The groups for the first Intel Extreme Masters event of the 2012/13 season are revealed. The tournament will take place from the 15-19th of August at gamescom in Cologne, Germany
After the online qualification in the Americas, Asia and Europe has concluded, the 16 qualified players have now been seeded into four groups. Each group will receive 2 more players once the 32 player Open Bracket is finished after the first day of gamescom, the 15th of August.
*August 2nd SuperNoVa will replace MMA in Group D - [Source]
Open Bracket 32 players will be seeded into 4 double elimination brackets with 8 players each. The top 2 of each bracket advance to the main tournament. Each of the main tournament groups will receive one WB winner and one LB winner from the Open Brackets. All brackets are available at www.intelextrememasters.com
Demuslim got a particularly tough group, will be very tough for anyone to advance from that one. mOOnGLaDe has a good shot at advancing and hopefully PiG can play well too :D
Good groups, looking forward to it. Player pool is decent, there is an Open Bracket with reportedly some big names attending, looks like this IEM season will be better than the previous ones.
Now if they didn't use Tal'darim in the map pool, it could be even better.
PiG and Moonglade! AUS represent! They are both playing really well too currently, I hope they go well. Seeing PiG beat BoongBoong on ladder in a best of 3 was a bit of an eye opener, hopefully SEA can finally take on the world a bit.
Damn, I had higher hopes for the quality of players. There are some good players here for sure, but overall I don't feel the skill level is where it should be for such a premiere tournament. Heres to hoping some sick players comes through the open brackets.
On August 02 2012 01:16 aristarchus wrote: How is the open bracket only 32 players? Don't these things usually get 100+?
The open bracket is being held at gamescom itself, not online. It's the first time ever we've done a real "open bracket", and considering it's at at trade fair, and travel costs, etc, we're being conservative!
IEM, the eternal home of mOOnGLaDe, Kas and KiLLeR... Will be nice to see VortiX in an offline setting, aswell as another tournament for SortOf to show what he's really made of. In other news, this looks exactly like every IEM tournament in SC2 so far...
Seems like a mid-skill tournament, guess those can be interesting as well. A good way for new players to show what they're made of. (I'm looking at you, SortOf.)
On August 02 2012 01:44 soverRR wrote: Seems like a mid-skill tournament, guess those can be interesting as well. A good way for new players to show what they're made of. (I'm looking at you, SortOf.)
You'll see him in action tomorrow as well at ASUS ROG
On August 02 2012 01:44 soverRR wrote: Seems like a mid-skill tournament, guess those can be interesting as well. A good way for new players to show what they're made of. (I'm looking at you, SortOf.)
How is it a mid-skill tournament when you have to qualify for it?
I wonder who will be casting this. I think Kaelaris is a given (he casted the prelims), probably Apollo as well, Bitterdam are working for NASL now... any thoughts? Maybe Grubby? *wink* *wink*
Wow, group A is stacked.If I understand it correctly, only two players per group advance, my guess would be 1)Nerchio 2)Inori, but Sortof could easily take either of them out. Demuslim is very unlucky, in every other group he had a chance to go through, if he plays well and maybe upsets one person, but here the odds seem to be against him in every match.
Group B should be viOLet/Kas; Feast is good, but Kas did go 3-1, 4-1 and 3-0 against Fraer recently, so his TvP seems to be on fire and I can´t really count out viOLet as well. PiG is clearly the outsider here, based on former results (IEM, ONOG) but I have not seen him for a long time, so I can´t really judge him.
Group C is tuff to call. Elfi is always unpredictable and I have not seen much of moonglade and minigun for a long time, so I don´t know, how good they are currently. I think, this group is the one, you want to be seedet into as someone from the open bracket, so maybe someone like Socke or GoOdy could have chances as well, to win it. I don´t know, I predict winner of the ZvZ and someone from open bracket.
Group D: MMA.Nothing to explain. After him proably Vortix and hopefully Hasu.
Go on KilleR, I think he can beat vortix and hasuobs and with a bit of decent luck he can take down the people from the open bracket. His confidence must be at an all time high, he recently won an online msi tournament which including wins over tails and a little terran called taeja and while it may not be impressive to many the title of "best player in all of South America" still must be a massive boost to morale he can do this.
