IEM Katowice Report Card

GeminiRune·Feb 27, 2017·4 votes·822 views

One. More. Time. Despite the painfully long day for finals yesterday, that just provided me a bit of extra time to really think about how well these teams here actually performed. The tournament itself was far from what I expected. Is it because of Europe? Yes. Definitely because of Europe. Then again, Katowice always has some kind of bizarre upset or outcome at some point during the tournament (that and some unusually "out-of-their-power" long delay) so what am I to be surprised about? Anyway, back to this. I'll start out with the obviously best performing team:

Flash Wolves (S): So FW heard that the EULCS does cross group play. And clearly, they wanted in. What does this mean besides them toppling 3 of the 4 best EU has to offer at the current moment? Well Misfits could sneak a grudge scrim and make it live for the world to see but that would just potentially make fans go from about 12 feet under to burning at the core; or migrating to China...wait do any want to devote to better? 7-1 record only facing the European teams; their only loss being against H2K in what could have been a Jin Air fashion win. Thinking back to Oakland, it's pretty evident that their cohesion had improved with the swap from NL to Betty as the analyst desk humbly stated. Thy were by far the only team at the tournament with a consistent identity to what their team needed to do to win. They were good enough to be top 4 and winning it was not out of the question either. The way they climbed to the top is the surprising (and tragic) part.

ROX Tigers (A-): In a tournament where bottom table Korean teams compete and still look better than the rest of their competition. Either the world is potentially screwed or will just move on like this never happened. Prior to the tournament when I made the ever changing rundown I said for them to give me at least one convincing win in the LCK and maybe I'll believe in them. They got one convincing win. And with that my faith in them did not get thrown out. Heck they almost channeled the World Elite upset they took 2 years ago and pulled it off again (sort of). ROX deserves to be rated highly for simply showing they can play a macro game that doesn't get punished every moment they blink and because probably every other team who was rated highly prior to the event performed so poorly. Not to mention they couldn't flex Shy; if they could then potentially we could've seen them in the finals instead.

Here's the unfortunate part about this tournament for them though. They got the wins. They got the confidence to say "Hey we can do this!" But now you go back to the LCK. Luckily their opponent this week is Jin Air twice. I'll be on the safe side and predict them to go 1-1 but there are still heavy killers there in the region. Being a ROX fan will still be tough.

G2 eSports (B+): This is a case where I found myself wanting to slowly and hesitantly raise my thumb up and say in a weird questionable tone "Good job? (insert zombie brand clap here)" because that's all I can make out of the so called top European team for this tournament. Their macro was edgy, at least one player per losing game was a vast liability, and the drafting just never needed to happen at points. It's almost a pity that of the EU teams I have to put them above the other two; partially influenced by the domestic bout with UOL. That's all they got going for them though: domestic knowledge and success. Stomped into losers by FW > nearly lost to Kongdoo > beats UOL decisively > nearly lost to ROX > threw both leads to FW. That was their entire tournament summary on eye level. And the further heartbreaking part about this: they're probably going back to Berlin and continue to dominate. Don't get me wrong; reaching finals is good. G2 had nowhere to go but up internationally. But don't look like a Lyon or even a TSM in those future events.

Unicorns of Love (B): Probably the only European team with a consistent identity this tournament. It's a shame that identity was pretty much outmatched by the smarter and better teams. Two things I drew from their performance though: they can play the patient macro style and Xerxe needs improvement on the international level. They were definitely in the heavier group though and the results were all but expected barring an upset showing by the teams who did make it out. Nothing really more for me to say. The mark wasn't on their back like that of the other two teams.

H2K Gaming (B): Forever top 4 with the natural performance line of a frantic roller coaster. This is no different. Their major weakness with this IEM was basically their overall synergy and not knowing where their key to win lies. Nothing different from the EU LCS so far with some of their losses. It was that first loss to HKES that made me really feel that their tournament was going to end at FW, and it did. They also lost their undefeated Game 2 record. All together though, I'm still not sold on the Nuclear/Chei duo on a player analysis and like G2, their freaking drafts.

I'll take this moment to express my opinion on EU. This was far from what I was expecting out of them. I can brush off UOL but with the other two being on the Worlds stage, that's a bit unforgivable to come in and play as anonymously as teams with players who haven't experienced the international feeling. Last season I rated them deservedly low on the performance level (4th or 5th - I forget which I chose). With the region already having developed a clear cut top, middle, and bottom table, it's concerning to see the top of the table play like what they did here. Consider this a second wake up call: MSI should be a different story.

