The second stop of Season 10 of Intel Extreme Masters will be at gamescom in Cologne, Germany. StarCraft II will return to the world's largest computer and video game event with some of the best players battling it out for the Intel Extreme Masters gamescom championship title on Sunday, the 9th of August. After a series of online and open bracket qualifiers, we now know who will be facing who at gamescom.
The open brackets and group stages will be played out in the ESL studios in Cologne, with the top four players from the playoffs attending gamescom on Sunday, August 9th, to compete in the semi and grand final.
Tbh I feel the groups are significantly un-scarier than Shenzhen. Snute and Bunny really should have played in this instead of Gfinity for some easy WCS points.
Only 1 korean in the open brackets which is Patience but we do have a few nice foreigners who will now be able to make the group stage MaNa/HeRoMaRinE/TLO/PtitDrogo/uThermal
On July 26 2015 00:05 SNSeigifried wrote: Only 1 korean in the open brackets which is Patience but we do have a few nice foreigners who will now be able to make the group stage MaNa/HeRoMaRinE/TLO/PtitDrogo/uThermal
Also atm its looking to be 8 foreigners vs 8 koreans at gamescon
On July 26 2015 00:16 Clubfan wrote: Unfortunately, open brackets, group stage and Ro8 are played in the ESL studios in Cologne, only top 4 gets to the actual Gamescom stage :/
And they only annonced that right now, were everyone who wants to go there already scheduled everything...TT
On July 26 2015 00:16 Clubfan wrote: Unfortunately, open brackets, group stage and Ro8 are played in the ESL studios in Cologne, only top 4 gets to the actual Gamescom stage :/
And they only annonced that right now, were everyone who wants to go there already scheduled everything...TT
Some people already bought their tickets without knowing that. That's very unfortunate to say the least.
Gungfu/Showtime not even playing open bracket with just 1 korean :S btw. if I'm not mistaken there will be 4 games of sc2 @ GC but 6 games of wc3 (if WCA decides to play with a losers bracket instead of a 3rd place match) that's kinda surprising ^^
On July 26 2015 00:16 Clubfan wrote: Unfortunately, open brackets, group stage and Ro8 are played in the ESL studios in Cologne, only top 4 gets to the actual Gamescom stage :/
And they only annonced that right now, were everyone who wants to go there already scheduled everything...TT
Seriously, I am actually quite angry now ... I was looking forward to watch the whole tournament there ...
Hoping for Rain vs soO finals, Since there is no PvP and no Snute, I think this might be a winnable Tournament for Rain, who has a win against INnoVation recently and also has an undefeated record againt soO
On July 26 2015 00:16 Clubfan wrote: Unfortunately, open brackets, group stage and Ro8 are played in the ESL studios in Cologne, only top 4 gets to the actual Gamescom stage :/
And they only annonced that right now, were everyone who wants to go there already scheduled everything...TT
Seriously, I am actually quite angry now ... I was looking forward to watch the whole tournament there ...
On July 26 2015 00:16 Clubfan wrote: Unfortunately, open brackets, group stage and Ro8 are played in the ESL studios in Cologne, only top 4 gets to the actual Gamescom stage :/
And they only annonced that right now, were everyone who wants to go there already scheduled everything...TT
Seriously, I am actually quite angry now ... I was looking forward to watch the whole tournament there ...
would you say you are soO angry?
Haven't lost enough finals yet for that level of anger.
Actually I think group of death is an overstatement, but B is easily the one with most skill in it, as it contains a superb player in innovation and a decent code S guy in fantasy.
soO + MMA and Rain + Stardust could have been equal if MMA and Stardust was on form. soO, Rain and Innovation are by far the best players with the best current forms though. Them not winning everything except matches between themselves will be an upset. The three "lesser koreans" I mentioned probably, together with Patience, could cheese or trick out the three main ones though.
On July 26 2015 00:16 Clubfan wrote: Unfortunately, open brackets, group stage and Ro8 are played in the ESL studios in Cologne, only top 4 gets to the actual Gamescom stage :/
Wow, that is completely ridiculous that they'd only announce that now.
