IEM IX World Championships - Katowice

TSM, a team that has existed since the birth of the League of Legends esports scene, never quite made it to the top of the world. TSM have always garnered tremendous hype with their domestic dominance, yet that hype never followed them to the international stage. The age-old question persists: what is TSM missing?

As a loyal TSM fan for almost four years, I feel the story of my team’s international performance seemed to repeat itself like a never-ending nightmare. Despite all the disappointments, the fans have never stopped hoping that NA’s poster child would trounce their EU rivals and overcome the Eastern overlords. But with IEM Katowice less than one week away, to prevent more crushed dreams and broken hearts, let us recount TSM’s past international adventures and explore the reasons behind their repeated failures.

The Early Seasons’ Disparities

Since the beginning of Season One, LoL esports has grown at an exponential pace. It started out as few teams in a LAN party fighting over the elusive Season One championship, and by the end of Season Four, evolved into sold-out stadiums with millions of concurrent views worldwide. As the prize pools for winning tournaments increased, so did the strength and number of the competitors. TSM knows this better than anyone else; they have been competing since the very first LAN event.

The first season was where TSM had the best chance to stand toe-to-toe against the top international teams. When discussing TSM’s competitive resume, however, there is a reason not many would bring up TSM’s third place finish in the Season One World Championship -- it simply wasn’t impressive.

The infant competitive scene included only pro teams from NA and EU that were championship contenders. Yet, there already existed a noticeable gap between the top EU teams and TSM. Out of the eight participating teams, only the EU powerhouses, Fnatic and aAa, had star players that could play at the highest level. When put on their favourite champions, FNC Shushei and aAa Soaz carried their team to the grand finals. Who could forget Shushei’s best Gragas in the world or Soaz’s invincible “Lanewick”? But not many remembered TSM.



In Season Two, TSM swapped out their top laner, TheRainMan, for Dyrus. With Dyrus commanding the top lane, this new roster completely dominated the NA scene from IPL 4 to the regional qualifiers. However, the fans had doubts about TSM’s performance coming into Worlds.

They did not forget TSM’s 0–5 crushing defeat to Azubu Blaze in the MLG Summer Arena, where TSM’s star performers shied away in the face of rising foreign ambition. Helios and Reapered, the marquee players from Blaze, dictated the pace of every game, forcing TSM on the back heel the entire series. TSM would conclude their season with a complete wipe out from the Azubu sister teams, further dropping two games to Frost at the quarterfinals of Season Two Worlds. One could say that Azubu was TSM’s kryptonite, but amongst all of the quarterfinal teams, TSM looked outclassed.

A disappointing end to the season cannot be solely attributed to the team’s lack of effort. They had worked hard to surpass all other NA teams, but there lied a significant disparity in work ethics between the regions as a whole. Despite knowing this from the start of the season, TSM could not match the number of practice hours from the foreign teams.

The Koreans didn’t have more hours in a day; they simply used them more efficiently. Throughout Season Two, TSM ran a well-established network of Twitch.tv streamers based on their players. Streaming to thousands of viewers was both fun and profitable, but it could have negatively impacted towards the team’s competitive performance. Chaox, in his post Worlds vlog, acknowledged that “They [Korean players] are so focused on purely getting better at the game. They don’t worry about streaming. They don’t worry about sponsorship. They just worry about winning. ”

It appeared that TSM’s problems had a simple solution: spend more time practicing and less time streaming. With the creation of a domestic league and a promise for a more competitive scene, both the NA players and their fans believed their region would soon catch up to the East.

They had made a grave mistake.

The Gap Widens in Season Three

After a disappointing end to Season Two, TSM renewed their focus towards winning the first season of NA LCS in Season Three. With two years of competitive experience in their arsenal. their plan was clear: continue improving the team, dominate the domestic scene, and re-qualify for Worlds. With the creation of a salaried league that rivalled OGN in Korea, players can focus purely on improving their game now that their livelihoods are stabilized. Many hoped it would foster the growth of more talented players, and better prepared NA teams for future international competition.

To keep up with a more competitive environment, TSM had to maintain a top tier roster. Luckily, Reginald always had an eye for talent. Six weeks into the LCS Spring Split, Reginald replaced the underperforming Chaox with Wildturtle in the ADC position. The effect was immediate: Wildturtle was not only one of the most mechanically skilled players in NA, his upbeat attitude also meshed with the team from the beginning. With the help of Turtle, TSM became the champions of the 2013 NA LCS Spring Split.

