Intel Extreme Masters
Cologne 2014

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

Replays on ESL.eu

VODs on Youtube

by Waxangel

14-1-6 is not the kind of record you typically expect from a tournament champion, but IEM Cologne was anything but a typical tournament. The fourth and final day stretched on for over fifteen hours and included just about everything a viewer could want: spectacular comebacks, dramatic upsets, a draw, and more epic games than anyone had ever packed into a single tournament day.

While it was a fantastic experience for the fans, the marathon final day could only have been an ordeal for the players involved. In the end, only one player would receive the champion's trophy as a reward for his effort. Liquid's HerO had come into the tournament as something of an underdog due to a string of mediocre tournament results behind him (top 16 ASUS ROG, top 12 DH: Winter, top 8 HSC8). However, HerO put together what was perhaps the most impressive run of his career to claim his first championship since 2013's WCS America Season 1. Fantastic PvT was the backbone of HerO's success as he took out Mill.ForGG, Acer.INnoVation, EG.Jaedong, and finally CMStorm_Polt to take first place.

HerO's run on the final day began rather easily as he dispatched INnoVation with a variety of early game attacks in a 3-0 sweep. Meanwhile, the other contenders were busy entertaining the fans and tiring themselves out in a series of slugfests. Polt barely overcame SKT's Classic in a 3-2, SKT_Rain had his defensive abilities tested against mYi.jjakji, while Jaedong only overcame the upstart Ai.Patience at the end of a bloody 45-minute struggle on the expansive Alterzim Stronghold.

The difficulty level quickly ramped up for HerO once he hit Jaedong in the semifinals. After taking a 2-1 lead in a series of quick games, HerO allowed Jaedong to tie up the series 2-2 at the end of a long game on Heavy Rain. HerO decided to gamble on the fifth and final set with heavy zealot aggression in the early game, but quickly came to regret it as Jaedong defended himself easily with zerglings. Staring elimination in the face, HerO reloaded with immortals and sentries for a last ditch effort to salvage the series. Through a combination of precise micro on HerO's side and mistakes on Jaedong's end, HerO managed to wear Jaedong down with a neverending all-in. With Jaedong's GG, HerO was able to breath a sigh of relief.

In the other semifinal, Polt survived his own near-death encounter with Rain to reach the final. Though Rain constantly bullied Polt in straight up engagements, Polt's superior ability to manuver his troops around the map proved to be the key to victory. With incisive drops and backdoor attacks, Polt cracked apart Rain's famed defenses to take a close 3-2 victory and secure a spot in the grand finals.


The traditional curse of StarCraft 2 is for amazing tournaments to end on lackluster finals, but IEM Cologne would break the mold. What seemed like an easy game one win for HerO was quickly turned around by Polt who initiated a base trade and proceeded to float his buildings away. Left with a superior army but no way to kill Polt's buildings, HerO was forced to accept Polt's offer of a draw and regame.

From there, the best-of-seven final would closely follow the pattern of the earlier Rain vs. Polt series. Polt found it difficult to engage HerO head on once templars were out in numbers but used his mobility to make up for it. Dropships combined with small detachments of ground troops tested HerO's reaction speed, positioning, and ability anticipate where the next attack would come. In a couple of games, HerO crumbled dramatically against Polt's incessant prodding. Most notably, HerO threw away a massive advantage on Daedalus Point as Polt yanked the so-called 'defenders' around on a leash while killing four nexuses in the span of a minute.

But unlike Rain, HerO was able to persevere until the end. Additionally, his own bent toward harassment and guerrilla warfare played a key factor as well. Though lacking the building demolishing power of Polt's marauders, HerO's zealots and high templars made sure Polt was always busy replenishing his SCV count.

HerO almost seemed overcautious at times on the sixth (seventh including the draw) and final game on Polar Night, afraid of the havoc Polt could wreak if his troops were caught out of position for a moment. However, the slow and steady approach worked out for HerO in the end. He deflected Polt's drops just effectively enough to keep himself stable while whittling down Polt's economy with warp-ins. Polt found himself forced to go for more and more audacious drops which began to backfire. Once HerO determined he had an insurmountable advantage in both economy and army, he went in for the kill and collected the final GG of the tournament.

With the win, HerO claimed the champion's trophy, $10,000, and a spot in the upcoming $100,000 IEM World Championship.

Random notes and parting thoughts

• A hero has won the last three IEM tournaments.
  
  
• It's so easy to forget the other entertaining games after the drama of the final day. StarDust vs. Polt was particularly well received, but there were plenty of other games that would have been stand-out games in any other tournament...
  
  
• ...but that goes to show just how insanely good the tournament was from the quarterfinals on. Without exaggeration, IEM Cologne's day four might be the best tournament day in StarCraft 2 history in terms of sheer entertainment value. Check out the VODs when they're up!
  
  
• Shoutouts to qxc and Ret for being great at the caster's desk and at the analyst's monitor.
  
  
• Shoutouts to MaNa and HasuObs for beating Jaedong and San respectively.
  
  
• It's really hard to knock Polt's play after the incredible games he showed. but if we had to criticize him, his ghost micro could have been better. Which is not to say it was bad; it just wasn't as good as some other Terrans whose ghosts are like PDD's that shoot emps.
  
  
• Nice shoes, HerO.

Writers: Waxangel.
Photos: ESL
Editor: Waxangel.