On July 26 2015 00:16 Clubfan wrote: Unfortunately, open brackets, group stage and Ro8 are played in the ESL studios in Cologne, only top 4 gets to the actual Gamescom stage :/
Wow, that is completely ridiculous that they'd only announce that now.
Yeah it would have been nice to know before buying Gamescom tickets and a planeticket
On July 26 2015 00:21 SNSeigifried wrote: Finals should be soO vs INnoVation/Rain/Lilbow baring no upsets.
No way lilbow makes it to the finals. I'm rooting for him, but don't see that happening.
Depends on the bracket draw. If we get soO-INno on one half, Lilbow should be favoured against anyone he meets (if he makes it out of groups)
Hmm, this feels like a really weak line-up for IEM. There's only 2-3 "unstoppable" Koreans, free WCS points for foreigners
Its the same weekend as a different tournament that was supposed to give WCS points and then changed formats and isn't. So Bunny/Snute/JD are all tied up elsewhere. I still maintain that that's ridiculously unfair as they likely made the choice to go to one or the other based on both having WCS points but such is life.
On July 26 2015 02:39 The_Red_Viper wrote: People still hype lilbow? He won't make it out of that group guys...
What's wrong with hyping skill? Oo
I think he is completely overhyped tbh. People act like he is the third best player at this gamescom, i very much doubt that though
I think he's a good foreigner right now, but he's probably only at the level of a code A Korean, or possibly worse. I don't really see him getting out of group stage, but it's definitely possible.
Sort of a shame that the tournament doesn't have a stronger lineup. Inno, soO, and Rain are the obvious top 3, and MMA, Fantasy, and Patience the only other contenders.
On July 26 2015 02:39 The_Red_Viper wrote: People still hype lilbow? He won't make it out of that group guys...
What's wrong with hyping skill? Oo
I think he is completely overhyped tbh. People act like he is the third best player at this gamescom, i very much doubt that though
The big issue for Lilbow is obviously getting out of a group with INno and Fantasy. Beyond that though, only INno and soO are clearly favoured (and Patience from the open bracket would probably beat him aswell). Which is mostly because Rain's PvP has been pretty atrocious (including a loss to Lilbow and almost being eliminated by HuK in Homestory Cup). MMA and ForGG haven't been doing so hot (although especially with MMA there's always a chance he performs I guess). And Stardust, well...
On July 26 2015 02:39 The_Red_Viper wrote: People still hype lilbow? He won't make it out of that group guys...
What's wrong with hyping skill? Oo
I think he is completely overhyped tbh. People act like he is the third best player at this gamescom, i very much doubt that though
The big issue for Lilbow is obviously getting out of a group with INno and Fantasy. Beyond that though, only INno and soO are clearly favoured (and Patience from the open bracket would probably beat him aswell). Which is mostly because Rain's PvP has been pretty atrocious (including a loss to Lilbow and almost being eliminated by HuK in Homestory Cup). MMA and ForGG haven't been doing so hot (although especially with MMA there's always a chance he performs I guess). And Stardust, well... https://twitter.com/StardustSC2/status/623993684632162304
Call me a bit skeptical, but do people realistically believe that Lilbow has any chance against soO/Inno/Rain, etc?
On July 26 2015 02:39 The_Red_Viper wrote: People still hype lilbow? He won't make it out of that group guys...
What's wrong with hyping skill? Oo
I think he is completely overhyped tbh. People act like he is the third best player at this gamescom, i very much doubt that though
The big issue for Lilbow is obviously getting out of a group with INno and Fantasy. Beyond that though, only INno and soO are clearly favoured (and Patience from the open bracket would probably beat him aswell). Which is mostly because Rain's PvP has been pretty atrocious (including a loss to Lilbow and almost being eliminated by HuK in Homestory Cup). MMA and ForGG haven't been doing so hot (although especially with MMA there's always a chance he performs I guess). And Stardust, well... https://twitter.com/StardustSC2/status/623993684632162304
Call me a bit skeptical, but do people realistically believe that Lilbow has any chance against soO/Inno/Rain, etc?