On August 02 2012 01:16 shabby wrote: Damn, I had higher hopes for the quality of players. There are some good players here for sure, but overall I don't feel the skill level is where it should be for such a premiere tournament. Heres to hoping some sick players comes through the open brackets.
It is this way because scrub zergs knock out high quality players of other races atm, no matter how good you are you cant be a consistant winner against decent zergs.
a few months ago this would have been free money for MMA but I think he hasn´t rounded up to top shape yet. I imagine very few Koreans (if any) are going to try the open bracket, but I expect the european challengers to be good...
Glad to see a nice spread of talent. I'm really curious to see how things work out after the players come up from the open bracket.
Minigun should have no problem getting out of his group. PiG has been doing really well lately but he's going to have his work cut out for him being in the same group as Kas and ViOLet. Group A & D are a little bit harder to predict. Group A could be anyone I'd love to see more of SortOf but would be happy with anyone doing well in that group. Group D looks like MMA should take that but Vortex Killer and Hasuobs have all been playing well lately.
On August 02 2012 03:07 TheRealNanMan wrote: Glad to see a nice spread of talent. I'm really curious to see how things work out after the players come up from the open bracket.
Minigun should have no problem getting out of his group. PiG has been doing really well lately but he's going to have his work cut out for him being in the same group as Kas and ViOLet. Group A & D are a little bit harder to predict. Group A could be anyone I'd love to see more of SortOf but would be happy with anyone doing well in that group. Group D looks like MMA should take that but Vortex Killer and Hasuobs have all been playing well lately.
I'm really excited for this IEM!
Minigun should have no problem? From what I've seen of the Minigun he is in no way better than either Elfi or Slivko :s
I wish for him to do well but I'd have to guess he gets 3rd in the group, with some close games.
Other than what (which IS the hardest one to predict tho imo) I think the groups have fairly clear top2 favorites:
A: Nerchio/SortOf (with a chance of Inori allinning his way through): Nerchio has been in really good form recently, also won the last Homestory Cup. SortOf has beast zvp, recently scoring wins over Naniwa AND SaSe at WCS Sweden. Inori isnt too hot in zvp from what I've seen, and to my experience almost all of his "big" zvp wins have been via all ins. And I just don't think Demu is up to par :/ sry Ben!
B: Violet/Kas: Kas recently won RSL with wins over Creator & 2x Fraer (3-1, 4-1) and seems to have some momentum recently (not counting his off-perfomance at WCS Ukraine). Violet is Violet, best player in the group by a fair margin. Feast has only just recently gone back to practice, having exams. And PiG I havn't seen much of but he's sea so I'm gonna assume he's not very good XD jkjk but we'll see
C: Slivko/Elfi: Elfi has been doing well recently, top2 WCS Finland and narrowly losing to life in TSL. Slivko isnt that exposed to most of the community but he seems really strong from online tournies. Minigun & MGlade are good and gonna take some games I'm sure but I don't think they'll mae it.
D: MMA/Vortix: MMA well cus lol, VortiX has hit a high of his skill recently and he simply looks a lot better than Hasu and from what I've experienced of Killer him too. Thought that may have changed recently, as I'm not so exposed to the South American scene.
On August 02 2012 01:16 shabby wrote: Damn, I had higher hopes for the quality of players. There are some good players here for sure, but overall I don't feel the skill level is where it should be for such a premiere tournament. Heres to hoping some sick players comes through the open brackets.
Well, the Koreans are probably not interested due to the fact that not all travel and hotel costs are covered. Plus they have a full August with OSL , WCS. iEM has always been the smallest of the 'premier' tournaments.
I hate to say it but DeMu will probably struggle to get out of his group, with 2 decent Zergs and a Korean Protoss - his nemeses, in other words. I hope he brings back some of the classic DeMuslim all-ins, out all-ins Inori, and bunker rushes the shit out of some Zergs.
Also isn't Idra the most successful IEM player, with a 1st and 2nd place? Shame he's not in this one.
Looking like a good group for Elfi. Would love to see Elfi and Demuslim have a successful run. Though MMA will plow through and start his amazing comeback :D
On August 02 2012 01:08 RUFinalBoss wrote: hmm, i think minigun can make it out of his group his pvz is amazing ( literly makes the matchup fun to watch ) and elfi is beatable pvp.
