It was organized by Electronic Sports League with sponsorship from Valve.

Eight teams advanced from the group stage to a playoff bracket, earning "Legends" status and automatic qualification to the following Major.

Fnatic, Team EnVyUs, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, PENTA Sports, and Team SoloMid were returning Legends from the previous Major.

Keyd Stars was the only new Legends and became the first South American team to play in a Major and qualify to the playoff bracket.

HellRaisers lost its Legends status after losing to Counter Logic Gaming and Keyd Stars in the group stage.

[1] Fnatic became the first team to win a second Major, and remained the only team to do so until MIBR (attending Katowice 2015 as Keyd Stars) won MLG Columbus 2016 and ESL One Cologne 2016.

The top eight teams from DreamHack Winter 2014 ("Legends") received direct invitations to Katowice.