On July 26 2015 02:39 The_Red_Viper wrote: People still hype lilbow? He won't make it out of that group guys...
What's wrong with hyping skill? Oo
I think he is completely overhyped tbh. People act like he is the third best player at this gamescom, i very much doubt that though
The big issue for Lilbow is obviously getting out of a group with INno and Fantasy. Beyond that though, only INno and soO are clearly favoured (and Patience from the open bracket would probably beat him aswell). Which is mostly because Rain's PvP has been pretty atrocious (including a loss to Lilbow and almost being eliminated by HuK in Homestory Cup). MMA and ForGG haven't been doing so hot (although especially with MMA there's always a chance he performs I guess). And Stardust, well... https://twitter.com/StardustSC2/status/623993684632162304
Call me a bit skeptical, but do people realistically believe that Lilbow has any chance against soO/Inno/Rain, etc?
INno and soO pretty obviously not, they're rapidly approaching god tier, but Rain? He beat Rain at Homestory Cup as I mentioned. Rain's PvP is his biggest and most glaring weakness. Even in his GSL winning run he lost to the only Protoss he played against. Plus in PvP weird shit happens.
And etc.? MMA who played a god awful TvP series in Code A and hasn't been performing in foreign tournaments he attended (his shocking and embarassing exit at Dreamhack Tours comes to mind)? Patience? It's PvP and Patience isn't exactly top tier, it's not impossible. ForGG and StarDust have thoroughly embarassed themselves against Protoss players who aren't of Lilbow's caliber recently. I guess Fantasy? But then, he needs just 1 bo3 win against Fantasy to advance (if he loses the first match, wins the losers match and INno defeats Fanta) and that's definitely doable. And he could obviously beat every foreign player.
On July 26 2015 02:39 The_Red_Viper wrote: People still hype lilbow? He won't make it out of that group guys...
What's wrong with hyping skill? Oo
I think he is completely overhyped tbh. People act like he is the third best player at this gamescom, i very much doubt that though
The big issue for Lilbow is obviously getting out of a group with INno and Fantasy. Beyond that though, only INno and soO are clearly favoured (and Patience from the open bracket would probably beat him aswell). Which is mostly because Rain's PvP has been pretty atrocious (including a loss to Lilbow and almost being eliminated by HuK in Homestory Cup). MMA and ForGG haven't been doing so hot (although especially with MMA there's always a chance he performs I guess). And Stardust, well... https://twitter.com/StardustSC2/status/623993684632162304
Call me a bit skeptical, but do people realistically believe that Lilbow has any chance against soO/Inno/Rain, etc?
Lilbow 2 - 0 Rain He would lose against soO and INno though.
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
You should wait for this until after the open bracket. The odds are pretty drastically different depending on the 4th player. Could be Patience. Could be Goody.
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
You should wait for this until after the open bracket. The odds are pretty drastically different depending on the 4th player.
Well i am pretty confident in my bet, the guy betting against me should probably wait though, i agree. This bet only counts if the groups stay the same btw (just in case Innovation and fantasy decide to stay in korea :D)
On July 26 2015 02:39 The_Red_Viper wrote: People still hype lilbow? He won't make it out of that group guys...
What's wrong with hyping skill? Oo
I think he is completely overhyped tbh. People act like he is the third best player at this gamescom, i very much doubt that though
Since the first of April, Lilbow has a ~72% WR. On the same period, Bunny has ~57% and Snute ~60%. Since I know your love for offline events, if we take the WR on the same period but only offline, Lilbow goes up to ~73% while Bunny goes down to ~53% and Snute to 46%. As far as Koreans are concerned, Lilbow showed that he could go toe to toe with strong koreigners like JaeDong and Hydra, and he was also able to PvP GSL and HSC champion Rain out of his way. He also did beat FanTa in a Bo1 online, although that doesn't mean much if anything at all. So yeah, I don't know if Lilbow is the third best player all-around (I'd personally rank him fourth or fifth depending on which FanTaSy shows up), but in a head-to-head, he can beat anyone here except soO and INnoVation.