A Nerchio Inori
B Viloet Kas
C Slivko Minigun
D Vortix killer (i hope)
lol really? you actually think minigun has a chance vs elfin in pvp and slivk or are you just that american?
also you can't really predic any of the grops when you don't know who come from the open bracket.... hope hasu does well but his groups seems incredibly tough vortix and mma are sick good + the guys from open bracket
i think sortof will make it very far (he played amazing lately (eg.beating sase and naniwa in the swedish WCS)
and I'm surprised to see moonglade there I thought he quit progaming quite some time ago (or he just won the SEA qualifier without even playing pro)
Inori will destroy Group A. He got back to back round of 8 in MLG, beating players like viOlet, Symbol, LosirA, ThorZaIN, GanZi, aLive, Ryung and more.
Also he beat MC, PuMa, Golden and SuperNoVa for qualifying IEM GamesCom.
On August 02 2012 01:08 RUFinalBoss wrote: hmm, i think minigun can make it out of his group his pvz is amazing ( literly makes the matchup fun to watch ) and elfi is beatable pvp.
A Nerchio Inori
B Viloet Kas
C Slivko Minigun
D Vortix killer (i hope)
lol really? you actually think minigun has a chance vs elfin in pvp and slivk or are you just that american?
also you can't really predic any of the grops when you don't know who come from the open bracket.... hope hasu does well but his groups seems incredibly tough vortix and mma are sick good + the guys from open bracket
i think sortof will make it very far (he played amazing lately (eg.beating sase and naniwa in the swedish WCS)
and I'm surprised to see moonglade there I thought he quit progaming quite some time ago (or he just won the SEA qualifier without even playing pro)
Well, I myself would pick Minigun, but certainly it's been a wile since I have seen a game of him; At least by what i know of him, he has a very good chance against slivko, not a easy match for sure, but i think he is up there - but the time might fool me around.
On August 02 2012 01:08 RUFinalBoss wrote: hmm, i think minigun can make it out of his group his pvz is amazing ( literly makes the matchup fun to watch ) and elfi is beatable pvp.
A Nerchio Inori
B Viloet Kas
C Slivko Minigun
D Vortix killer (i hope)
lol really? you actually think minigun has a chance vs elfin in pvp and slivk or are you just that american?
also you can't really predic any of the grops when you don't know who come from the open bracket.... hope hasu does well but his groups seems incredibly tough vortix and mma are sick good + the guys from open bracket
i think sortof will make it very far (he played amazing lately (eg.beating sase and naniwa in the swedish WCS)
and I'm surprised to see moonglade there I thought he quit progaming quite some time ago (or he just won the SEA qualifier without even playing pro)
Well, I myself would pick Minigun, but certainly it's been a wile since I have seen a game of him; At least by what i know of him, he has a very good chance against slivko, not a easy match for sure, but i think he is up there - but the time might fool me around.
I can see slivko walking out on top easily, but I feel the same way with elfi... Depends on which one of them shows up, I guess.
On August 02 2012 01:08 RUFinalBoss wrote: hmm, i think minigun can make it out of his group his pvz is amazing ( literly makes the matchup fun to watch ) and elfi is beatable pvp.
A Nerchio Inori
B Viloet Kas
C Slivko Minigun
D Vortix killer (i hope)
Can't really make predictions if the open bracket participants aren't made available :O but from the list given if there were no open bracket your picks look good, sir
On August 02 2012 01:08 RUFinalBoss wrote: hmm, i think minigun can make it out of his group his pvz is amazing ( literly makes the matchup fun to watch ) and elfi is beatable pvp.
A Nerchio Inori
B Viloet Kas
C Slivko Minigun
D Vortix killer (i hope)
lol really? you actually think minigun has a chance vs elfin in pvp and slivk or are you just that american?
also you can't really predic any of the grops when you don't know who come from the open bracket.... hope hasu does well but his groups seems incredibly tough vortix and mma are sick good + the guys from open bracket
i think sortof will make it very far (he played amazing lately (eg.beating sase and naniwa in the swedish WCS)
and I'm surprised to see moonglade there I thought he quit progaming quite some time ago (or he just won the SEA qualifier without even playing pro)
Don't be so abrasive. Elfi and especially sLivko are most likely better than Minigun, but that doesn't mean he has no chance. Everyone has a chance. If you manage to qualify, you're good enough to take games off of anyone, even against those who are favoured against you.
sLivko is the best player in the group so far imho, but on a bad day, he could drop out, too.