But by the end of the Summer Split, TSM had already lost their throne to the surging Cloud 9. Barely securing their third appearance at Worlds, TSM was no longer the biggest fish in NA. Instead, the NA fans placed their Championship hopes on C9, whom, unfortunately, were overestimated just like TSM in previous Seasons. While C9 had the best strategic play in NA and some of the top players such as Meteos, they were not on the same level as the top Eastern teams coming into Worlds.

Korea, the historically most competitive region, fielded the championship favourites SK Telecom T1 K and Samsung Galaxy Ozone. For an entire year, these two Korean giants fought tooth and nail against fierce competition in their league, but they eventually triumphed by claiming the OGN Summer and Winter titles respectively. In LPL, the destructive OMG and Royal Club held the top two spots over the once strongest Chinese team World Elite. These Eastern powerhouses seemed unstoppable and feared no one except each other. It was a daunting task for any Western teams to challenge them. And amongst the Western teams, the EU titans, Fnatic and Gambit, were considered stronger than the NA teams. Barring South East Asia, NA was at the bottom of the regional power rankings. You can guess what TSM’s chances were at that time.



Unbeknownst to the Westerners, the gap between the Eastern teams and TSM had widened into new dimensions, as if it was the work of some alien technology from the movie Interstellar. TSM ended their journey In the group stage placing 4th with an abysmal 2:6 record, and zero victories against OMG and SKT K -- teams that were miles ahead of TSM. OMG’s Loveling and Cool, and SKT’s Bengi and Faker, crushed TSM’s mid-jungle combo in their games. Reginald was often behind 10-20cs by the time laning phase ended, and TheOddOne was non-existent compared his counterparts. On a purely individual basis, TSM players were outmatched in almost every position; only TSM’s bot lane could compete evenly.

Even if TSM had made it past the laning phase, they wouldn’t have had a chance to win against the much more strategically refined teams. With no alternatives other than “win mid win game”, a strategy that won’t work against teams with world class mid laners, TSM was dead in the water. Whether it was OMG’s 5-man ultra-aggressive tower diving, or SKT’s top notch map rotations, TSM had no response and was outplayed around the map. They couldn’t play to win; they played to delay the inevitable loss.

Ending the season with another disappointment, the NA’s poster child went back to the drawing board. This time, the difference between TSM and the top teams was not simply who put in more hours. Xpecial said in his vlog that he spent hundreds of hours practicing with Turtle but “had nothing to show for it”. Looking back, the key problem was TSM’s disorganized infrastructure that affected all aspects of the team’s performance. And at the top of the list of infrastructure problems sits a lack of support staff.



For three Seasons, Reginald was the team’s owner, coach, and player at the same time. It was a disaster in many ways, and anyone who watched the weekly Gamecrib episodes could tell you conflicts often broke out between team members and were left unresolved. When Reginald had to juggle multiple roles, he had a difficult time hosting team discussions without resorting to a blame game amongst the players. Reginald also had minimal time to deal with the emotional needs of his teammates. That led to severe problems -- breakdowns -- in stressful times.

Dyrus revealed in his post Worlds vlog that he was overconfident after doing well against Fnatic in scrims. But in official matches, he choked and changed his champion pool mid tournament, giving up first blood in most of his games. If TSM had a proper support staff like the Chinese and Korean teams, all of the players would have been better prepared both emotionally and strategically.

In Season Three, TSM didn’t have all the pieces needed to complete the puzzle. But what if they did the next season?

The Gap Closed … or Did It Really?

Many anticipated the West to finally catch up to the East in Season Four. And for TSM, another chance at proving themselves on the international stage. TSM’s first move was to strengthen its lineup by acquiring one of the top talents from Europe, Bjergsen, as their new star mid laner. Bjergsen quickly became one of the best mid laners in NA. In the 2014 Spring Split, Bjergsen’s TSM finished at the top of NA just behind C9. In the Summer Split, TSM brought in the highly mechanical jungler, Amazing, to supplement its already dominant mid laner; and Lustboy, the veteran support player from Korea, to patch up the ailing Turtle. A strong roster? Check.



When it came to building the support staff for TSM, Reginald spared no expense. He hired one of the original TSM players, Locodoco, as the team’s head coach. After years of playing in Korea, Locodoco was touted as a highly knowledgeable individual and credited for mentoring many of Korea’s top support players such as Mata and Madlife. Most importantly, he is familiar with the Korean teams’ daily schedules, which he could bring the same style to TSM. Reginald also hired an off-site analyst to support Locodoco, and a dedicated cook to keep the crew well nutritioned with their minds focused solely on practice. A proper support staff? Check.