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
You should wait for this until after the open bracket. The odds are pretty drastically different depending on the 4th player. Could be Patience. Could be Goody.
Honestly, Patience is the only real threat in the open bracket. If I knew he is not goint to be in the group, I would easily bet against Viper.
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
Haha i see, let me think. If you are banned you cannot do anything on TL i guess? That means the duel in the "Zest is best" fpl group would be kinda over, hmhmhm I will think about it and let you know, in general i am ok with 7/30 though. We still have a few days to make it happen
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
Haha i see, let me think. If you are banned you cannot do anything on TL i guess? That means the duel in the "Zest is best" fpl group would be kinda over, hmhmhm I will think about it and let you know, in general i am ok with 7/30 though. We still have a few days to make it happen
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
I am proud to have invented the differential ban
I doubt this wasn't a thing before
I may change my mind after the 4th person is revealed and I am in a moment of french euphoria. How about this, instead of ban we take it to 7 day/30 day sigbet, which won't interfere with your zest fpl group.
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
Haha i see, let me think. If you are banned you cannot do anything on TL i guess? That means the duel in the "Zest is best" fpl group would be kinda over, hmhmhm I will think about it and let you know, in general i am ok with 7/30 though. We still have a few days to make it happen
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
Haha i see, let me think. If you are banned you cannot do anything on TL i guess? That means the duel in the "Zest is best" fpl group would be kinda over, hmhmhm I will think about it and let you know, in general i am ok with 7/30 though. We still have a few days to make it happen
On July 26 2015 06:06 OtherWorld wrote:
On July 26 2015 06:04 Deathstar wrote:
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
I am proud to have invented the differential ban
I doubt this wasn't a thing before
Afaik, banned users can still use FPL and Liquibets, as well as PMing mods. That's all.
If i still can use fpl i would be ok with a ban bet np.
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
Haha i see, let me think. If you are banned you cannot do anything on TL i guess? That means the duel in the "Zest is best" fpl group would be kinda over, hmhmhm I will think about it and let you know, in general i am ok with 7/30 though. We still have a few days to make it happen
On July 26 2015 06:06 OtherWorld wrote:
On July 26 2015 06:04 Deathstar wrote:
On July 26 2015 05:07 The_Red_Viper wrote: Ok anyone wanna bet with me, i say Lilbow won't even make it out of the group. 30 days ban?
Sure, but a fair deal would be 7 day ban for me, and 30 day ban for you. Thoughts?
I am proud to have invented the differential ban
I doubt this wasn't a thing before
I may change my mind after the 4th person is revealed and I am in a moment of french euphoria. How about this, instead of ban we take it to 7 day/30 day sigbet, which won't interfere with your zest fpl group.
A bit of an odd thing with this IEM (if the matchups are properly listed on Liquipedia) - traditionally, the players from the host region and host country face the players from the Open Bracket. This time, they all are listed as starting against the wild card players.
Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
They don't feel like going or can't for some reason
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
They don't feel like going or can't for some reason
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
There was only 2 spot for the corean in the qualifier witch INno an SoO took and most kespa team won't paid to send their player and sometime won't even allow them to play in qualifier since it clash with pro league which is where the team make most of their money
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
There was only 2 spot for the corean in the qualifier witch INno an SoO took and most kespa team won't paid to send their player and sometime won't even allow them to play in qualifier since it clash with pro league which is where the team make most of their money
I see thanks. So is IEM not that big of a deal actually? Obviously players make time for GSL/S2SL.
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
I'd say soO is the best player in the world right now and Innovation is top two Terran. Yeah and Rain just won GSL. Pretty good players. Life isn't even top 3 Zerg anymore and Maru have wrist problems, he probably doesn't even wanna play more than he needs to.
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
There was only 2 spot for the corean in the qualifier witch INno an SoO took and most kespa team won't paid to send their player and sometime won't even allow them to play in qualifier since it clash with pro league which is where the team make most of their money
I see thanks. So is IEM not that big of a deal actually? Obviously players make time for GSL/S2SL.