Certainly if some of the Open Bracket players are as good as Carmac makes it sound.
I think mOOnGLaDe will do ok in this. After decent success in multiple IEM events last year, and good results in Australian tourneys this year, i think he is set to make a good run again. Andy turns into something else when he puts his entire focus behind practice - it's actually quite an amazing thing to witness. Good luck Andy!!!
Needless to say there are quiet a few good players in this event and a lot of up & comers (not to mention the open bracket), so it's really hard to pick favourites IMO.
On August 02 2012 01:08 RUFinalBoss wrote: hmm, i think minigun can make it out of his group his pvz is amazing ( literly makes the matchup fun to watch ) and elfi is beatable pvp.
A Nerchio Inori
B Viloet Kas
C Slivko Minigun
D Vortix killer (i hope)
lol really? you actually think minigun has a chance vs elfin in pvp and slivk or are you just that american?
also you can't really predic any of the grops when you don't know who come from the open bracket.... hope hasu does well but his groups seems incredibly tough vortix and mma are sick good + the guys from open bracket
i think sortof will make it very far (he played amazing lately (eg.beating sase and naniwa in the swedish WCS)
and I'm surprised to see moonglade there I thought he quit progaming quite some time ago (or he just won the SEA qualifier without even playing pro)
heres a list of players minigun beat in the qualifier Major illusion Vibe State Golden twice and he 3-0d idra. Minigun has seen looking pretty good i wouldn't count him out
Elfi is my favorite SC2 pro, but I have to root for Minigun as American Protoss just don't exist, (apologies to all other American Toss if you've been in a tournament outside the US in international competition recently, I'd name names but don't want those not named to feel slighted), and I want an American Toss to do good. It will be a tough challenge for both of you to get out of the bracket but I think Slivko and Moonglade are quite beatable and I hope the open bracket players are as well!
On August 02 2012 01:08 RUFinalBoss wrote: hmm, i think minigun can make it out of his group his pvz is amazing ( literly makes the matchup fun to watch ) and elfi is beatable pvp.
A Nerchio Inori
B Viloet Kas
C Slivko Minigun
D Vortix killer (i hope)
and I'm surprised to see moonglade there I thought he quit progaming quite some time ago (or he just won the SEA qualifier without even playing pro)
Not sure where you heard this, but he's as active as ever. Our little corner of the globe just doesn't get much attention.
On August 02 2012 09:31 opterown wrote: i want to see who the open bracket players are! :D
mm we could speculate who *could * come with a rather easy journey There is also at least THREE other SC2 tournaments held at gamescom, one from HomerJ and one from Samsung (SEE) PLUS the finals of the geman EPS Cup #6 (socke, goody, bigs,real)
- the type team.. living around the corner from cologne.. ReaL, DBS, Saltthewound - ESC.Daisy currently living in germany, ClouD also - SK based in Düsseldorf, MC is a possibility - other german, polish, french, dutch, belgian , danish, austrian, czech players could attend without too much hassle.. darkforce, delphi, everyone in ministry of win, grubby, harstem, stephano, adelscott, moman, dayshi, babyknight, forGG etcpp
I think we can prepare for a stacked open tournament with at least half of them very notables.
Question for Carmac since i forgot: will the first day be exclusively for open tournament and be broadcasted with maybe help of community casters, or will do it like MLG and put group play out there and the open would get not the best coverage ?
On August 02 2012 09:31 opterown wrote: i want to see who the open bracket players are! :D
mm we could speculate who *could * come with a rather easy journey There is also at least THREE other SC2 tournaments held at gamescom, one from HomerJ and one from Samsung (SEE) PLUS the finals of the geman EPS Cup #6 (socke, goody, bigs,real)
- the type team.. living around the corner from cologne.. ReaL, DBS, Saltthewound - ESC.Daisy currently living in germany, ClouD also - SK based in Düsseldorf, MC is a possibility - other german, polish, french, dutch, belgian , danish, austrian, czech players could attend without too much hassle.. darkforce, delphi, everyone in ministry of win, grubby, harstem, stephano, adelscott, moman, dayshi, babyknight, forGG etcpp
I think we can prepare for a stacked open tournament with at least half of them very notables.
