IEM Fall: Oceania is just around the corner. The event features Australia’s four top teams competing for both a $10,000 prize pool and Regional Major Rankings points. Enough of these points will take a team to the PGL Stockholm Major, but only two squads are left in the running.

Today, we’ll take a look at the tournament’s contestants to find out who’s in the best shape to reach Sweden, and to see if anyone is in position to play spoiler.

Renegades (1680 RMR Points)

In all likelihood, Renegades will win IEM Fall. They’ve won every Australian event they’ve participated in since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it doesn’t look like that streak will come to an end here.

What’ll be more interesting to see is how Renegades fare internationally. In their last event outside Australia, IEM Cologne, the team beat both OG and MIBR in 2-0 fashion, and took Natus Vincere — who later won the event — to a third map. The team missed the ESL Pro League due to travel restrictions, but expect big things from the Renegades at Stockholm, so long as they make it through IEM Fall unscathed.

ORDER (1500 RMR Points)

ORDER enter IEM Fall just a few points behind Renegades, and could pass them entirely with a tournament victory. They have defeated their local rivals occasionally, but their rivalry is largely one-sided in favor of the Renegades, and ORDER has consistently failed to earn that victory in an event finals.

If there was ever a time for ORDER to step up, it would be now. Finally dethroning Renegades would not only grant them a long-awaited championship trophy, but it would give the team just enough points to top Australia’s RMR circuit and earn qualification to the PGL Stockholm Major.

ex-DireWolves (1040 RMR Points)

The former Dire Wolves roster are unable to qualify for Stockholm regardless of their performance here. Despite this, the team comes into IEM Fall looking to win. Not only is there a $10,000 prize pool to play for, but also a sense of national and personal pride — especially after a lengthy region lock forced these teams into playing almost exclusively against one another. The squad defeated both ORDER and Renegades in their most recent tournament, so a surprisingly deep run here is well within possibility.

VERTEX (0 RMR Points)

VERTEX just missed out on points during Australia’s first RMR tournament, and thus come to IEM Fall unable to qualify for the major. Still, a recent hot streak has them entering this event in form and with momentum. VERTEX had a particularly strong performance in their most recent tournament, the ESEA Premier. There, the squad beat both ORDER and the former Dire Wolves, but fell to Renegades in the grand finals. Just like the latter of those teams, VERTEX are here to earn some cash and to prove their abilities on the server. With a strong performance at IEM Fall, VERTEX would be in great form heading into the end of the year.