its format to make things more interesting.

According to Blicharz, the long format which was followed up until now "makes things muddy and confusing," so the rule about the winning criteria might likely undergo the following change,

Instead of winning six ESL Pro Tour (EPT) tournaments within a team's run of ten such events which was the winning criteria for the current season, they might now be required to win just four EPT tournaments but this should also include a victory at one EPT Championship event - IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, or any ESL CS:GO Major.

Additionally, Blicharz also made it clear that following Natus Vincere's win all the team's that were in contention for the IGS Season 3 have had their victory accounts reset to zero, making sure that everyone starts fresh.

This new format, if approved, will be applied starting in the next IGS-eligible tournament which has not been announced so far. Apart from this small bit of information, no other details about the next IGS season has been made public so far.