Question for Carmac since i forgot: will the first day be exclusively for open tournament and be broadcasted with maybe help of community casters, or will do it like MLG and put group play out there and the open would get not the best coverage ?
Stephano is in Korea already, he won't play. I really hope at least MC turns up, and I do believe he will.
I love the Open Bracket idea, especially for events in Germany, because it's so central and pretty easy to get to from a lot of countries in Europe.
On August 02 2012 09:31 opterown wrote: i want to see who the open bracket players are! :D
mm we could speculate who *could * come with a rather easy journey There is also at least THREE other SC2 tournaments held at gamescom, one from HomerJ and one from Samsung (SEE) PLUS the finals of the geman EPS Cup #6 (socke, goody, bigs,real)
- the type team.. living around the corner from cologne.. ReaL, DBS, Saltthewound - ESC.Daisy currently living in germany, ClouD also - SK based in Düsseldorf, MC is a possibility - other german, polish, french, dutch, belgian , danish, austrian, czech players could attend without too much hassle.. darkforce, delphi, everyone in ministry of win, grubby, harstem, stephano, adelscott, moman, dayshi, babyknight, forGG etcpp
I think we can prepare for a stacked open tournament with at least half of them very notables.
Question for Carmac since i forgot: will the first day be exclusively for open tournament and be broadcasted with maybe help of community casters, or will do it like MLG and put group play out there and the open would get not the best coverage ?
Stephano is in Korea already, he won't play. I really hope at least MC turns up, and I do believe he will.
I love the Open Bracket idea, especially for events in Germany, because it's so central and pretty easy to get to from a lot of countries in Europe.
On August 02 2012 09:31 opterown wrote: i want to see who the open bracket players are! :D
Question for Carmac since i forgot: will the first day be exclusively for open tournament and be broadcasted with maybe help of community casters, or will do it like MLG and put group play out there and the open would get not the best coverage ?
I am not Carmac, but I read a statement about that somewhere. The first day (wednesday) will be open for trade visitors and media only, so there isn't going to be much of a "e-sport-crowd" anyways and they will therefore hold the whole open tournament on wednesday. Group play then starts when the venue opens for the general public on thursday.
That was the plan, and I don't think they should change it... Since it's the best way to do it imho.
I heard nothing so far about using community casters for the open tournament. Let's wait and see, but I think they will stick their main guns.
Here you can read a lot of about the format changes and the reasoning behind it.
In the following thread they explicitly state that group play will only start after the open tournament is finished and all participants for group play are known: TL thread on IEM format
The Intel Extreme Masters Cologne will take place without superstar MMA. He stated that he does not feel in good enough shape at the moment to participate. SuperNova will take his spot in Group D, playing his first tournament under the banner of mTw. Hours after the groups for the season opening tournament at gamescom were announced, MMA approached our staff to cancel his participation. He stated that he does not feel in good enough shape currently to play in the event.
As a result SuperNoVa, who came in third in the Korea/Taiwan qualification, will take MMA's spot in Group D. His opponents are going to be HasuObs, VortiX and KiLLeR.
The first event of the 2012/13 season of the Intel Extreme Masters will take place from the 15-19th of August at the gamescom in Cologne, Germany. 24 players will participate in the StarCraft II tournament which boosts a $31.800 prize pool.
No surprise at MMA pulling out because while he's still technically on slayers, I doubt slayers want to pay for his travel to IEM, so MMA couldn't afford to attend now.
In the following thread they explicitly state that group play will only start after the open tournament is finished and all participants for group play are known: TL thread on IEM format
Thanks that what i was after.
I quite disliked the MLG IPL et al format where they had group plays for all the days on the main streams and open bracket is shown - if at all - behind paywall. From a business standpoint totally understandable but not my personal preference :-) So yep, gonna be curious what IEM will show us =)
God damnit, it really sucks to see MMA not being able to attend, especially since he was able to qualify. It would have been nice to see him at this tournament, since he would have been the favorite to win it.
I know I'm going to receive a ton of crap, but watch out for PiG. He's playing really well lately, that with a bit of luck and he can advance out of his group.
In the following thread they explicitly state that group play will only start after the open tournament is finished and all participants for group play are known: TL thread on IEM format
Thanks that what i was after.
I quite disliked the MLG IPL et al format where they had group plays for all the days on the main streams and open bracket is shown - if at all - behind paywall. From a business standpoint totally understandable but not my personal preference :-) So yep, gonna be curious what IEM will show us =)
With MLG it's more of a time constraint.
