Intel® Extreme Masters has a long-standing relationship with StarCraft® II and we thrilled to once again welcome world's top players to the city of Katowice to compete for the coveted trophy, and a lion's share of the US$400,000 prize pool.
Below, you'll find everything you need to know about qualifying and playing at the tournament.
Online Qualifiers
here will be 4 global qualifiers, all consisting of 2 stages. 11 players who will top the second stages of the qualifiers will be invited to the group stage (Ro24):
3 from KR qualifier #1
2 from KR qualifier #2
3 from EU Qualifier
3 from NA qualifier
*All qualifiers are open to all participants, with no regional restrictions regarding citizenship or residence, but they will be held in the Battle.net regions they are announced. KR = Asia, EU = Europe, NA = Americas.
How will the Qualifiers work:
Stage 1 - Open for all
Single elimination bracket - Bo3
Deciding matches (Ro16) - Bo5 (top 8 qualify to the closed qualifier)
Stage 2 - 16 players (8 qualified from stage 1, 8 from regional WCS results: Asia+Oceania / Europe+Africa / Americas
Double elimination bracket - Bo3
Deciding matches - Bo5 (top 3 qualify to the main event group stages (Ro24))
Note: Not all casters listed here will cover all the qualifiers, keep your eyes open for the streams listed on the TL Calendar event on the right side of the website.
Round of 76 Sign up: Quite didn't make it on the online qualifiers, but you have the ways to put the fight once more? Then you can sign up for the Round of 76, aka the open bracket. Important: Only sign up if you or you team can get you to the event, the Round of 76 is played offline at Katowice.
As stated in the official announcement "imilar to previous years, each qualifier will be treated as a 'Server Qualifier' meaning that there are no regional restrictions to competitors.", but, the qualifiers will be played on the announced Battle.net regions.
Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
Ye a also thought it was because of Rogue's Blizzcon that Korean had one spot less from qualifier last year.
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
yeah,
in the 2018 edition of the tournament, pretty much every top lvl korean made it through some kind of qualifier ( and only pretty much because of a guy named soul ^^)
i'm really looking forward to this, especially if you compare the quality of games in2018 between this tournament and blizzcon, i tink it's safe to say that this will be the truer world championship in my book
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
yeah,
in the 2018 edition of the tournament, pretty much every top lvl korean made it through some kind of qualifier ( and only pretty much because of a guy named soul ^^)
i'm really looking forward to this, especially if you compare the quality of games in2018 between this tournament and blizzcon, i tink it's safe to say that this will be the truer world championship in my book
What?
Pretty hyped for this, shame it's such a long way of. I hope the qualifiers are streamed as well?
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
yeah,
in the 2018 edition of the tournament, pretty much every top lvl korean made it through some kind of qualifier ( and only pretty much because of a guy named soul ^^)
i'm really looking forward to this, especially if you compare the quality of games in2018 between this tournament and blizzcon, i tink it's safe to say that this will be the truer world championship in my book
What?
Pretty hyped for this, shame it's such a long way of. I hope the qualifiers are streamed as well?
what what?
there are two world championsships in sc2 and i prefere this one
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
yeah,
in the 2018 edition of the tournament, pretty much every top lvl korean made it through some kind of qualifier ( and only pretty much because of a guy named soul ^^)
i'm really looking forward to this, especially if you compare the quality of games in2018 between this tournament and blizzcon, i tink it's safe to say that this will be the truer world championship in my book
What?
Pretty hyped for this, shame it's such a long way of. I hope the qualifiers are streamed as well?
what what?
there are two world championsships in sc2 and i prefere this one
Agree to disagree. What qualifies in your opinion for a world championship? That it's a non-invite tournament and everyone is eligible? That would mean WESG is a world championship too and probably a few more tournaments as well. Also it doesn't make sense for a world championship to give points for another world championship, does it?
Because that's how it was named, and it's probably the biggest tournament of the year , and it's not about player being out of shape or qualified because of their nationality. + prizepool + scene
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
yeah,
in the 2018 edition of the tournament, pretty much every top lvl korean made it through some kind of qualifier ( and only pretty much because of a guy named soul ^^)
i'm really looking forward to this, especially if you compare the quality of games in2018 between this tournament and blizzcon, i tink it's safe to say that this will be the truer world championship in my book
What?
Pretty hyped for this, shame it's such a long way of. I hope the qualifiers are streamed as well?
what what?
there are two world championsships in sc2 and i prefere this one
Agree to disagree. What qualifies in your opinion for a world championship? That it's a non-invite tournament and everyone is eligible? That would mean WESG is a world championship too and probably a few more tournaments as well. Also it doesn't make sense for a world championship to give points for another world championship, does it?
well apart from the sublte fact that its called a world championship, it has pretty much all the best players of the world (not just top 8 of restricted regions, which also answers your silly WESG comparison), and if you would care to show me any sport( i honestly don't know to many sports that well, so they could exist) where a world championship is nothing with a regular qualifier then feel free to do so,
but you can keep your opinion all you want, since already my first line should be enough ^^
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
yeah,
in the 2018 edition of the tournament, pretty much every top lvl korean made it through some kind of qualifier ( and only pretty much because of a guy named soul ^^)
i'm really looking forward to this, especially if you compare the quality of games in2018 between this tournament and blizzcon, i tink it's safe to say that this will be the truer world championship in my book
What?
Pretty hyped for this, shame it's such a long way of. I hope the qualifiers are streamed as well?
what what?
there are two world championsships in sc2 and i prefere this one
Agree to disagree. What qualifies in your opinion for a world championship? That it's a non-invite tournament and everyone is eligible? That would mean WESG is a world championship too and probably a few more tournaments as well. Also it doesn't make sense for a world championship to give points for another world championship, does it?
well apart from the sublte fact that its called a world championship, it has pretty much all the best players of the world (not just top 8 of restricted regions, which also answers your silly WESG comparison), and if you would care to show me any sport( i honestly don't know to many sports that well, so they could exist) where a world championship is nothing with a regular qualifier then feel free to do so,
but you can keep your opinion all you want, since already my first line should be enough ^^
If the name is enough for you, that's your thing. For me, just because sth is called sth doesn't mean it actually is. Everyone and their mother could name sth world championship I guess.