IEM is not a korean tournament. Korean teams don't care about foreign tournaments, partly due to prestige and partly due to having korean sponsors.
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
There was only 2 spot for the corean in the qualifier witch INno an SoO took and most kespa team won't paid to send their player and sometime won't even allow them to play in qualifier since it clash with pro league which is where the team make most of their money
I see thanks. So is IEM not that big of a deal actually? Obviously players make time for GSL/S2SL.
Life, Maru and a few others are also already confirmed to have a spot at Blizzcon so that just makes it slightly less attractive to attend a lot of tournaments.
I just realized, Rain might not attend the tournament. Gamescom starts on the 5th, but Rains SSL group is on the 6th, how can he be at Gamescom and in Korea at the same time. (I am aware that Rain will play on the 7th due to being in Group D, but still a flight from Korea to Germany?) If this was an IEM in Asia then probably he has the timeto fly there and Rest...
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
There was only 2 spot for the corean in the qualifier witch INno an SoO took and most kespa team won't paid to send their player and sometime won't even allow them to play in qualifier since it clash with pro league which is where the team make most of their money
I see thanks. So is IEM not that big of a deal actually? Obviously players make time for GSL/S2SL.
Life, Maru and a few others are also already confirmed to have a spot at Blizzcon so that just makes it slightly less attractive to attend a lot of tournaments.
You could say the same for Rain, who is also locked for Blizzcon
On July 29 2015 22:19 MiniFotToss wrote: I just realized, Rain might not attend the tournament. Gamescom starts on the 5th, but Rains SSL group is on the 6th, how can he be at Gamescom and in Korea at the same time. (I am aware that Rain will play on the 7th due to being in Group D, but still a flight from Korea to Germany?) If this was an IEM in Asia then probably he has the timeto fly there and Rest...
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
There was only 2 spot for the corean in the qualifier witch INno an SoO took and most kespa team won't paid to send their player and sometime won't even allow them to play in qualifier since it clash with pro league which is where the team make most of their money
I see thanks. So is IEM not that big of a deal actually? Obviously players make time for GSL/S2SL.
Life, Maru and a few others are also already confirmed to have a spot at Blizzcon so that just makes it slightly less attractive to attend a lot of tournaments.
You could say the same for Rain, who is also locked for Blizzcon
Besides the schedule issues: Maru and Life are top earniers in Korea. Both are these kind of players who achieve a high salary. Even if they win IEM Cologne, the amount they win would be arround 2 monthly incomes. or less? Also Rain plays on a foreign team which has certain interest to show its players sponsored by western companys in western events. Maru and Life a sponsored by korean sponsors. What do they gain from sending them? Maru and Life also have to play in ProLeague, while Rain does not have to do it.
On July 29 2015 02:35 LostWraithSC wrote: Forgive my ignorance as I haven't followed SC in a very very long time. How come some of the top players like Life and Maru are not included in this tournament? Sorry for the stupid question. Thanks!
There was only 2 spot for the corean in the qualifier witch INno an SoO took and most kespa team won't paid to send their player and sometime won't even allow them to play in qualifier since it clash with pro league which is where the team make most of their money
I see thanks. So is IEM not that big of a deal actually? Obviously players make time for GSL/S2SL.
Life, Maru and a few others are also already confirmed to have a spot at Blizzcon so that just makes it slightly less attractive to attend a lot of tournaments.
You could say the same for Rain, who is also locked for Blizzcon
Besides the schedule issues: Maru and Life are top earniers in Korea. Both are these kind of players who achieve a high salary. Even if they win IEM Cologne, the amount they win would be arround 2 monthly incomes. or less? Also Rain plays on a foreign team which has certain interest to show its players sponsored by western companys in western events. Maru and Life a sponsored by korean sponsors. What do they gain from sending them? Maru and Life also have to play in ProLeague, while Rain does not have to do it.
you could literally replace "maru and life" with "soo and innovation "and everything you said would sitll be true.
Doesn't look like Drogo's going to go for Foreign Hope 2: La Bougalou Électrique. Unless he wins his first PvP and then gets to go for a Zerg bracket with TLO and Ret.