The IEM Open Bracket is only 32 players, as opposed to the massive 256 Double Elim bracket MLG uses.
The open tournament will run in 4 separate DE brackets. The winner of the upper bracket automatically qualifies for the main event with a high seed and the winner of the lower bracket qualifies for the main event with a low seed.
16 of the open tournament slots will be available for online booking to known pros and the other 16 will be available to local players on a first come, first serve basis
Hopefully somebody puts this sortof kid in his place. Kid doesn't deserve to advance. So far, his play has been all luck based and dice rolls and coin flips. I think inori and demuslim and nerchio will show this kid who's boss. The open bracket players will beat this kid too. Honestly, sortof is getting too much hype and too much attention. People keep talking this sortof kid up like he's the next stephano. He has no championships, hasn't ever beaten a top tier Korean like mc and has unstable all luck coin flippy play.
On August 09 2012 21:48 Xoronius wrote: @IEM: "Every full hour, starting at 15:00 CET, we´ll give you the name of one open bracket participant". Thats in 10 min.
lol, hope they reveal ones we don't know and not like MC, ace, etc
The original post has been updated. So far three players for the Open Bracket are known. The 2011 and 2012 IEM World Champions AcE and MC are signed up, as is NesTea.
MC is in a similar situation as well now that he lost to Leenock and seems to be going. So unless he's planning to cancel, maybe DRG could still do it too.
and Stephano travels around so much I don't think he's that far out of the realm of possibility.
MC is in a similar situation as well now that he lost to Leenock and seems to be going. So unless he's planning to cancel, maybe DRG could still do it too.
and Stephano travels around so much I don't think he's that far out of the realm of possibility.
mmm i think DRG is gonna try and persist though,+ Show Spoiler +
MC probably will forfeit WCS? there's no way he can play in L1 and LR2
and stephano just got to kr, seems a bit weird to spend 4 days in korea when you were in europe just a few days before haha
Millenium's manager already stated that Tarson, AdelScott and ForGG would be in open bracket, and he never mentionned Stephano so I doubt he will be at Gamescon.
On August 10 2012 01:28 TumNarDok wrote: Grubby playing in 2 tournaments? oO Regardless Gamescom seems to become a major meetup for Stacraft2 link1link2link3link4
Both tournaments coordinate with one-another to make sure players can play in both!
mc, ace, white-ra, grubby, socke, nestea, bly, puma, forgg, bomber, lucifron and mvp have been annouced officially by iem twitter 4 players left will be a sick open bracket
That's a nice list of open bracket participants. Overall, it is nice to see the changes work out well for IEM as I felt last season there were simply too few big name players.
Hoping for MC to win! I'm sad that MMA got replaced, but since it's SuperNoVa, I guess it's alright. I hope Mvp does well, since he never seems to show great results at offline foreign tourneys (MLG Anaheim/Blizzcon are the only one, I believe?). Also hoping for WhiteRa to do well!
Hmm, so many favorites, I think I'm going to enjoy this specific tournament.
On August 10 2012 18:24 TeeTS wrote: tbh, I don't see MVP and MC skipping WCS for IEM, especially only for the open bracket. But let's see how they decide...
MC is playing for SK and SK is based in Cologne... (as is ESL btw) Since the gamescom is actually taking place in Cologne, I would imagine that SK wants their star representing them at world's biggest gaming trade show, right on their front lawn. Especially considering that probably all relevant sponsors and a huge amount of press (not only gaming) will be present there...
Dunno about MVP, but since he knows his schedule and he obviously registered, I don't see why he should not attend...
Bleh, I was hoping for Bitterdam. Can't stand Day9 and I don't think him and Tasteless are a good fit for an IEM. (Do they even know most of the Europeans participating?) Whereas Bitter and Rotti would have been perfect for this kind of event.
IEM is one of my fav tournaments to watch, the circuit is awesome and the most international tour circuit in the world.. That being said... not seeding MC and Puma directly into the tourney after finishing 1-2 in their championship event is weak, they should instantly be invited, reward your champions IEM!!!!!!