WESG is exactly that? I don't understand. Do we mean the same thing? Everyone has the opportunity to qualify AFAIK
I don't understand the regular sports comparison, like what you mean exactly language-wise. Could you explain further?
Obviously I don't mean any offense, this is mostly curiousity. If there are some good arguments for and against sth I'm always open-mined
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
On December 20 2018 08:05 Fango wrote: Shame korea doesn't get more spots from qualifiers, especially with Serral giving europe an extra slot. Its much easier for EU players get participate in the open bracket.
No residency requirements for any of the regional qualifiers aka anyone can compete in any region.
EU may be too much lag but expect lots of Koreans playing on NA
yeah,
in the 2018 edition of the tournament, pretty much every top lvl korean made it through some kind of qualifier ( and only pretty much because of a guy named soul ^^)
i'm really looking forward to this, especially if you compare the quality of games in2018 between this tournament and blizzcon, i tink it's safe to say that this will be the truer world championship in my book
What?
Pretty hyped for this, shame it's such a long way of. I hope the qualifiers are streamed as well?
what what?
there are two world championsships in sc2 and i prefere this one
Agree to disagree. What qualifies in your opinion for a world championship? That it's a non-invite tournament and everyone is eligible? That would mean WESG is a world championship too and probably a few more tournaments as well. Also it doesn't make sense for a world championship to give points for another world championship, does it?
well apart from the sublte fact that its called a world championship, it has pretty much all the best players of the world (not just top 8 of restricted regions, which also answers your silly WESG comparison), and if you would care to show me any sport( i honestly don't know to many sports that well, so they could exist) where a world championship is nothing with a regular qualifier then feel free to do so,
but you can keep your opinion all you want, since already my first line should be enough ^^
If the name is enough for you, that's your thing. For me, just because sth is called sth doesn't mean it actually is. Everyone and their mother could name sth world championship I guess.
WESG is exactly that? I don't understand. Do we mean the same thing? Everyone has the opportunity to qualify AFAIK
I don't understand the regular sports comparison, like what you mean exactly language-wise. Could you explain further?
Obviously I don't mean any offense, this is mostly curiousity. If there are some good arguments for and against sth I'm always open-mined
k, sure your open minded when you don't understand a single point i make, so yeah, choose your one and only world championship, i'm sure its the right choice
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Top players that were at Katowice but missing from Blizzcon are Dear, Solar, Inno, Trap, Gumiho. Maybe they are not the top favourites for the title but they are all capable of making a deep run which raises the overall quality of the tournament and makes it harder for all the other players to win. Also I prefer Katowice just because the format is better imo. 1 bad bo3 series at Blizzcon can mean the end of the tournament for you if your other series is against a top top player (see: Classic)
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Yeah boxing has like 4 or 5 world titles that can be held by different athletes at once.
And many top players were at Katowice this year but not blizzcon. Solar, Dear, Trap, Gumiho, soO come to mine.
Then you have players like Hurricane, Bunny, Impact, Ryung, Leenock, Snute, uThermal, Patience, Scarlett etc. Sure they aren't really contenders for the title, but they aren't pushovers and still contribute to the competition.
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Top players that were at Katowice but missing from Blizzcon are Dear, Solar, Inno, Trap, Gumiho. Maybe they are not the top favourites for the title but they are all capable of making a deep run which raises the overall quality of the tournament and makes it harder for all the other players to win. Also I prefer Katowice just because the format is better imo. 1 bad bo3 series at Blizzcon can mean the end of the tournament for you if your other series is against a top top player (see: Classic)
Blizzcon is a joke, remember 2016 for example, Zest and Violet were so out of shape but qualified because of the first half of the year ...
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Top players that were at Katowice but missing from Blizzcon are Dear, Solar, Inno, Trap, Gumiho. Maybe they are not the top favourites for the title but they are all capable of making a deep run which raises the overall quality of the tournament and makes it harder for all the other players to win. Also I prefer Katowice just because the format is better imo. 1 bad bo3 series at Blizzcon can mean the end of the tournament for you if your other series is against a top top player (see: Classic)
Blizzcon is a joke, remember 2016 for example, Zest and Violet were so out of shape but qualified because of the first half of the year ...
On December 23 2018 07:25 DieuCure wrote: Yes, and Polt had to withdraw due to military service.
Probably the worst Blizzcon of LoTV ( except Byun's story but eh ).
let's face it, all LoTV blizzcons weren't that great (from the quality of the games at least, there where some neat storylines in all 3 of them i think)
On December 23 2018 07:25 DieuCure wrote: Yes, and Polt had to withdraw due to military service.
Probably the worst Blizzcon of LoTV ( except Byun's story but eh ).
let's face it, all LoTV blizzcons weren't that great (from the quality of the games at least, there where some neat storylines in all 3 of them i think)
The 2016 Blizzcon was great not only due to story lines but games as well. May be the finals weren't the best, but there were many good games, starting from the group stage.
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Top players that were at Katowice but missing from Blizzcon are Dear, Solar, Inno, Trap, Gumiho. Maybe they are not the top favourites for the title but they are all capable of making a deep run which raises the overall quality of the tournament and makes it harder for all the other players to win. Also I prefer Katowice just because the format is better imo. 1 bad bo3 series at Blizzcon can mean the end of the tournament for you if your other series is against a top top player (see: Classic)
Blizzcon is a joke, remember 2016 for example, Zest and Violet were so out of shape but qualified because of the first half of the year ...
