IEM Season 8
World Championship

Detailed information on Liquipedia

VODs on Youtube

Replays on ESLgaming.com

by Waxangel

What do you do once you've beaten the world's best players in front of a giant audience to win $100,000?

Why, you do it again!

After winning $100,000 at last November's WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon, JinAir_sOs went on to earn his second $100,000 payday in four months with a 4-1 victory over CJ Entus' herO in the finals of the IEM Season 8 World Championship.

Heading into the finals, herO looked to be evenly matched, or perhaps even the favorite against the WCS Global Champion. He had made himself the star of IEM Season 8 by winning back to back titles at Singapore and Sao Paulo, and boasted a 70% win rate in PvP on the year. On the other hand, sOs performances leading up to IEM Katowice had sent mixed messages. Dismal performances in Proleague's round one cast a shadow over his WCS title run, but an easy run to the Code S quarterfinals had some of his fellow competitors willing to declare him a top championship contender.

It soon became clear that 'sOs playing for $100,000' was an opponent of an entirely different caliber than any herO had faced before. Having already cannon rushed Jaedong mercilessly at the BlizzCon finals, sOs had no qualms about opening up the IEM finals with a devious, in-base proxy 2-gate rush. Getting caught completely off guard by the attack, herO was forced to GG out despite putting in an admirable defensive effort.

Opening up a grand finals with a cheese rush is already a daring move. But to open up with two cheese rushes of the same kind? Surely no one would be so heartless or audacious to attempt such a thing. Or so herO thought, right before sOs' zealots suddenly appeared in the middle of his base in game two. After another spirited defensive effort, herO had no choice but to GG once more. Known for his unfaltering smile as much as his considerable skills, herO started to look visibly uncomfortable in the IEM booth for the first time.


herO was able to at least momentarily stop the bleeding in game three, recovering a point to make the best of seven series score 1-2. sOs had taken a different kind of risk with a detection-less blink all-in, but was easily countered and defeated by herO's dark templar rush. Yet, that defeat did not stop sOs from taking yet another huge risk in game four. This time it was a gamble of an entirely different kind, with sOs going for a nexus-first expansion on the wide and sprawling Alterzim Stronghold.

It seemed that herO had called sOs' bluff once more as he went for a blink-stalker rush off one base, one that looked certain to crush sOs' greedy play and tie the series 2-2. Yet, against all odds, sOs found a way to mount a remarkable defense without any knowledge of his opponent's strategy. Even with an observer as the first unit out of his robotics facility instead of an immortal, and even with his mothership core shot down after using just one instance of photon overcharge, sOs hung on. Microing his units superbly and fighting with just the right number of probes needed, sOs survived as he waited for each new immortal to be produced. Slowly, but surely, he stabilized. Once the last of the blink stalkers were forced out of sOs' base, the rest of the game was but a formality as the two-base sOs counter attacked the one-base herO to force the GG.

Though the series would go on for one more game, one could say it had already ended at 3-1 for sOs. In game five, herO went for a proxy strategy of his own, but without the full-blown, no-looking-back approach of sOs. Proxying just one gate in sOs' natural, herO looked to deal some light pressure while transitioning to a normal game back at home. Unfortunately for herO, it could only look like the nerves and pressure had finally got to him as his famed micro failed him at the most crucial of moments. sOs had no problem handling the proxy attack, quickly gaining a big enough advantage to immediately launch a counter-offensive. herO's control of his units was no better on defense than it was on offense and he quickly crumbled to just three stalkers. With sOs' stalkers dancing in his base, herO put his head in his hands, gathered himself for a few moments, and finally declared the final GG.


For the second time in four months, sOs paraded around the stage with an oversize trophy in hand, wearing a smile that could only belong to someone who had just won $100,000. For the second time in four months, sOs came into a tournament with so little hype that his Ro16 match was forced off the main stage, but made sure he was the only one left standing in the spotlight at the end. There was only one thing that had changed in four months: this time, at the end of it all, there was no doubt about who was the best player in the world.

Unofficial IEM Katowice Awards

Here's a list of notable and memorable things from IEM in award format. For the first time ever, we can say our awards are paying out just as much as getting 2nd place at IEM.

• Best Comeback: herO's comeback against HyuN in the Ro16 was as much a throw from HyuN as it was a display of great play from herO. Even so, the ending was still one of the most dramatic ones we've ever seen, and herO's micro was out of this world.
  
  
• Best Comeback #2: herO was so good at comebacks he deserves another award that doesn't pay anything. Facing San on Polar Night, herO conjured up yet another come from behind victory.
  
  
• Craziest Strategy That Worked: sOs has been a mad scientist ever since HotS was released, but he unveiled his craziest creation yet against jjakji by going for mass carriers against bio. While this strategy probably won't be widely copied or change the meta-game like some of other sOs' innovations, it was sure damn fun to watch.
  
  
• Craziest Strategy That Didn't Work: TaeJa's float to gold into not-all-in against StarDust had us scratching our heads, to put it lightly.
  
  
• Sickest Nerd Shoes: Starting this season, IEM started handing out custom sneakers to the winners of its "Sick Nerd Baller" award at every tournament. HyuN and herO finally got to pick up their shoes in Katowice, and they were truly possessed a sickness worthy of their namesake. HyuN received Spider-man themed kicks to match his Spider-man ceremony at IEM New York, while herO's were themed after the national flags of Brazil and Singapore, the two countries he won IEMs in.
  
  
• Biggest Holy S*** Moment: ASDGAFQWHQ#$%^(*$%)!@#$&*^
  
  
• Most Dramatic Drama: Love him or hate him, you have to admit that NaNiwa's mid-series forfeiture was one of the most interesting things to happen on the weekend.
  
  
• Weirdest Game: Against Polt, herO showed us it's possible to be winning by such a huge margin that you actually forget the rules of the game. After coming out on top of a base trade with a commanding advantage in terms of bank, army, and workers, herO somehow managed to forget that not having any buildings means YOU LOSE THE GAME. Considering how herO won against San, it was all the more perplexing.
  
  
• Most Infuriating Series: Taeja vs. Life wins this award on two accounts. First off, it was a fantastically entertaining series that made us angry about all the PvP's we're going to see instead of TvZ in the upcoming months. Second, Life made some really bad manual detonation errors with his banelings, throwing away some games that could have been won. That was infuriating for both fans of Life and for people who wanted to see the series go all five games.
  
  
• Best All-Around Game: In a tournament full of memorable games, there was one game that managed to stand out above the rest. Jjakji vs Revival showed that mech vs swarm hosts isn't boring by default - it all depends on how the two players want to play it. So go write Soulkey and Reality some mean letters and enjoy this match.

Writers: Waxangel
Images: ESL
Editor: Waxangel