On August 10 2012 22:53 nt-rAven wrote: IEM is one of my fav tournaments to watch, the circuit is awesome and the most international tour circuit in the world.. That being said... not seeding MC and Puma directly into the tourney after finishing 1-2 in their championship event is weak, they should instantly be invited, reward your champions IEM!!!!!!
Both received preferential slots in the Korean qualifier (seeded directly into the final round) and did not make it through. Cannot invite players based on 6-12 months old results...
On August 10 2012 22:53 nt-rAven wrote: IEM is one of my fav tournaments to watch, the circuit is awesome and the most international tour circuit in the world.. That being said... not seeding MC and Puma directly into the tourney after finishing 1-2 in their championship event is weak, they should instantly be invited, reward your champions IEM!!!!!!
Both received preferential slots in the Korean qualifier (seeded directly into the final round) and did not make it through. Cannot invite players based on 6-12 months old results...
IEM was always lacking a bid behind the major tournaments (except the main championship). But this one OMG!!! I am impressed! Sick player line up so far, sick casters and i am sure the production will be great too.
The Jarett Cale video was pretty funny but he overdid it a bid for my taste.^^
This is going to be just epic... This makes for even better reading than the World Championship finals at Cebit last Season.
Being an ESL TV Premium subscriber, I was kind of pissed when I heard that TakeTV introduced their own premium and I would no longer be able to watch HSC in HD via ESL TV. It was still pretty much worth it anyways for the IEM events + all the other stuff on ESL TV but WCS was in HD for everyone (afaik) and I wasn't so sure anymore. But now... If all events this season will be as exciting...36€ for the whole year feels like a really good deal again :-)
Btw: I really hope that some fans manage to be there on wednesday. Would be a shame to have this massively stacked open tournament happen in front of an empty hall.
AND PLS: Don't let those XMG guys into the IEM hall again. The noise level their booth is putting out just f***** annoying!
On August 11 2012 03:29 morbvs wrote: AND PLS: Don't let those XMG guys into the IEM hall again. The noise level their booth is putting out just f***** annoying!
Don't get me started on that XMG stage... -____________- I like XMG but that stage was just obnoxious and overkill... nor did they listen to our concerns at all.
This event will be epic judging from the player pool.
But can somebody explain to me why the player pool is so good? I mean, usually IEM didn´t attract multiple GSL Winners(MC is an exception here.) and so many good players. The player pool was never bad at IEM(They always had good players, but never 3 GSL Winner in one Tournament+Guys like ForGG, ...), that´s not what I´m saying but compared to previous IEM Tournaments the player pool is much better. It almost looks like a MLG.
On August 11 2012 16:10 Wayne123 wrote: This event will be epic judging from the player pool.
But can somebody explain to me why the player pool is so good? I mean, usually IEM didn´t attract multiple GSL Winners(MC is an exception here.) and so many good players. The player pool was never bad at IEM(They always had good players, but never 3 GSL Winner in one Tournament+Guys like ForGG, ...), that´s not what I´m saying but compared to previous IEM Tournaments the player pool is much better. It almost looks like a MLG.
Well MC won the championship earlier this year and they've had him before at their constituent events.
ForGG recently joined a foreign team and moved into the Millennium house so this is probably the first of many foreign events that we'll see him in.
Nestea, MVP, and Yonghwa I believe were supposed to be doing some other promotional event at Gamescom so they may as well have signed up.
and everyone else is pretty standard to see at international events such as Bomber and Puma.
On August 11 2012 03:29 morbvs wrote: AND PLS: Don't let those XMG guys into the IEM hall again. The noise level their booth is putting out just f***** annoying!
Don't get me started on that XMG stage... -____________- I like XMG but that stage was just obnoxious and overkill... nor did they listen to our concerns at all.
Yeah, when you sit in the front row and don´t understand the commentators, smth. is wrong. Do you know, if those people can be avoided this time.
On August 12 2012 21:19 Piou wrote: does anyone have replays from PiG ? never really heard of him and he seems quiet good. Only found ZvZs, i would love some ZvP and ZvT as well
On August 12 2012 21:19 Piou wrote: does anyone have replays from PiG ? never really heard of him and he seems quiet good. Only found ZvZs, i would love some ZvP and ZvT as well
On August 13 2012 19:01 HELLRIDERLICIOUS wrote: can somebody tell me how mc is going to attend at cologne when he obviously has to play wcs next day in korea ?