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Top players that were at Katowice but missing from Blizzcon are Dear, Solar, Inno, Trap, Gumiho. Maybe they are not the top favourites for the title but they are all capable of making a deep run which raises the overall quality of the tournament and makes it harder for all the other players to win. Also I prefer Katowice just because the format is better imo. 1 bad bo3 series at Blizzcon can mean the end of the tournament for you if your other series is against a top top player (see: Classic)
Blizzcon is a joke, remember 2016 for example, Zest and Violet were so out of shape but qualified because of the first half of the year ...
Was that the year Hydra chose love over 11000$?
His wedding probably cost more than $10K
well, i guess that the price for the wedding would be roughly the same a few weeks earlier or later, and he could have planned blizzcon ahead of time considering his lvl of play.
but nobody can argue with his priorities here i would say, and we don't know the details anyway.
what really amazes me everytime is the amount of money people spend for their weddings, but thats a little off tópic i guess^^
On December 23 2018 07:25 DieuCure wrote: Yes, and Polt had to withdraw due to military service.
Probably the worst Blizzcon of LoTV ( except Byun's story but eh ).
let's face it, all LoTV blizzcons weren't that great (from the quality of the games at least, there where some neat storylines in all 3 of them i think)
The 2016 Blizzcon was great not only due to story lines but games as well. May be the finals weren't the best, but there were many good games, starting from the group stage.
2016 was the worst for me because I really hated Buyn style of play, proxy reaper and 2-1-1 got old really fast for me. I imagine it was the same way for some people watching sOs winning in 2013-15.
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Top players that were at Katowice but missing from Blizzcon are Dear, Solar, Inno, Trap, Gumiho. Maybe they are not the top favourites for the title but they are all capable of making a deep run which raises the overall quality of the tournament and makes it harder for all the other players to win. Also I prefer Katowice just because the format is better imo. 1 bad bo3 series at Blizzcon can mean the end of the tournament for you if your other series is against a top top player (see: Classic)
Blizzcon is a joke, remember 2016 for example, Zest and Violet were so out of shape but qualified because of the first half of the year ...
Was that the year Hydra chose love over 11000$?
His wedding probably cost more than $10K
well, i guess that the price for the wedding would be roughly the same a few weeks earlier or later, and he could have planned blizzcon ahead of time considering his lvl of play.
Hydra's wedding was supposed to be before the tournament. No announcement being made yet at the time of planning, the date was selected based on the schedule of the previous years, with them expecting it to work out.
On December 21 2018 19:46 Ej_ wrote: If Durn wins the LRSL World Championship, who will be the SC2 world champion?
You can have more than one world championship. Currently Serral is the reigning WCS world champion, and Rogue is the reigning IEM world champion.
Katowice is certainly a better tournament than blizzcon, given it has almost every decent sc2 player competing and a much better format. But you could argue WCS had more prestige.
Isn't boxing something with a multitude of titles? I never cared much for boxing
Playerwise: Which players did you miss at Blizzcon that were huge contenders for IEM?
Top players that were at Katowice but missing from Blizzcon are Dear, Solar, Inno, Trap, Gumiho. Maybe they are not the top favourites for the title but they are all capable of making a deep run which raises the overall quality of the tournament and makes it harder for all the other players to win. Also I prefer Katowice just because the format is better imo. 1 bad bo3 series at Blizzcon can mean the end of the tournament for you if your other series is against a top top player (see: Classic)
Blizzcon is a joke, remember 2016 for example, Zest and Violet were so out of shape but qualified because of the first half of the year ...
Was that the year Hydra chose love over 11000$?
His wedding probably cost more than $10K
well, i guess that the price for the wedding would be roughly the same a few weeks earlier or later, and he could have planned blizzcon ahead of time considering his lvl of play.
Hydra's wedding was supposed to be before the tournament. No announcement being made yet at the time of planning, the date was selected based on the schedule of the previous years, with them expecting it to work out.
well, then once again: nobody can hold his priorities against him
Btw, can EU players sign for US qualies and otherwise? I see a lot of Koreans in EU quali but I cant signup for US. (i am from Europe). Just wanna check if its kinda region-locked
On January 03 2019 23:57 ZeRoX_TV wrote: Btw, can EU players sign for US qualies and otherwise? I see a lot of Koreans in EU quali but I cant signup for US. (i am from Europe). Just wanna check if its kinda region-locked
Edit : Its now open to all
It has been like that for a while. The qualifiers are server qualifiers, that is, they are played on those specific servers. You can play in every single one of them if you want.
In-game Chat Channel: IEM (/join IEM in the Americas region)
Check-in:Saturday, Jan 05 9:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Late Sign up:Saturday, Jan 05 9:45pm GMT (GMT+00:00) (in case you forgot to sign up, you can do it during the Late Sign up)
Starting hour:Saturday, Jan 05 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT
All players must upload the replays of their matches
No Skins are allowed, all players have to play with the default skin;
All the in-game names should be recognizable and attached to your online persona. If you need help in setting up your ESL account please check this guide;
All the Qualifiers will be transmitted by a team of pre selected Casters - for those who don't remember, applications were open since the announcement of the qualifiers. Currently we have streams listed to broadcast in English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Taiwanese (see first post);
8 Players advance from Stage 1 to Stage 2, that means the last round played today is the Ro16. Stage 2 is played tomorrow, Sunday, Jan 06 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
If you end up facing issues when signing up, or have any general questions regarding the tournament, feel free to open a ticket on the support
On January 06 2019 04:37 billynasty wrote: Good luck anyone from NA getting thru the NA Qualifiers. Its stacked with some pretty good players from KR & EU lol
You weren't kidding.
Assuming everyone checks in: Maru, ty, stats, innovation, dear, solar, sos, and I'm sure I forgot others
On January 06 2019 04:37 billynasty wrote: Good luck anyone from NA getting thru the NA Qualifiers. Its stacked with some pretty good players from KR & EU lol
You weren't kidding.
