Complexity arrive in Melbourne as the highest-ranked team at the event (no.18), and they come off a promising BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR where they finished fourth and qualified for the Challengers Stage. This Complexity roster has been together for over eight months now and performed quite well domestically; however, the jury is still out about how competitive these guys are on the international level.

ECSTATIC may only be a relatively new roster, but they have been in great form of late. The all-Danish squad won their ESL Challenger Melbourne Open and Closed Qualifier, before finishing fifth-eighth at CCT Central Europe Series 5 at their most recent event. ECSTATIC, the world no.55, come into this match with Complexity as massive outsiders, but given the inconsistencies of the North American team, we could see a closer match than many expect.

Evil Geniuses Black will get their ESL Challenger Melbourne campaign underway against one of the two Australian teams, with the world no.48 clashing with Grayhound in their opening round best-of-one series. This Evil Geniuses roster has chopped and changed over the last six months due to a lack of results, with three new players added. However, with this current roster, EG Black have finished third in the ESL Challenger League Season 44 North America, won their ESL Challenger Melbourne North America Closed Qualifier and finished third-fourth BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Americas.

The top hope for the Aussies will be Grayhound, with the world no.26 receiving a direct invite to the event due to their ESL ranking. Grayhound are dominating the regional scene, with the all-Australian roster winning the IEM Dallas 2023 Oceania Closed Qualifier and BLAST.tv Paris Major Asia RMR, while they are currently undefeated in ESL Australia & NZ Championship Season 16. Grayhound are one of the rough chances to take out this event, but first they need to get through Group A and make the playoffs.

Bad News Eagles make their way to Melbourne off the back of a strong showing in the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR A, finishing fourth and booking their place in the Legends Stage. Ranked no.23 in the world, BNE are currently on a four-match win streak and appear a very good chance to extend that to five when they take on Vertex in their opening round series. BNE have won four of their last seven best-of-one series, and their form against S-Tier teams in Europe is far superior from most of the teams at ESL Challenger Melbourne.

VERTEX will be the lowest-ranked team at ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023, and they look to be up against it in their first series of the tournament. Although the all-Australian squad made it through the Oceania Closed Qualifier, they have been competing in far inferior competition when compared to Bad News Eagles. This should be a one-sided affair.

Rare Atom have improved their world ranking over the last two months, rising from no.74 in the world to their current ranking of no.31. This Chinese squad were in great form before they competed in ESL Pro League 17, where they finished 21st-28th. Since then they have been knocked out in the opening round of the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown Europe and failed to qualify for the Paris Major earlier this month.

Movistar Riders are replacing TheMongolz at ESL Challenger Melbourne after the all-Mongolian team withdrew from the event. Movistar are the third-highest-ranked team at this event, currently ranked as the world no.25; however, their form coming into the event is questionable. The all-Spanish roster were bundled out of ESL Pro League 17 in 13th-16th place before they failed to qualify for IEM Dallas as they were knocked out in the opening round.

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