Much of TSM’s Season Four success was due to Locodoco’s meticulous work with the team. Not only did he improved TSM’s strategic team play and shotcalling, but his implementation of a strict daily schedule kept the players in line. Locodoco also emphasized on the importance of player mentality, and he stabilized the team morale after every game. In the Summer Playoffs, TSM proved their ability to soundly prepare for their opponents, consistently improving after every match, and keeping a confident but humble attitude against every opponent. After a rollercoaster season of up-and-downs, TSM finally reclaimed the NA throne from C9. It was at that point when TSM looked like they had a chance to compete on even footing against the best teams around the world. The puzzle was complete. All they needed was luck.



Fortune was on TSM’s side the entire way into their first match at Worlds. They were drawn into a group without any of the tournament favourites -- the three Korean teams. TSM’s luck continued when one of their group mates, SK Gaming, lost their main jungler for half of the group stage games due to a PR disaster. Heading into the tournament full of confidence, TSM believed their training in the Korean “hyperbolic time chamber” had well-prepared them for any challenge except Samsung White -- a team that utterly crushed them in scrims. Indeed, this all but guaranteed TSM a free pass to the quarterfinals, and a golden opportunity to place first in their group and avoid SSW.

But it was not meant to be. While TSM made it past the group stage with a decent record of 4-2, they advanced as the second seed due to a heartbreaking, last minute loss to a rejuvenated SK Gaming. The team looked towards SSW, an immovable object in their quarterfinals match. Pitted against the eventual world champion, the viewers saw a TSM they were too familiar with: a force that can be easily stopped. In a 1:3 slaughter by SSW, TSM ended their quest for the world championship prematurely once again. Surprisingly, the TSM fans seemed very emotionally prepared; maybe getting smashed by the top Korean teams had become a familiar feeling.



Ultimately, TSM’s goal has always been the best in the world; finishing anywhere but the first place equalled failure. Sure, had TSM faced any other opponents in the quarter- or semi-finals, they could have finished much higher in the tournament. But history cannot be changed, and historically, there is no evidence that TSM would have won in a BO5 series against any top Eastern teams. All we could ask was: where did TSM go wrong this time?

Was it the players? No, TSM didn’t have the best players in any position, but they weren’t completely outclassed. Teams that beat TSM played better as a unit. Was it the infrastructure? Maybe, but they had made significant strides in building the support staff behind the players. Was it the attitude? Perhaps, they weren’t afraid of SHRC or any teams other than SSW, but with the presence of Locodoco and Reginald, this squad had enough veterans to keep themselves in check.

In the end, everyone knew how TSM lost, but no one can pinpoint the missing ingredient to TSM’s international success.

Another Season, Another Shot

In Season Five, TSM has everything in place: a strong and experienced roster, a solid support infrastructure, and a planned approach to a defined goal. Domestically, TSM are like the Saiyans: they grow stronger after every defeat. This is their season, the NA boys are ready to fight.

On an individual level, TSM has enough talent to rival with their Korean, Chinese or European counterparts. Their Season Four squad made the furthest amongst all the Western teams despite being the newest and most inexperienced. With more time to grow, this roster has the potential to fulfill their dreams. We can expect Bjergsen to reach maturity in his shotcalling, while maintaining his mechanics as a top level mid laner. Together with his new jungler Santorin, the Danish Duo is looking to shake up the competition at IEM Katowice.
As a team, TSM has the support staff to scrutinize and continuously improve every aspect of the team’s strategic play. TSM have come a long way since Season Four in their communication and vision control. Lustboy has become a support that TSM can rely on; his warding is one of the best in NA. The TSM roam squad consisted of Lustboy and Santorin can set up the map for their super carries to take over. When this roster is at the top of their game, they looked unstoppable this season.



TSM is far from perfect though. In their IEM San Jose loss to the new European LCS team, Unicorns of Love, it was clear that TSM could not play outside of their comfort zone against new opponents. If they want to stand a chance against teams that can play their own styles at the highest level, such as GE Tigers and CJ Entus, TSM must be able to adapt on the fly. Top teams won’t just fall over during the laning phase; TSM must prepare alternative strategies that work for all phases of the game, extending outside of “win mid win game”. Perhaps they could concentrate the early game resources to Wildturtle or Dyrus, and alleviate some of the carry burden from Bjergsen.