Assuming everyone checks in: Maru, ty, stats, innovation, dear, solar, sos, and I'm sure I forgot others
Do we know who's casting?
Yep its listed on the 1st page. Maynarde, Zombiegrub, Feardragon, Wardi, LaughNGames & a few other english casters & many other languages too.
I get the idea behind region locking. But allowing players from other regions to take part in regional qualifiers doesn't really make much sense to me. Its like it goes against the plot. I am excited for todays games however. Been waiting for this to begin for months now. Good luck to everyone involved
On January 06 2019 04:37 billynasty wrote: Good luck anyone from NA getting thru the NA Qualifiers. Its stacked with some pretty good players from KR & EU lol
You weren't kidding.
Assuming everyone checks in: Maru, ty, stats, innovation, dear, solar, sos, and I'm sure I forgot others
Do we know who's casting?
Yep its listed on the 1st page. Maynarde, Zombiegrub, Feardragon, Wardi, LaughNGames & a few other english casters & many other languages too.
I get the idea behind region locking. But allowing players from other regions to take part in regional qualifiers doesn't really make much sense to me. Its like it goes against the plot. I am excited for todays games however. Been waiting for this to begin for months now. Good luck to everyone involved
Yep & thats why there's qualifiers for every region around the globe. Like i said i get why they do it, I'd just rather the NA qualifiers be only for NA players. EU for EU, etc. I know some prefer the way it is currently. Me personally I'd like to see players from their own region get to earn the correlating qualifying spot.
On January 06 2019 03:48 Sinistro wrote: Alright folks, we are just a few moments away from the first qualifier, and I will link to remind all of you of these important details:
[*]No Skins are allowed, all players have to play with the default skin;
Thought part of the rules were that players had to use default skins. I'm watching a game right now between TY & Hero where Hero is using unit & building skins. Guess some rules can be broken? When i see things like this it makes me wonder why we have rules at all
On January 06 2019 03:48 Sinistro wrote: Alright folks, we are just a few moments away from the first qualifier, and I will link to remind all of you of these important details:
[*]No Skins are allowed, all players have to play with the default skin;
Thought part of the rules were that players had to use default skins. I'm watching a game right now between TY & Hero where Hero is using unit & building skins. Guess some rules can be broken? When i see things like this it makes me wonder why we have rules at all
not everyone is a snitch who will demand a rematch cuz of skins
On January 06 2019 03:48 Sinistro wrote: Alright folks, we are just a few moments away from the first qualifier, and I will link to remind all of you of these important details:
[*]No Skins are allowed, all players have to play with the default skin;
Thought part of the rules were that players had to use default skins. I'm watching a game right now between TY & Hero where Hero is using unit & building skins. Guess some rules can be broken? When i see things like this it makes me wonder why we have rules at all
not everyone is a snitch who will demand a rematch cuz of skins
herO play with skins because that way it gives a reason to pause the game
On January 06 2019 08:38 chipmonklord17 wrote: Yo where can I find all the clips of Feardragons 'Question' segment thing that just aired. That shit was hilarious
He cycles his various clips on his stream during downtown regularly. Not sure if they are in his Twitch VODs but check there.
lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
It is likely but I wouldn't could out the mind-diminished bonjwa, TIME(his chinese nickname sounds like this and I find it hilarious); Maru is largely favored but TIME's TvT can't be underestimated.
There are many interesting games that I'm eager to watch but definitely not many NA players, not even the top seeded ones xD
On January 06 2019 20:02 Poopi wrote: NA got rekt properly by KR I see?
Poor fucking TY tho :/ hard MU or he plays bad nowadays?
TY randomly loses sometimes. He is very good recently times but definitely not consistent if we exclude TvT!
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
Stats, Soo, Zest, herO, Maru, Innovation, Patience, sOs
What about Korean up and comers? If KR goes first then no point in even trying, you'll get Innovation in the first round. And every player can play on every server - the NA guys actually have an advantage in this regard since Neeb and Scarlett have homes in Korea and NA.
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
Stats, Soo, Zest, herO, Maru, Innovation, Patience, sOs
What about Korean up and comers? If KR goes first then no point in even trying, you'll get Innovation in the first round. And every player can play on every server - the NA guys actually have an advantage in this regard since Neeb and Scarlett have homes in Korea and NA.
I've been told by knowledgeable forum posters that there aren't any korean up and comers.
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
Stats, Soo, Zest, herO, Maru, Innovation, Patience, sOs
What about Korean up and comers? If KR goes first then no point in even trying, you'll get Innovation in the first round. And every player can play on every server - the NA guys actually have an advantage in this regard since Neeb and Scarlett have homes in Korea and NA.
Up and comers? Such as? I looked at the list two days ago and I don't remember there were any. Korean scene is not as large as it used to be, but almost every korean left is a top notch player. Even if there were more up and comers, if not Maru or Rogue, the likes of Cure or Impact would deny them a qualifier spot.
Why is the second day starting so godawful late? I will not be able to see single match. I bet they will spend the first 30 minutes talking too just in case I try...
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
Stats, Soo, Zest, herO, Maru, Innovation, Patience, sOs
What about Korean up and comers? If KR goes first then no point in even trying, you'll get Innovation in the first round. And every player can play on every server - the NA guys actually have an advantage in this regard since Neeb and Scarlett have homes in Korea and NA.
Koreans have two qualifiers, giving any Koreans, old or new, 100% more opportunities to qualify on home turf than any upcoming EU or NA guy.
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
Stats, Soo, Zest, herO, Maru, Innovation, Patience, sOs
What about Korean up and comers? If KR goes first then no point in even trying, you'll get Innovation in the first round. And every player can play on every server - the NA guys actually have an advantage in this regard since Neeb and Scarlett have homes in Korea and NA.