Hong Kong eSports (C+): HKES fought for their region and achieved a reputation worth recognition in my opinion. They may not have been the most classy of games but they sure weren't complete stomps in that of their losses, once again going back to the shakiness of H2K to make them look as good as they could. Heading back to the LMS though, they're currently tied for 4th by match record (6th by game record). Their competition for that honorary Dark Horse title is against Machi and Fireball. It's likely that we may see them again at Worlds if they can cement that top 4 in the LMS and J Team chokes the qualifier again.

Kongdoo Monster (C): And now we get to the remaining teams who didn't necessarily have anything going for them. Entering the tournament Kongdoo didn't have much of anything going for them other than a hope similar to ROX. At this point, I can say that they are without a doubt the near splitting image of ESC Ever last year in terms of preseason and the spring split so far: incredible preseason play to bottom of the table with a beatable strategy by those better. It's hard to see them getting any better after this as well given the LCK competition. Their only hope would be to survive relegation against what's looking like CJ and Ever8.

M19 Team (D): Well the hype's dead again. IWC tournaments are dead. But on the bright side, this wasn't even the best team in the LCL at the current moment and their best team will be competing at MSI to see where hey potentially stand in the 13 region table that fans will probably construct afterwards. It was a hard stretch to see this team doing better than expected with what is somehow still being called an upgrade in their bot lane in VincentVega. I do fear though that this may be the last we see of Likkrit or this team in particular for a while. Then again there is all stars.

Conclusion, far from the best possible tournament and not the best performance by those that were expected to do well. But those tournaments happen....remember IWCQ where everything you knew about power ranking the regions was wrong and in the end the better regions still qualified for worlds? This is how this felt. Everything I knew felt wrong and in the end I was still wrong. But imagine if the tournament had the original lineup. It may have been a more attractive tournament but the results may have been written in stone from the very first round. Oh well. At least there's none of this for a couple of months.

Thank you for once again bearing through my totally not professional analysis if you read this far. How are your expectations molded now that the event is past, especially with Europe's somewhat disappointing results? Think they'll rise again or fall some more? We'll know in about 2 months.

11 Comments

Ale non è maleFeb 27, 20173 votes

Dude, there is clearly bias in your analysis

Rox Tigers either need to be ranked lower, or some of the EU teams need to be ranked higher, because no way they get a pass for going toe to toe with what you argued were disappointing performances and ultimately losing to one of those teams

GeminiRuneFeb 27, 20173 votes

ROX Tigers came into that tournament with few to no expectations. I said for them to advance that they would need to draw from the losses against the preseason ranked top 5 in the LCK (SKT, KT, LZ, AFS, and SSG) and refine that to come into the tournament with an identity off of it. If these last 2 years have taught us anything, it's not impossible for that to happen.

Compared to that of every EU team, they legitimately looked like contenders for the title instead of what could have been a systematic blowout based off of their current split record. I didn't really feel biased for placing them above the rest because no team other than Flash Wolves deserved extraordinary regard for that matter. If you put every team on even lining and pointed out the top placers vs lower placers, they were lower rated. On the performance level without using stats, what would you rate a lower rated team pulling a better showing than expected vs a higher rated team showing a worse level than what they were regarded as?

Standings don't have to always be the overall factor. On this tournament, ROX surely gets a pass above the rest to me because of the other teams and how weak they looked. G2 and H2K specifically were both inconsistent and lacking on the meta game. H2K came into and out of the tournament with the same judgment: rocky synergy. And these two are among the top of the EU table? They couldn't translate their domestic level successfully whereas ROX, who suffered the same synergy issues in the LCK and therefore had limited success, could at least draw from one another's strengths and weaknesses and look like a team that could actually contend!

Ale non è maleFeb 27, 20172 votes

{quoted}

Standings don't have to always be the overall factor. On this tournament, ROX surely gets a pass above the rest to me because of the other teams and how weak they looked. G2 and H2K specifically were both inconsistent and lacking on the meta game. H2K came into and out of the tournament with the same judgment: rocky synergy. And these two are among the top of the EU table? They couldn't translate their domestic level successfully whereas ROX, who suffered the same synergy issues in the LCK and therefore had limited success, could at least draw from one another's strengths and weaknesses and look like a team that could actually contend!

That's bullcrap, you are giving ROX a pass because you are biased dude H2K and G2 were inconsistent sure, but H2K was almost 2-0ing FW trat you ranked as S tier here... And ROX theirselves literally threw their big lead vs G2 in game 3 leading to the loss, so why they shouldn't be considered inconsistent too? You can't really point out at someone flaws bashing them hard for that and then at the same time give a pass to another team for the same flaw. And most of those ROX guys were previously on Afreeca roster, so it is not like they have a synergy problem because they are unfamiliar each other

ROX should be ranked lower or EU teams higher, otherwise it is two weights and two measures applied

GeminiRuneFeb 27, 20173 votes

H2K and G2 were inconsistent sure, but H2K was almost 2-0ing FW trat you ranked as S tier here... And ROX theirselves literally threw their big lead vs G2 in game 3 leading to the loss, so why they shouldn't be considered inconsistent too?