TSM had too many chances, but too many disappointments. Historically, whether it was in Kiev or Hangover in 2012, or San Jose in 2014, IEM tournaments have not been kind for TSM. But as always, they have the opportunity to change the statistics and make new history for themselves.

The time for waiting is over! This tournament is the first of many for TSM to finally close the gap between them and the top Eastern teams. With all the pieces in place, we could only wait for TSM to execute.

In the words of Lustcena: the champs are here, and their time is now.

Among the IEM Season IX Championship groups, one matchup scintillates over the rest. Gambit Gaming, who won IEM Cologne in January, faces the invited CJ Entus from Korea. Both of these teams have a deep history with the IEM World Championship, with Gambit winning in 2012, while CJ Entus Blaze edged out CJ Entus Frost in the finals of 2013. This matchup will be the third IEM in which these two teams meet and another chapter added to their storied rivalry. Though their rosters may be different, the recent resurgence of both teams has allowed these two old rivals to face off in one last bout.

Korean Killers

The sheer strength of South Korea in eSports needs no introduction. Throughout the history of competitive gaming, Koreans have produced consistently strong showings in a multitude of games - such as Counter Strike, Warcraft III, and a plethora of fighting games. Additionally, Koreans have completely dominated three key games in the history of eSports: Starcraft, Starcraft II, and League of Legends. However, even the strongest of empires will still lose some battles.

Among the numerous IEM League of Legends tournaments, IEM Season VII Katowice is arguably the greatest. No other event in the tournament series’ history has produced as many memorable moments as the Polish competition had. In addition to the iconic backdoor on Kassadin by mid laner xPeke, the tournament also featured one of the greatest tournament runs in the game’s history.

Gambit Gaming went into IEM Katowice with an extraordinarily disappointing debut. The team, despite its amazing legacy of never losing an IEM tournament, had an abysmal ground stage performance, only going 1-2 in their group. Gambit lost games to both Azubu Blaze and Curse, entering a three-way tie for second place with Curse Gaming and MeetYourMakers. The only thing that prevented them from instantly dropping out of the tournament was a tie breaker rule stating that the team with the fastest win time would advance to the semifinals. Gambit won the triple tie breaker, and prepared to face Azubu Frost.

The two teams representing South Korea were Azubu Blaze and Azubu Frost, two of the most famous and successful teams to come out of the country. Although they were not the two definitive teams in the region like their earlier seasons, they were still among the strongest in Korea, and by extension, the world. They immediately displayed their strength in the tournament, with both advancing out of their groups undefeated, beating all adversaries quite easily. With both teams on opposing sides of the bracket, everyone had predicted an all Korean final.

Now with that said, overlook all thoughts of Gambit’s poor group stage performance. Instead, remember Moscow 5, the team that dominated all opponents and stands as one of the greatest teams in history. That is the team that showed up against Azubu Frost. While Gambit fans were obviously appalled at the team granting Shy his Singed and MadLife his legendary Blitzcrank, the Russian squad would receive powerpicks of their own: Alex Ich on Kha'zix, Diamondprox on Xin Zhao, and Darien on Renekton. With such a strong arrangement of champions, Gambit was able to dive past Frost’s tanky front line and remove their main sources of damage and support. With the advantage of eliminating most of Frost’s damage, Gambit continually won teamfights until Frost could no longer respawn fast enough to defend their Nexus, giving Gambit the first win of the series. During the second game, Gambit once again gave MadLife his famed Blitzcrank, revolving their playstyle around baiting his grabs. Using an ingenious teleport strategy, Gambit created a 4v2 scenario under Frost’s bottom lane tower, securing two early kills. With Gambit being granted such an early snowball, Frost never had a chance to really come back as Gambit continued to control the game dominantly. With that, Gambit had melted the intimidating Frost into a mere puddle.

Even with the win against Frost under their belt, the sister team Blaze still looked poised win the tournament. Blaze had already defeated Gambit earlier in their group stage match. Perhaps Frost was experiencing a slump, and would look to their sister team to avenge them. But Frost was not slumping nearly as much as Gambit being simply on a hot streak.

The finals began with a disastrous teleport gank from Blaze, countered by Diamondprox and Alex Ich to give Gambit a 2 kill lead. Soon after that, Blaze would face a similar dive their sister team experienced, leading to another 2 kills for Gambit, in addition to an early dragon. During the mid game Gambit displayed complete dominance; pushing every lane, denying Blaze vision, and continually catching out Blaze members for easy kills. After that Gambit slayed Baron Nashor, and demolished Blaze in a teamfight the led the Korean team to surrender.