Koreans have two qualifiers, giving any Koreans, old or new, 100% more opportunities to qualify on home turf than any upcoming EU or NA guy.
didn't know players can only play in the qualifier of their own region.
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
Stats, Soo, Zest, herO, Maru, Innovation, Patience, sOs
What about Korean up and comers? If KR goes first then no point in even trying, you'll get Innovation in the first round. And every player can play on every server - the NA guys actually have an advantage in this regard since Neeb and Scarlett have homes in Korea and NA.
Koreans have two qualifiers, giving any Koreans, old or new, 100% more opportunities to qualify on home turf than any upcoming EU or NA guy.
didn't know players can only play in the qualifier of their own region.
On January 06 2019 10:38 argonautdice wrote: lol NA qualifier being first makes the Stage 2 invitees least likely to qualify since all the best players will qualify through here whereas if this qualifier was last then they're only up against the 9th-16th best players.
Ya, this just makes it harder for NA and gives EU more chances for up and comers.
They really should’ve done KR qualifiers first so fewer Koreans would be playing NA.
Stats, Soo, Zest, herO, Maru, Innovation, Patience, sOs
What about Korean up and comers? If KR goes first then no point in even trying, you'll get Innovation in the first round. And every player can play on every server - the NA guys actually have an advantage in this regard since Neeb and Scarlett have homes in Korea and NA.
Koreans have two qualifiers, giving any Koreans, old or new, 100% more opportunities to qualify on home turf than any upcoming EU or NA guy.
didn't know players can only play in the qualifier of their own region.
On January 07 2019 07:43 Sinistro wrote: quick link for all live streams today - I don't recommend logging in through multitwitch because their site is not https, use it just to watch:
I don't get how Patience's micro can go from terrible and missing all the pick-ups with the warp prism, to pristine and picking all the immortals up at the drop of a hat.
Maybe his micro's good, but his multi-tasking sucks.
On January 07 2019 09:21 ZigguratOfUr wrote: I don't get how Patience's micro can go from terrible and missing all the pick-ups with the warp prism, to pristine and picking all the immortals up at the drop of a hat.
Maybe his micro's good, but his multi-tasking sucks.
On January 07 2019 09:35 argonautdice wrote: Don't understand why they can't have the KR qualifiers first.
Maybe that would have been best given that the NA qualifier is the most accessible qualifier giving NA players a disadvantage, but maybe the scheduling didn't work out. Also practically speaking I don't think it makes a difference.
One of the worst coverage I've ever seen. Literally multiple streams are covering the same match while no one seems to cover the others. What a waste. I appreciate they cover the qualifier but at least having some coordination would be nice.
On January 07 2019 09:47 Vutalisk wrote: One of the worst coverage I've ever seen. Literally multiple streams are covering the same match while no one seems to cover the others. What a waste. I appreciate they cover the qualifier but at least having some coordination would be nice.
I don't think it's that bad. It's always tougher towards the end of a qualifier where everyone gets out of games around the same time and then there's only one game starting, so you either all end up in one game or have to wait a bunch.
On January 07 2019 10:04 blooblooblahblah wrote: Yeah, as far as coverage for tournament qualifiers go, this hasn't been too bad. Hell, we've seen main events that have been worse than this.
Agreed. And that's true even if you don't mention the coverage of Chinese events.
On January 07 2019 11:49 Xain0n wrote: Ah ok. That has been the case for months tho! When was the last time late TvP was balanced/playable?
Balanced? Not that long ago. Logically it had to have been balanced at some point in between proxies being unbeatable, and TvP being unwinnable for terran.
Playable/watchable? It was probably okay at some moments between phoenix/adept being nerfed in April 2017 and patch 4.0 in November 2017.
I am specifically addressing late game TvP as I don't think(and results show) that TvP as a whole definitely isn't unplayable, even if it is on a timer.
Am I the only one who is glad the Koreans qualified even though it's an American qualifier? This qualifier should put an end to the "gap is closing" talk.
This qualifier doesn't really say much tbh! If Koreans will qualify throughout EU servers we should worry. I'm positive there are going to be more than eight foreigners in the final stage of the tournament, eventually.
On January 07 2019 13:01 geokilla wrote: Am I the only one who is glad the Koreans qualified even though it's an American qualifier? This qualifier should put an end to the "gap is closing" talk.
Nothing short of Serral losing 69-0 against an off-racing Supernova is going to stop the "gap is closing" talk. And everyone expected three Koreans to qualify through the American qualifiers (last year where Elazer qualifier through the American qualifiers was rather bizarre).
In-game Chat Channel: IEM (/join IEM in the Europe region)
Check-in:Monday, Jan 07 2:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Late Sign up:Monday, Jan 07 2:45pm GMT (GMT+00:00) (in case you forgot to sign up, you can do it during the Late Sign up)
Starting hour:Monday, Jan 07 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT
All players must upload the replays of their matches
No Skins are allowed, all players have to play with the default skin;
All the in-game names should be recognizable and attached to your online persona. If you need help in setting up your ESL account please check this guide;
All the Qualifiers will be transmitted by a team of pre selected Casters - for those who don't remember, applications were open since the announcement of the qualifiers. Currently we have streams listed to broadcast in English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Taiwanese (see first post);
8 Players advance from Stage 1 to Stage 2, that means the last round played today is the Ro16. Stage 2 is played tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan 08 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
If you end up facing issues when signing up, or have any general questions regarding the tournament, feel free to open a ticket on the support
On January 08 2019 00:47 Athenau wrote: If two koreans play each other, do they play on KR or EU?
Korea. Two players can decide on any server they want. But if a Korean plays an NA or EU, then their opponent will (as they are entitled to), insist on EU, and if the 2 players cant agree, then the server is defaulted to EU.
