The player line-up for IEM Katowice 2022 have been announced. Notably, #5 European player MaxPax and #9 MarineLorD have declined their spots in the competition. As a result, #7 Lambo moves up into the RO24 group stage, while #10 SKillous and #11 Spirit receive spots in the RO36 play-in stage.

In Korea, #20 Hurricane and #22 KeeN have declined their spots, which allows #23 herO to compete in the RO36 play-in stage. #6 Zest, whose participation has been questionable for months, is included in the official list of RO24 players. In his most recent interview at DHM: Last Chance, Zest said he was still not entirely certain about his ability to participate due to military service.

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Poopi

France12917 Posts

January 18 2022 19:10 GMT

Wow the rumors about MaxPare were true! Awesome to see Zest in (poor DRG it means ro36 right?), too bad to have Mlord and MaxPax out

TheWildShooter

79 Posts

January 18 2022 19:20 GMT

Wow the rumors about MaxPare true!

What rumors?

So happy for protoss hope Zest

ssg

United States1777 Posts

January 18 2022 19:25 GMT

On January 19 2022 04:20 TheWildShooter wrote:

Show nested quote +

What rumors?

So happy for protoss hope Zest

He doesn't want to show his face so won't show up to lan

Kreuger

Sweden868 Posts

January 18 2022 19:26 GMT

Sad about Maxpax

Happy about Zest though

InfCereal

Canada1759 Posts

January 18 2022 19:32 GMT

My theory that MaxPax is secretly Idra continues to go uncontested

Moonerz

United States461 Posts

January 18 2022 19:43 GMT

Maxpax not going is a bummer whatever his reasons are. If it really is a privacy thing I bet it adds to his anxiety or whatever reason he has for not "revealing" himself that people are so hyped up to see what he looks like. Reminds me a bit of the shirtless Rotti thing which was done in good fun but I'm sure it's a little unnerving to have a whole internet community champing at the bit for something like that.

Poopi

France12917 Posts

January 18 2022 19:54 GMT

On January 19 2022 04:20 TheWildShooter wrote:

Show nested quote +

What rumors?

So happy for protoss hope Zest

TKL from O’Gaming said yesterday during open cup cast that MaxPax wouldn’t go to Katowice to stay anonymous ; and apparently it was also said by Mlord dunno when.

samAel1

Poland29 Posts

January 18 2022 20:11 GMT

Well done herO! gogo!

KalWarkov

Germany4126 Posts

January 18 2022 20:12 GMT

#10

maxpax probably has some sort of social anxiety issues.
always had that as well but it extended to phone calls, possible team speak/ skype things etc.
part of the reason i never really tried to get better at starcraft :D

i feel for maxpax but totally understand him

dysenterymd

1250 Posts

January 18 2022 20:34 GMT

#11

Anyone know why Keen declined his spot? He's not the most storied of the military returnees but he was doing decently, I hope he's still playing.

dbRic1203

Germany2655 Posts

January 18 2022 20:35 GMT

#12

MaxPax not going is realy sad, but not totally unexpected

He said in his stream like one year ago, that he doesn t think, he ll ever Play at Lan, seems like he didn t change his mind (yet)

On January 19 2022 05:34 dysenterymd wrote:
Anyone know why Keen declined his spot? He's not the most storied of the military returnees but he was doing decently, I hope he's still playing.

Probably because he doesn t want to travel for 350$..
He would realistically only beat 1-2 opponents Max before getting eliminated and he would probably have to spent the entire week.
I Don t know, if he s actually a Pro or Amateur at this point, so it could be possible he simple doesn t want to take days of from whatever else he s doing when not playing..

HelpMeGetBetter

United States764 Posts

January 18 2022 20:41 GMT

#13

we now just need groups to be announced

uselless

93 Posts

January 18 2022 20:59 GMT

#14

On January 19 2022 05:35 dbRic1203 wrote:
MaxPax not going is realy sad, but not totally unexpected

He said in his stream like one year ago, that he doesn t think, he ll ever Play at Lan, seems like he didn t change his mind (yet)

Show nested quote +

MaxPax would've been guaranteed $2000 for a ro24 spot, so the money is definitely worth it (especially because he's in Denmark)

Serimek

France2274 Posts

January 18 2022 21:02 GMT

#15

Does it mean that MLord is officialy an AoEIV player from now on?

Poopi

France12917 Posts

January 18 2022 21:24 GMT

#16

On January 19 2022 05:59 uselless wrote:

Show nested quote +

MaxPax would've been guaranteed $2000 for a ro24 spot, so the money is definitely worth it (especially because he's in Denmark)

He was talking about KeeN I think.

Does it mean that MLord is officialy an AoEIV player from now on?

Most likely an AoE IV streamer and player yes...

JJH777

United States4418 Posts

January 18 2022 21:33 GMT

#17

Crazy to decline a chance to win $170k over something like privacy concerns or really any personal reasons. While I wouldn't give Maxpax a particularly high chance of winning it definitely wouldn't be 0% either. Even if he just made it out of his group he'd win 10k+. I wonder if his family is extremely rich. There's potential life changing money on the line for the vast majority of people in the world.

yubo56

690 Posts

January 18 2022 21:35 GMT

#18

The twitch meme about MP secretly being royalty is starting to make a lot of sense: doesn't care about money but needs privacy?

In all seriousness, maybe he'll retire before we find out who he is. That would be an interesting arc, but probably an understandable one, however disappointing

Nakajin

Canada8990 Posts

January 18 2022 21:55 GMT

#19

I'm honestly feeling kind of sad for MaxPax, I get the stress of showing your face after so many people talked about you and/or not wanting to be on the internet.
But man, you gotta have some pride in what you do, calling it quit to stay private when you have a shot a being the world champion and live changing money is a hard pill to swallow.

With that said, hopefully he rip that band-aid off at some point
The Starcraft 2 scene would be dearly missing if every weird loner would have stayed at home. (And I say that dearly as a fellow weird loner)
(And if you readying, no one seriously care about what you look like Max Pax, like not at all)

On the plus side, Zest is best and will live forever!

argonautdice

Canada2719 Posts

January 18 2022 22:00 GMT

#20

This is THE tournament where four players Maru, Serral, Rogue, and Dark will have a chance to be the first to break $1,000,000 in tournament winnings. That's quite a historic milestone for esports history because it will be the FIRST player in any non-TCG (Shadowverse) 1v1 game to break one million!