The second game started quite similar to Gambit’s previous games, achieving a kill advantage of 3-1 as well as the first Dragon at 5 minutes. After such a catastrophic beginning, Blaze managed to even the kill score to 4-4. Despite the equalling the kill score, Gambit continued to display better objective control and team fighting. After multiple teamfight victories and secured objectives, Gambit strolled into Blaze’s base to finish the series 2-0. Gambit had extinguished Blaze, turning the Korean powerhouse into a pile of smoldering ashes.

Their victory continues to stand as the only two occurrences of a Western team defeating a Korean team in a series. After defeating two of the best teams in Korea, a feat no other team had done, Gambit could proudly proclaim themselves the Korean Killers.

CJ's Vengeance

IEM Katowice is remembered as the definitive IEM encounter, as Gambit’s incredible finals run over the Azubu team would remain in the minds of many. The two organizations would have their rematch in the next IEM event, this one being the IEM World Championship held in Hanover. Once again, Gambit and both Azubu teams, now under the banner of KeSPA powerhouse CJ Entus, would attend, and all three were considered favorites to win the entire tournament.

However, in this particular event the situation for the teams had reversed. Gambit had come off of a dominating 5-0 Super Week in the first season of the European LCS, propelling them to 9-2 and looking completely dominant in the new league. CJ Entus, on the other hand, had recently lost their first OGN finals when MakNooN’s NaJin Sword comprehensively defeated Frost 3-0, while the upcoming KT Rolster B won 3-0 over Blaze in the third place match. The CJ Entus teams were no longer the two best teams in Korea, and needed something to prove that they were still relevant.

Once again, Gambit faced off against Blaze in the group stages. Unlike last time, where Blaze took a relatively simple victory, Gambit would absolutely destroy Blaze, finishing the nexus off in a mere 25 minutes. Gambit went undefeated in their group, while both Blaze and Frost went 4-1 and finished in second place, needing to go through a playoff match. Blaze and Frost would win their matches 2-0, and Gambit’s potential bracket run looked eerily similar to the one two months prior.

This time, the destined repeat bracket would not occur again. Frost would defeat Gambit 2-1 in the semifinals, marking the first time Gambit had failed to win an IEM event. Gambit was outclassed by the Koreans, being completely shut down in games one and three, while winning the second game only due to a poor level 1 by Frost, giving Gambit advantages in the jungle and top lane. Gambit were out-aggressed by Frost, unable to perform the way they had earlier in the tournament. Blaze and Frost would meet in the finals and Blaze would take victory 3-1, marking the beginning of Korean dominance in international League of Legends Tournaments.

This would be the beginning of the fall of Gambit, as Gambit would eventually be beaten out by Fnatic in Europe and lost in the quarterfinals of the Season 3 World Championships to the Korean NaJin Black Sword. The team would again qualify for the IEM World Championship in Season 4, but would lose to the domestically slumping KT Bullets, who were on their way to an undefeated tournament victory. Gambit would collapse in the Summer Split of LCS afterwards with captain Alex Ich’s departure, and the team has never looked the same since. Meanwhile, CJ Blaze would look absolutely dominant in their Spring Season until their shocking loss in the finals to MVP Ozone, and both CJ teams would fail to regain the luster that they once had in Korea.

Season 5 sparked a rejuvenation for both teams, as both CJ and Gambit looked terrible in the offseason. Gambit was a candidate for relegation next split, while CJ’s dismal preseason made them look like the worst team in LCK. Since then, both teams have managed to turn their seasons around, and we will see the two teams on a relative upswing, with Gambit being fourth in Europe and CJ being third in Korea.

Empire Rebuilt

Despite looking promising after their victory at Cologne, Gambit’s season began disastrously, starting 0-5 while they lacked internet in their new team house. However, once new coach Leviathan came in and the team reestablished themselves, they have gone 8-1, with a firm foothold in the middle tier of European teams.