Nothing wrong with rating FW so high honestly.

But did H2K 2-0 FW? No. Could they have? Yes. Then how come they didn't? Their inconsistency and lack of synergy as shown throughout the tournament. FW was able to capitalize on that for the second game and take over the third game. You only note the one thing that cost ROX (throwing the lead). Where's the rest of their tournament in any of the quote above though? That's what I based this based off of!

And most of those ROX guys were previously on Afreeca roster

Unnecessary reference but it works here. Current ROX and former Afreeca often play and have played by the "live and die by Mickey" style. There's inconsistency in that style but on this particular tournament, it was not shown as much as that of H2K or G2 and what they could have brought to the table instead. Granted, there were more games and more unnecessary lingering game time to draw from them in that comparison.

And most of those ROX guys were previously on Afreeca roster, so it is not like they have a synergy problem because they are unfamiliar each other

I'm going to use this quote again. You can say the same for all of G2 and even as far as H2K for Odo and Febi. In general, these teams should have an idea of how to play with one another. Yet for this tournament, G2 had at least one player disconnected in their losing/lost games and H2K was slow on the draw or slow to act. ROX was not safe from harm either having relatively equal or weaker mechanics but that was made up by their respective opponent's cautious and sometimes risky style.

My point is that of a team that should have done better than what they showed, they didn't. ROX had nothing going for them and looked more convincing. So what they couldn't translate one decisive game lead into a win? That happened 5 other occasions (on a lesser scale) on the same tournament! And once again, where's the rest of the tournament; this is not the sole reason I decided what I did by placing them higher. You didn't ask that but your comment eluded to that of the question of inconsistency for that one moment.

One thrown lead doesn't equal an entire tournament of shaky or disappointing play. And so for the tournament as a whole, I believe ROX performed better than the EU teams, even if slightly. This does not mean I think ROX is better than the EU teams period. That was never the point. To state what I'm saying as bias is your opinion.

Ale non è maleFeb 27, 20172 votes

{quoted}

Nothing wrong with rating FW so high honestly.

Ehm, no one here questioned FW rating here, though? We were comparing the other team performances

But did H2K 2-0 FW? No. Could they have? Yes. Then how come they didn't? Their inconsistency and lack of synergy as shown throughout the tournament. FW was able to capitalize on that for the second game and take over the third game. You only note the one thing that cost ROX (throwing the lead). Where's the rest of their tournament in any of the quote above though? That's what I based this based off of! Unnecessary reference but it works here. Current ROX and former Afreeca often play and have played by the "live and die by Mickey" style. There's inconsistency in that style but on this particular tournament, it was not shown as much as that of H2K or G2 and what they could have brought to the table instead. Granted, there were more games and more unnecessary lingering game time to draw from them in that comparison.

The rest of ROX tournament was 1 game vs M19, and you can't get much out of it given how bad they were, and the series won 2-1 vs H2K where first two games were close till the barons at 30 minutes and they won once each, then H2K had an horrendous draft and game in game 3 So, tbh, it is not like ROX separated theirself much from EU teams as far as performance goes. Their style also in this particular tournament was inconsistent, heck probably they got punished less for Mickey mistakes than what they should have

I'm going to use this quote again. You can say the same for all of G2 and even as far as H2K for Odo and Febi. In general, these teams should have an idea of how to play with one another. Yet for this tournament, G2 had at least one player disconnected in their losing/lost games and H2K was slow on the draw or slow to act. ROX was not safe from harm either having relatively equal or weaker mechanics but that was made up by their respective opponent's cautious and sometimes risky style.

My point is that of a team that should have done better than what they showed, they didn't. ROX had nothing going for them and looked more convincing. So what they couldn't translate one decisive game lead into a win? That happened 5 other occasions (on a lesser scale) on the same tournament! And once again, where's the rest of the tournament; this is not the sole reason I decided what I did by placing them higher. You didn't ask that but your comment eluded to that of the question of inconsistency for that one moment.

One thrown lead doesn't equal an entire tournament of shaky or disappointing play. And so for the tournament as a whole, I believe ROX performed better than the EU teams, even if slightly. This does not mean I think ROX is better than the EU teams period. That was never the point. To state what I'm saying as bias is your opinion.