On January 07 2019 13:15 Xain0n wrote: This qualifier doesn't really say much tbh! If Koreans will qualify throughout EU servers we should worry. I'm positive there are going to be more than eight foreigners in the final stage of the tournament, eventually.
Do you realize how bad connection is to European servers from Korea? The big wall of internets is what saved the old WCS Europe and what actually moved a lot players into Europe.
On January 08 2019 01:32 yht9657 wrote: Looks like the ping wall is doing a much better job at protecting EU than NA.
IIRC the old post of some pro, it was around 100/150 ms to NA and 350/400 ms to Europe. That's almost half of a second
On January 08 2019 03:00 argonautdice wrote: It'd be funny if Koreans qualify through the NA qualifier, the NA players qualify through the EU qualifiers ... and the EU players don't qualify.
Only NA players left in the running for EU are Neeb and SpeCial.
On January 08 2019 03:00 argonautdice wrote: It'd be funny if Koreans qualify through the NA qualifier, the NA players qualify through the EU qualifiers ... and the EU players don't qualify.
EU already has the only direct seed, so it's not that bad.
fanta was clearly playing with bad latency, his micro looked like he was playing on an ipad, but he can only blame himself for not killing bly after he threw the initial mutas for little to no compensation
I'm so confused by fantasy's response to literally mass muta.... 6 lib / AA missile zones this so hard is not even funny, thor light AA is utter garbage.
I doubt Bunny, Gumiho and herO would dominate a LAN tournament against this field and they will most likely play on EU server this time(that's going to be a disadvantage for UThermal, Special and Elazer too since they are in Korea atm).
I don't think they are expected to do better than Maru, Trap, True and Creator did in 2017, when three EU players qualified.
On January 08 2019 05:41 Rodya wrote: Can Europe survive the 2 best NA players and a few KR terrans in tomorrows qualifier? Probably Reynor can, but I doubt anyone else will.
On January 08 2019 05:41 Rodya wrote: Can Europe survive the 2 best NA players and a few KR terrans in tomorrows qualifier? Probably Reynor can, but I doubt anyone else will.
I bet Elazer will stomp Neeb but Special has better chance. Since hes gonna play 2 TvP's its gonna be hard vs ShowTime but I would like mexican to qualify. Neeb's chances are very low. I bet on ShowTime, HeroMarine and Lambo.
On January 09 2019 00:39 Nakajin wrote: Is cyclone helion suppose to be good? Because it look like shit right now
Everything looks like shit if you are playing with half a second lag.
Everyone besides Special apparently, he's playing from KR as well and just went 1:1 in practice matches against Neeb yesterday. Also killed Mana 2:0, not the easiest of EU Protoss in my opinion
On January 09 2019 02:32 argonautdice wrote: Special qualifying from Korea is really impressive
Considering many Koreans don't even bother entering the eu qualifiers
The KR qualifiers are gonna be a bloodbath. The only foreigners who have a chance at qualifying are the ones physically there.
I honestly doubt they have much of a chance, given that players like Stats, Trap, TY, Dark, Rogue, Zest, Classic, soO and the rest of Code S are yet to qualified. Doesn't look pretty for The NoRegreT's Bunch
On January 08 2019 05:41 Rodya wrote: Can Europe survive the 2 best NA players and a few KR terrans in tomorrows qualifier? Probably Reynor can, but I doubt anyone else will.
I bet Elazer will stomp Neeb but Special has better chance. Since hes gonna play 2 TvP's its gonna be hard vs ShowTime but I would like mexican to qualify. Neeb's chances are very low. I bet on ShowTime, HeroMarine and Lambo.
Turns out Neeb 2-0s Elazer, beats HeroMarine, and qualifies with the best record, while Lambo goes out 0-4.
On January 08 2019 03:00 argonautdice wrote: It'd be funny if Koreans qualify through the NA qualifier, the NA players qualify through the EU qualifiers ... and the EU players don't qualify.
On January 09 2019 02:32 argonautdice wrote: Special qualifying from Korea is really impressive
Considering many Koreans don't even bother entering the eu qualifiers
The KR qualifiers are gonna be a bloodbath. The only foreigners who have a chance at qualifying are the ones physically there.
I honestly doubt they have much of a chance, given that players like Stats, Trap, TY, Dark, Rogue, Zest, Classic, soO and the rest of Code S are yet to qualified. Doesn't look pretty for The NoRegreT's Bunch
The Final qualifier is still tough but can have a bit of bracket luck, the open bracket is going to be interesting but I don't think it's impossible some of them can get through. It's hard to speak to all of their forms, like soO, and it is online Stats who can be disappointing in this environment sometimes (didn't he have to Open Bracket it last year and got knocked out in it too?). Him getting knocked out by Masa and Special in the NA is kind of telling even with the server difference relative to other online Koreans.
Who's in Korea now anyway? Special won't have to now, not Neeb if he was going to try. Is Showtime in KR? Scarlett could give that one a shot, hopefully she doesn't get ZvZ at least.
On January 09 2019 02:32 argonautdice wrote: Special qualifying from Korea is really impressive
Considering many Koreans don't even bother entering the eu qualifiers
Unlike those Koreans Juanito isn't invited to KR qualifiers so he kinda has to try his luck here.
He could've have tried Korea from the Open bracket part if he needed to, the invites are only 8 to the 'Final' part of the qualifier. People have confused this part for every server.
How the hell did Snute slay Lambo? Lambo seemed to be in great form lately and the last one to take him down, would have been a "retired" Snute in my mind. lol
I love Snute and Lambo aswell, just confused the hell out of me when i opened Liqupedia haha
On January 09 2019 02:32 argonautdice wrote: Special qualifying from Korea is really impressive
Considering many Koreans don't even bother entering the eu qualifiers
Unlike those Koreans Juanito isn't invited to KR qualifiers so he kinda has to try his luck here.
He could've have tried Korea from the Open bracket part if he needed to, the invites are only 8 to the 'Final' part of the qualifier. People have confused this part for every server.