The current Gambit lineup is a far cry from the one that terrorized IEM tournaments and Korean teams in their prime. Retaining only two of the original legendary Moscow 5 lineup, this new team is very stylistically different from the Gambit of old. Cabochard in the top lane has shown up impressively, emerging as a top three top laner in Europe alongside fellow newcomers Huni and Odoamne. His carry performances have been responsible for several of Gambit’s comeback wins over the season. P1noy on AD carry has been ridiculously aggressive, willing to repeatedly dive the opposing AD carry – the opposite of Genja’s safe positional style. Diamondprox has returned to his old form, debuting junglers such as Sejuani and Nidalee and giving great performances on both. His ability to initiate and make plays has seemingly returned to old form. In the mid lane, however, is a newcomer Betsy. He has only played in three weeks of LCS, and has a record of 5-1, but this will be his first stint in international competition. Facing CoCo in the mid lane is a hard ask for any mid laner, but for a rookie the pressure must be extraordinarily high.

The new Gambit may not be the best early game team, often being behind in gold in the beginning of the game. They win their matches usually with huge carry performances from either Cabochard, Diamond, or P1noy, and they are a dynamic and unique team to watch. This new Gambit has historically had deep champion pools, especially in the jungle, and Diamond may end up debuting a new jungler to throw off CJ. If one of their members can play well enough, it may be enough to carry them through the game.

Veterans of Korea

To contrast with the fresh blood in Gambit, CJ only retains long-time veterans who have been playing professionally for many seasons. The newest member on CJ’s roster is CoCo, who joined Frost in Spring of 2014 and had been previously on the talent-farm Xenics Storm. Besides the move of Ambition to jungle, the other positions are exactly the same as the Frost roster before the Korean roster changes. In the preseason, they looked awful, with laughingstock Space performing the best on an underperforming team.

This all changed once CJ got to an unexpected 3-0 start, beating preseason favorites SKT T1 and NaJin e-mFire. Now, the team has multiple threats across the board, with mid laner CoCo being the most notable of them. CoCo has come back from a lackluster summer and preseason, and has shown up as a top mid laner in a region absolutely stacked with powerful players in that position such as Faker, Easyhoon, kurO, and GBM. Shy, once the greatest top laner in the world, has returned to his former glory, playing exceptionally on tanky top lane champions such as Maokai and Dr. Mundo. MadLife, despite a slump in the preseason, has also come back to form.

Possibly the biggest surprises are Space and Ambition. Space has historically been regarded as little more than a running joke on Frost, and the calls to bench him have been numerous and have been happening for all of Season 4. However, Space appears to have finally freed his teammates from the confines of Space Prison and the warden himself will hold Gambit’s cell door wide open. However, the most improved player on CJ is unexpectedly none other than beleaguered mid laner-turned-jungler Ambition. He went from being very lackluster to schooling none other than NaJin jungler Watch in two ways of a Lee Sin-Rek’Sai matchup à la KaKAO. He will be tested against Diamond, who holds years of experience in his role and will look to show Ambition why he used to be the best jungler in the world.

CJ is phenomenal at teamfighting, with Shy and CoCo in particular being star performers whenever teamfights break out. CJ also has displayed remarkable tenacity in games even when behind, as shown in their 80 minute loss to Jin Air earlier in the season, fighting tooth and nail despite being heavily outscaled. However, CJ appears to be somewhat limited by champion pool and is somewhat inconsistent. Shy being unable to pick Gnar and Space’s Kalista being quite poor was a huge problem for the team in picks and bans, and is exactly the opposite of Gambit.
However, CoCo, who appeared to have a small champion pool, recently brought out a dominating Viktor, so perhaps the champion pool issues aren’t as big of a problem for them against Gambit.

The Final Bout

This will be the third time that both of these teams will face in an IEM tournament. Although both teams are on the upswing, Gambit are the heavy underdogs with the Korean teams both predicted to finish first in their group. Betsy in particular will have a difficult time against CoCo, and Cabochard probably will not find the same carry potential that he showed in Europe against one of the best top laners ever in Shy. However, Gambit has shown that they are a surprising team, and may bring out something special against CJ. Diamond also has an advantage over Ambition in the jungle, and his years of experience could prove the necessary catalyst to carry Gambit to yet another victory over the Koreans. However, CJ is better in every overall aspect, and Gambit would need to play extremely well if they wanted to win the upset.

If there is one team to bet on playing well at an IEM, however, that is Gambit. No matter what the IEM tournament, Gambit has always shown up to the occasion, and an unprepared CJ may be surprisingly upset. This will be the most entertaining Group Stage matchup on paper, and has the potential to be one of the best matches of the tournament. Two very different and exciting teams with one of the best international rivalries. This is like two old boxers with a storied rivalry preparing for one final clash. What more could you expect?