ROX didn't look more convincing, that's the problem. The only argument you are using there to prove otherwise is "they had nothing going for them"...what the hell does that mean? How was their performance affected by that? ROX faced two teams and they were pretty much even in level vs them, benefitting from a big collapse of the other team in 1 series by a team and throwing on some big mistakes the series vs the other team

ROX play was about the same level of what you are calling the disappointing play of EU teams. You can say that you expected more from Eu teams, and that is legit opinion, but it does not change the level of performance of ROX which you should rate there. It is not like ROX Tigers overperformed theirselves, no team looked consistent aside from FW in the tournament

GeminiRuneFeb 28, 20172 votes

Honestly I'm not getting what you're trying to accomplish with this back and forth anymore. I explained to you promptly why I felt that ROX had the better performance compared to the EU teams and you're still adamant on regarding my analysis as biased and just adding more to the pool to shut me down. For that, I'm only going to pull this last part:

ROX play was about the same level of what you are calling the disappointing play of EU teams. You can say that you expected more from Eu teams, and that is legit opinion, but it does not change the level of performance of ROX which you should rate there. It is not like ROX Tigers overperformed theirselves, no team looked consistent aside from FW in the tournament

Well what did you expect? What's your rating? What can you defend G2 or H2K with that you can't for ROX for this tournament? Not matches. Just the teams. You haven't put anything other than to discredit my opinion ever since I made this post. You could have simply said "I would have rated ROX lower" and acknowledge my effort at trying to make even a decent thread post. Even though you did some of that, you started it out with calling my post biased and I wasn't going to take that. I have defended my point and shown that I don't play favorites.

Anyone who has kept up with the competitive leagues and teams coming into the event, a vast amount of expectation was "this is Europe's tournament to lose." And in the end, they did lose. And how they lived up to it wasn't the best. But there had to be winners and losers. I completely agree and even state just by grade that FW was the only consistently good team in the tournament. But after all I have told you, I'm not taking back what I believe, even if it's a third of a grade difference. End of story.

Ale non è maleFeb 28, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Honestly I'm not getting what you're trying to accomplish with this back and forth anymore. I explained to you promptly why I felt that ROX had the better performance compared to the EU teams and you're still adamant on regarding my analysis as biased and just adding more to the pool to shut me down. For that, I'm only going to pull this last part:

You felt this way because for the same exact flaws you are giving a pass to ROX and you are not giving it to EU teams for absolutely no clear reason using two weights and two measures. Hence your analysis is biased

I didn't even question the rating of EU teams, I am questioning the reason why you are not being coherent in your argumentations for the ratings, because quite honestly you have not been coherent here. And once again you have not answered to my question.

GeminiRuneFeb 28, 20172 votes

My opinion is my opinion. Is that so wrong? What did you expect? What's your rating?

And I'm pretty sure all I've given you so far has answered your question quite vividly. At this point you're just picking my responses apart and making me sound invalid. Make your own evaluation if you think I'm so wrong.

Ale non è maleFeb 28, 20171 votes

{quoted}

My opinion is my opinion. Is that so wrong? What did you expect? What's your rating?

And I'm pretty sure all I've given you so far has answered your question quite vividly. At this point you're just picking my responses apart and making me sound invalid. Make your own evaluation if you think I'm so wrong.

I am more on the side of ROX being rated lower. By the way, if you think ROX is deserving of an A rating it is fine as long as you raise EU team rating, because their peaks and their flaws were similar

I'm fine with both options, so I don't really care about which rating you gave them, but you got to be consistent in that. Instead ROX getting a pass for no clear reason while EU get bashed for the same flow...well, it is the definition of being biased, and I'm not OK with that

DoktorKaiserFeb 27, 20171 votes

What the hell is the point of this post anyway ? The time when IEM was a serious LOL tournament with extremely good and high quality play is long gone, the times when legendary Moscow5 won it time and time again in epic duels against old Dignitas, TSM and Frost/Blaze korean powerhouses, after season 3 it came down to troll tournaments where top EU/NA and mid korean teams come to literally scrim and check their powerlevel, eventually earn some money, the games are boring and suck, the crowd is bored as hell without any hype just like the LCS, it is just all so boring even fucking worlds... RIOT needs to ditch the LCS balancing because it actually ruined the LCS as well as regular play, their views are getting shittier every season...

GeminiRuneFeb 27, 20173 votes

I just wanted to do this post for the enjoyment of watching any competitive league. That and I did the very same for the other IEM tournaments over the IEM season. I agree that the tournament is nothing like it used to be, but nothing these days lives up to those times. It's not necessarily a garbage post more than it is just throwing out my opinion on how I felt about the teams of the tournament. Is that so wrong?