EPTThe StarCraft II World Championship in Poland later this year will feature a single elimination bracket set to award the tournament winner all of the US$100,000 competition prize money.
To celebrate our 50th IEM event, we’ve turned up the heat for our World Championship event in Katowice, Poland. Sixteen of the world’s best StarCraft II professional players will battle it out, with only one taking home any of our US$100,000 prize money. As if that wasn’t tough enough, competitors will only have one chance to prove themselves: the single elimination bracket will allow for no mistakes.
“Every season the IEM was one of the hardest tournaments to win all year. In 2014 we would like to take it to a new level of extreme. True champions are born when they express their talent in the most extreme situations,” said Michal Blicharz, Managing Director of Pro Gaming at ESL. “We wanted to create the most high-pressure tournament this audience has ever seen.”
Those who finished first and second at IEM Shanghai, New York and Singapore have already been invited, all expenses paid, to the World Championship in Katowice. With IEM Sao Paulo and Cologne still ahead, a further four places will be decided in the coming weeks. So far, the players qualified for the US$100,000 event are:
To celebrate our 50th IEM event, we’ve turned up the heat for our World Championship event in Katowice, Poland. Sixteen of the world’s best StarCraft II professional players will battle it out, with only one taking home any of our US$100,000 prize money. As if that wasn’t tough enough, competitors will only have one chance to prove themselves: the single elimination bracket will allow for no mistakes.
“Every season the IEM was one of the hardest tournaments to win all year. In 2014 we would like to take it to a new level of extreme. True champions are born when they express their talent in the most extreme situations,” said Michal Blicharz, Managing Director of Pro Gaming at ESL. “We wanted to create the most high-pressure tournament this audience has ever seen.”
Those who finished first and second at IEM Shanghai, New York and Singapore have already been invited, all expenses paid, to the World Championship in Katowice. With IEM Sao Paulo and Cologne still ahead, a further four places will be decided in the coming weeks. So far, the players qualified for the US$100,000 event are:
More here : http://en.intelextrememasters.com/news/starcraft-ii-world-championship-to-be-us-100000-winner-takes-all-tournament/
Players/managers/casters reactions :
On January 28 2014 04:58 Kennigit wrote:
Some thoughts, since the reaction is as mixed as we expected.
IEM's 5 events leading up to IEM Katowice have 125k in combined prize money.
- 40 fully paid travel + hotel throughout the season
- Guaranteed 350$ if you made it through open bracket to group stage
- Open brackets at the main season events
- Open bracket spots available at cologne
IEM does more than most to support the SC2 player player space and what we realized is that as important at it is, we want Katowice to be special - it's not about giving a little bit to everyone. The Starcraft 2 community is now competing against the likes of Dota 2, LoL and even CS:GO which will have a 250,000$ prize pool going on at the same time. If you want to talk and complain about Alive Game, then you have to take risks and make shit happen. Following the model of the last 3 years when there exists a WCS system to support players internationally just wont cut it. The WCS existence is a really important part of the equation in if doing a single event in the season as Winner Takes All Single Elim makes sense.
Katowice is not for every mid tier player and it might not even be for a few of the players who managed to win an event stop.
I expect someone will drop out who qualified if they think they cant win.
Is it a bit nuts? Yes. Could someone throw a match? Yes. Could players come up with an agreement between themselves to split it 16 ways? Yes. Is someone going to choke, get cheesed 3 games in a row and have wasted a day of work? Probably. Do i think Naniwa is going to keep his word and split 100k with the likes of Korean players he has shit on in the past? Would they split it back with him or take it to their team instead? I have no clue. Could 2 "Nameless" koreans make it to the finals and everyone rolls their eyes like the Edgy M8s they are that it will be split? Yes. Have we put a lot of thought into what could happen and expect we will still be surprised after the final is over? Yes
And that is exactly why we are doing it.
Some thoughts, since the reaction is as mixed as we expected.
IEM's 5 events leading up to IEM Katowice have 125k in combined prize money.
- 40 fully paid travel + hotel throughout the season
- Guaranteed 350$ if you made it through open bracket to group stage
- Open brackets at the main season events
- Open bracket spots available at cologne
IEM does more than most to support the SC2 player player space and what we realized is that as important at it is, we want Katowice to be special - it's not about giving a little bit to everyone. The Starcraft 2 community is now competing against the likes of Dota 2, LoL and even CS:GO which will have a 250,000$ prize pool going on at the same time. If you want to talk and complain about Alive Game, then you have to take risks and make shit happen. Following the model of the last 3 years when there exists a WCS system to support players internationally just wont cut it. The WCS existence is a really important part of the equation in if doing a single event in the season as Winner Takes All Single Elim makes sense.
Katowice is not for every mid tier player and it might not even be for a few of the players who managed to win an event stop.
I expect someone will drop out who qualified if they think they cant win.
Is it a bit nuts? Yes. Could someone throw a match? Yes. Could players come up with an agreement between themselves to split it 16 ways? Yes. Is someone going to choke, get cheesed 3 games in a row and have wasted a day of work? Probably. Do i think Naniwa is going to keep his word and split 100k with the likes of Korean players he has shit on in the past? Would they split it back with him or take it to their team instead? I have no clue. Could 2 "Nameless" koreans make it to the finals and everyone rolls their eyes like the Edgy M8s they are that it will be split? Yes. Have we put a lot of thought into what could happen and expect we will still be surprised after the final is over? Yes
And that is exactly why we are doing it.
IEM Director Carmac, when asked for comment by TeamLiquid:
WCS is doing a great job supporting an entire ecosystem of players throughout the year. That's something that wasn't there before, that is what we've been trying to do so far, so we thought it is time to shake things up. By the IEM World Championship we will have given away $125,000 away to players this season. Anyone that competes in Katowice will have likely won good money already.
WCS is doing a great job supporting an entire ecosystem of players throughout the year. That's something that wasn't there before, that is what we've been trying to do so far, so we thought it is time to shake things up. By the IEM World Championship we will have given away $125,000 away to players this season. Anyone that competes in Katowice will have likely won good money already.