Ofc he could but that means he would also risk running into a decent Korean player in the open bracket. In comparasion EU qualifier seems way easier even with the ping wall.
On January 09 2019 03:47 Nakajin wrote: Guys we might see an EU qualifier with 0 zerg going through, what's going on?
Well Serral will be there so we're fine, plus theres still a possibility for the players to qualify in poland/at the event.
I do wonder if the patch hurt zerg more then I anticipated, only 2 zerg got to phase 2 of the qualifier (SoO and Snute) and none qualify yet, maybe it's just a coincidence.
On January 09 2019 03:47 Nakajin wrote: Guys we might see an EU qualifier with 0 zerg going through, what's going on?
Well Elazer is in korea and he's not performing well, Lambo seems out of shape, Snute was actually unexpected, Nerchio isn't really top level anymore, Serral is seeded and Reynor kind of failed.
Rodya was actually half right: the koreans didn't really do much(as I expected), but Neeb and Special qualified! Special, in particular, impressed as he is in KR but I don't know if UThermal is still there as well(and he definitely threw game 5).
I mean Zerg generally is weaker after a big patch (esp reactionary) because of new stuff emerging so they take some time to figure out ideal drone timings against the builds of other races. Also this nerf hit Zerg more than any recent patch iirc so it's no wonder they are somewhat struggling.
I dont think you can take much from the last game, showtime goddamn walked zealots into thermal's base and somehow did massive damage, imagine if they went with a warp prism, they get there much faster and are much more microable (ptitdrogo wrecked 6.5k kr terrans earlier today with this exact response) and then his second zealot warp-in gave up harassing mid way and went back to suicide into the bunker wall, just bad play from showtime.
On January 09 2019 05:24 yht9657 wrote: Or we can just delete Protoss from the game, pretty sure that won't affect TVZ which is the only matchup that matters in this game
On the flipside, EU would be even more saturated with ZvZs.
So unplayable Terran keep beating Protoss these qualifiers:15-11 in maps(5-3 in games) day 1 into 18-11(7-4) day 2 in EU, and it went a similar way in AM. The matchup is broken and has to be fixed but it can't really be called Protoss favored when the lategame imbalance just isn't reached often enough.
On the other hand, as happened in HSC, once games acquire a certain importance Zerg falter.
Too early and too few datas to actually say anything buy the problem might not be TvP balance wise.
On January 09 2019 05:41 Pandain wrote: Only terrans could have 2/3 terrans advance from each qualifier and complain that Terran is completely unplayable.
Foreign Terrans are completely unplayable. For years now. Major exception to the rule is Special Juan
On January 09 2019 05:41 Pandain wrote: Only terrans could have 2/3 terrans advance from each qualifier and complain that Terran is completely unplayable.
0 of 6 for Zerg qualified, with 2 of 16 for Zerg through open NA/EU qualis, and only 1 Zerg making to a qualifying match (bo5).
And this is including EU region, protected from KR by lag.
I was expecting KR to be devoid of Zerg from HSC performances, but I guess the patch was really really bad for Zerg, I can only imagine how bad race representation is going to be.
On January 09 2019 05:38 Xain0n wrote: So unplayable Terran keep beating Protoss these qualifiers:15-11 in maps(5-3 in games) day 1 into 18-11(7-4) day 2 in EU, and it went a similar way in AM. The matchup is broken and has to be fixed but it can't really be called Protoss favored when the lategame imbalance just isn't reached often enough.
On the other hand, as happened in HSC, once games acquire a certain importance Zerg falter.
Too early and too few datas to actually say anything buy the problem might not be TvP balance wise.
Not even 50 maps is a really bad sample, considering that KR terran were playing against foreigner toss.
But because of people like you (believing that games won because of proxy and scv pull are enough to say that the match up dont have to be fixed because it's balanced) is why this matchup will remain as it is, full of clown builds and plays. There is urgency, but saying that this isnt the case because the terrans manage to win, we will just deport the problem.
On January 09 2019 05:38 Xain0n wrote: So unplayable Terran keep beating Protoss these qualifiers:15-11 in maps(5-3 in games) day 1 into 18-11(7-4) day 2 in EU, and it went a similar way in AM. The matchup is broken and has to be fixed but it can't really be called Protoss favored when the lategame imbalance just isn't reached often enough.
On the other hand, as happened in HSC, once games acquire a certain importance Zerg falter.
Too early and too few datas to actually say anything buy the problem might not be TvP balance wise.
Not even 50 maps is a really bad sample, considering that KR terran were playing against foreigner toss.
But because of people like you (believing that games won because of proxy and scv pull are enough to say that the match up dont have to be fixed because it's balanced) is why this matchup will remain as it is, full of clown builds and plays. There is urgency, but saying that this isnt the case because the terrans manage to win, we will just deport the problem.
If you want to use THIS as the proof, then don't talk just about PvT. ZvT is off too. And while Terrans managed to go through we can't say that much about Zergs, right? ;-)
we're yet to know whether terran s all-in are too strong or not but what terran players are doing right now is definately not what blizzard've stated in the feedback update
If you look at the lists before this one after the patch,or even at the current one,you will find out a different truth.
The games that mattered the most during this period were the ones at HSC and these last ones at IEM qualifiers and Zerg have performed horribly there. Hopefully Dark&co will qualify en masse or we could have very few Zerg in Katowice(on the other hand, WESG qualifiers were played pre patch and the tournament will be stacked with Zerg).
I am saying TvP HAS to be fixed because it is not well balanced, Protoss definitely has the upper hand in the latest stage of the game. However, this doesn't translate in the mu being unplayable for Terran at pro level; proxies, pushes and all-in Terran are forced to use are in fact apparently hard for the Protoss to repel or at least have been the last two days, given Terran have won more maps and games.