Edit: Anyone know when the four remaining TBA guys are going to be announced? Still pros left who aren't completely confirmed or will they pick random people from the venue?
Edit: Anyone know when the four remaining TBA guys are going to be announced? Still pros left who aren't completely confirmed or will they pick random people from the venue?
Edit: Anyone know when the four remaining TBA guys are going to be announced? Still pros left who aren't completely confirmed or will they pick random people from the venue?
The remaining spots are up for grabs tomorrow at the ESL Office.
The original plan was to split it 16 before and 16 via walk-in, but the interest was so overwhelming, that we decided to give out more spots in advance once players paid and confirmed their attendance.
Edit: Anyone know when the four remaining TBA guys are going to be announced? Still pros left who aren't completely confirmed or will they pick random people from the venue?
The remaining spots are up for grabs tomorrow at the ESL Office.
The original plan was to split it 16 before and 16 via walk-in, but the interest was so overwhelming, that we decided to give out more spots in advance once players paid and confirmed their attendance.
Okay, cool! Nice that you're still doing at least some walk-in spots, tournament looks to be great in any case.
As long as the XMG booth isn't there and the stage is a bit more quiet.
I'm excited for this tournament. The player roster is decidedly B tier (read: not many koreans), but I think it's great that we get to see a lot of exciting up and comer and fan favourites have a chance at getting far into a tournament instead of being knocked out early by Code S Koreans.
Maybe see an old favourite like Kas or Demuslim finally get that big win they've been looking for. We get to see how top players from fringe scenes fare against the wider playerbase (Killer, the top South American player, Moonglade, the top SEA player, Minigun, a solid American that is picking up steam). We got Vortix, Slivko, and Sortof, emerging players who are sure to be a factor in the scene for some time to come. Throw in some European stars in Nerchio, Hasuobs and Feast and we have a really well rounded group of players.
But of course the likes of Taeja, Squirtle, MC, DRG, Alicia, etc. are probably gonna show up, tear through the open bracket, and litter the top 8 with Korean flags, but hey, so it goes.
Damnit MMA is only Slayers that I like now that Boxer is essentially retired and others are in foreign teams....and why isnt he getting enough exposure now.
On August 15 2012 13:22 Chengakz wrote: Damnit MMA is only Slayers that I like now that Boxer is essentially retired and others are in foreign teams....and why isnt he getting enough exposure now.
On August 15 2012 05:32 shankems2000 wrote: Damn son, 3 AM? Well I'm outta this one. Unless.....you think.....you think my boss will let me get a little nap at work tomorrow?
ya i called him for you we talked he said it's cool you can have tomorrrow off. so feel free to pull an all nighter and watch some sc
On August 15 2012 15:47 zev318 wrote: Always sad to see that the open bracket is way more stacked than the people already in the groupstageA
why would you be sad about that?
imagine there wasn't an open bracket. then you you should complain, but with this chance to get into the tournament for nonqualified players, the best players will eventually play for the tourney win.
Looking at day9's stream right now. 20,000 viewers, not a single mod paying attention. So now the chat is filled with trolls, spammers, and keyloggers. I know twitch chats are notoriously bad but having literally no mods paying attention to the chat for a long time is pretty unprofessional for such a large event. Thank God for the "hide chat" feature.
I can see mOOnGLaDe advancing in first place. I think he'll beat Bomber if Bly was able to bring him to the brink of defeat. GLaDe's biggest threat is easily Grubby.
Go Elfi! You got Grubby and Minigun in your group, and you got the skills to beat both, you've shown against life that you got what it takes to beat any Z in a Bo3 setting. Making it out of 1st group stages at big events is your specialty too! Hope you can lead the group and book your way to the quarterfinals. Who knows what can happen
This host, jarret cole, is really good. I am impressed.
Great tournament IEM...one of the best tournaments I have seen! Great games and a great host (not the biggest fan of tasteless and day9 needs to learn how to say nerchio, but still good), Thanks for an awesome tournament, can't wait to see the conclusion!
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KeRfp.jpg)
Intel Extreme Masters event of the 2012/13 season are revealed. The tournament will take place from the 15-19th of August at gamescom in Cologne, Germany
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/b/b9/Pl.png)
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/f/fb/Ru.png)
MC (Source)
NesTea (Source)
PuMa (Source)
IM NOT WATCHING 
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/rFKJZ.jpg)