On January 09 2019 05:38 Xain0n wrote: So unplayable Terran keep beating Protoss these qualifiers:15-11 in maps(5-3 in games) day 1 into 18-11(7-4) day 2 in EU, and it went a similar way in AM. The matchup is broken and has to be fixed but it can't really be called Protoss favored when the lategame imbalance just isn't reached often enough.
On the other hand, as happened in HSC, once games acquire a certain importance Zerg falter.
Too early and too few datas to actually say anything buy the problem might not be TvP balance wise.
Not even 50 maps is a really bad sample, considering that KR terran were playing against foreigner toss.
But because of people like you (believing that games won because of proxy and scv pull are enough to say that the match up dont have to be fixed because it's balanced) is why this matchup will remain as it is, full of clown builds and plays. There is urgency, but saying that this isnt the case because the terrans manage to win, we will just deport the problem.
If you want to use THIS as the proof, then don't talk just about PvT. ZvT is off too. And while Terrans managed to go through we can't say that much about Zergs, right? ;-)
On January 09 2019 05:38 Xain0n wrote: So unplayable Terran keep beating Protoss these qualifiers:15-11 in maps(5-3 in games) day 1 into 18-11(7-4) day 2 in EU, and it went a similar way in AM. The matchup is broken and has to be fixed but it can't really be called Protoss favored when the lategame imbalance just isn't reached often enough.
On the other hand, as happened in HSC, once games acquire a certain importance Zerg falter.
Too early and too few datas to actually say anything buy the problem might not be TvP balance wise.
Not even 50 maps is a really bad sample, considering that KR terran were playing against foreigner toss.
But because of people like you (believing that games won because of proxy and scv pull are enough to say that the match up dont have to be fixed because it's balanced) is why this matchup will remain as it is, full of clown builds and plays. There is urgency, but saying that this isnt the case because the terrans manage to win, we will just deport the problem.
If you want to use THIS as the proof, then don't talk just about PvT. ZvT is off too. And while Terrans managed to go through we can't say that much about Zergs, right? ;-)
Yes, ZvT is just about 55%.
Post patch TvZ has been 48.5 %, 54.5%, 46.4% and (current list with IEM games not added) 53% on Aligulac. Slightly T favored overall but definitely healthy, not to mention it has been very entertaining due to the various array of viable strategies.
Aligulac stats are usually not good for balance, you can find GomTvT (6-2-0 T-P-Z RO8) with TvZ being 52/53% for Zerg.
There's too much noise in those with games from master league players etc...
PvZ in GSL was like 50.X% for Protoss in 2018, with Protoss and Zerg having good representation in all phases of the tournament (maybe a bit Z light on the topend)... but if you went by Aligulac stats zerg was dominating.
Post patch TvZ has been 48.5 %, 54.5%, 46.4% and (current list with IEM games not added) 53% on Aligulac. Slightly T favored overall but definitely healthy, not to mention it has been very entertaining due to the various array of viable strategies.
Aligulac stats are meaningless unless filtered. Meaningfull results balance wise of a given patch are in games between meaningfull players. That is top 10-40 players in the World. That is those who excercise all skills required by the game. It will be different if we take all players into account. The game cannot be balanced around newbies or weekend players - hope we agree. Right now the balance appears seriously broken to me.
In-game Chat Channel: IEM (/join IEM in the Americas region)
Check-in:Wednesday, Jan 09 9:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)
Late Sign up:Wednesday, Jan 09 9:45am GMT (GMT+00:00) (in case you forgot to sign up, you can do it during the Late Sign up)
Starting hour:Wednesday, Jan 09 10:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)
IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT
All players must upload the replays of their matches
No Skins are allowed, all players have to play with the default skin;
All the in-game names should be recognizable and attached to your online persona. If you need help in setting up your ESL account please check this guide;
All the Qualifiers will be transmitted by a team of pre selected Casters - for those who don't remember, applications were open since the announcement of the qualifiers. Currently we have streams listed to broadcast in English, German, French, Polish, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Taiwanese (see first post);
8 Players advance from Stage 1 to Stage 2, that means the last round played today is the Ro16. Stage 2 is played tomorrow, Monday, Jan 14 10:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)
If you end up facing issues when signing up, or have any general questions regarding the tournament, feel free to open a ticket on the support
Watching the games from MC vs herO makes me think that with some time he could rly become Dangerous again. He's still misjudging situations because he is not yet accustomed to the meta i guess, but he played pretty well with that in mind i think.
On January 10 2019 00:39 Rodya wrote: The best players in terms of skill in the NA and Eu qualifiers were Terrans. In this qualifier the best players are soO, Dark, Classic,and Stats.
Stats is a wildcard. He can do well but more often than not he'll fail online. Like in the NA qualifiers vs MaSa and SpeCial. And whether Classic is one of the best players in this qualifier is not determinable on this patch, hasn't played anything since November.
sOs seems good again while Classic played and lost only two games since BlizzCon. Stats is the best Protoss offline but I wouldn't count on him advancing via online qualifier xd soO's form is promising while Dark's ZvP isn't immaculate.
Brackets were released tho and the second one is stacked with the ones I considered the most likely to advance. Will we witness Dark against one of his nemeses Stats or Trap in the first bracket's qualifying match?
On January 10 2019 02:20 Xain0n wrote: sOs seems good again while Classic played and lost only two games since BlizzCon. Stats is the best Protoss offline but I wouldn't count on him advancing via online qualifier xd soO's form is promising while Dark's ZvP isn't immaculate.
Brackets were released tho and the second one is stacked with the ones I considered the most likely to advance. Will we witness Dark against one of his nemeses Stats or Trap in the first bracket's qualifying match?
sOs can play in range from worse than a foreigner to godlike in 4 different games in a day. Judging a form of sOs is dangerous. You've been warned.
EPT![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtFh8K1VAAEz4uQ.jpg)
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