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The state of IMT

Ready 2 B Blamed·12/14/2016, 1:20:50 PM·1 votes·988 views

Already seeing a lot of prejudice against the new IMT lineup, I've noticed how unrealistic the expectations are with certain fan bases. I wanted to address this. IMT has had 1 and a half days of practice with their full roster and maybe a week of practice in fragments. With that in mind, they took advantage of their invitation to IEM Gyeongie (However you spell it) to play against higher level talent to gain experience as a team. Despite them advancing as a 2nd seed into the semifinals, IMT has already more than completed their goal. Facing against SSG, a team that ended in the finals of world 2016 and is still practically the same coming into 2017, despite losing, IMT gained experience and knowledge. Not only that, but they at least kicked SSG in the leg a time or two before being put down. That, to me, shows great potential within this team and how they perform from now on can only become better. That goes for all the players in the roster. To me, someone that stood out was their support Olleh who not only shows that he's a threat in this roster but he will exceed the other top tier supports in NA. I never thought much of NA ADC talent but Cody Sun also has proven that he can hold his own and is probably going to change tha talent tree of ADCs in NA with given time. All players have a place in this team and that's what really ties it together, they weren't randomly thrown in. They have veteran talent along with high potency rookie players. Given how strong their showing was so far, I can only imagine this lineup looking even stronger in 2018.

13 Comments

Miror B12/14/2016, 1:39:47 PM1 votes

Yeah, you're somewhat right but somewhat wrong as well due to how NA is shaping up as a whole. Looking at it from the outside, only 3 teams are going into 2017 with a lack of a major/multiple weaknesses: C9 (who replaced meteos with someone who has more of a longterm upside), P1 (whose core of inori/ryu/arrow/adrian is looking to be terrifying) and TL (with a "new and improved" goldenglue who from what I've seen looks like a changed player). Outside of those three teams, the rest of the field is wide open barring the almost certain 10th place finish from echo fox. While many could suggest that the final order will be TSM/CLG/(insert fanboy team here), I'd actually argue that those 2 teams combined with the potential of C9C's thing (should they add two powerful imports like bengi/selfie) and the raw talent of IMT (flame/dardoch/pobelter potentially coming in with chips on their shoulders) makes the 4-6 spots literally anyone's guess.

Long story short: if IMT finishes 4th, then they've basically matched the realistic expectation of them going into a pretty weird split. Not expecting them to repeat last year's success, as their talent is good but is in no way "juggernaut-ey".

NightmareAmazoX12/14/2016, 1:51:04 PM1 votes

Although, IMT top laner is now SKT T1 top laner & from ROX Tigers their jungler ROX peanut joined SKT T1 as well.

GeminiRune12/14/2016, 3:01:36 PM1 votes

The prejudice feels a bit uncertain as to which side it leans on. It's almost as if fans used the last game or series as the measuring stick for favorite players and then throw the rest out. It reminds me of last year where despite reaching and losing the finals of IEM San Jose, CLG still received a good amount of negative response about their roster changes and expectations for next split. Granted though, many didn't approve of CLG's changes in the first place; that the "other teams were more stacked than them." You can also say that IMT (alongside GIA; not including MB) have used this tournament as a trial period for team synergy and preparation. The core native players in Dardoch, Pobelter, and Cody have shown they can work together (Dardoch and Cody even before this). Flame and Olleh are two players that recently had the wrong teams going for them to shine. Mix some homegrown talent with an icon and a world warrior, and you kind of get a really decent combination. Whether that translates into the 2017 season like CLG's friendship and synergy system successfully did is yet to be determined.

However, now IMT is the second seed coming out of the group, which means they'll face the first seed on the other group in the semifinals. There's a chance we could see a TL vs IMT match up for more evidence to where they line up.

III BAKURYU III 12/14/2016, 6:42:26 PM1 votes

I think the new IMT roster scares the fans of the team and also the fans of NA. With the older roster fans knew what they were going to get, but with this roster is more so as a mystery.

Huni-Reignover-Pobelter-Wildturtle-Adrian..... Everyone looked at Huni and Reignover as 2 of the best players that left EU for NA, also they were really good at their roles. Pobelter a recent LCS Champion and a decent mid that doesn't die 24/7. Wildturtle a fan favorite and former ADC for TSM. Adrian a Support that constantly wins the assists leader it seems each split(2015 Summer 2016 Spring 2016 Summer)

With the newer roster it scares people.

Flame- Really big name but honestly I personally haven't heard that name since 2013. Maybe that will give him the advantage over his opponents. Cody Sun- Seems good but not much exp to fall back on for fans to rely on him when and/or if he hits a speed bump. Olleh- In my opinion he will be the real "mvp" of this team but he needs Cody to go with the flow. Pobelter- Before the previous IMT team everyone knew Po as just a consistent player but not a superstar more so as a above average player. Dardoch- We all know he's a good player that part has already been answered a while back but it's how he acts behind the scenes that scares fans. Is he the same ol' Dardoch who just loses his cool and also just loses games?

hotarse12/20/2016, 2:32:12 AM1 votes

I think I might be an IMT fan this split. Hai was my main reason for being a C9 fan, and I liked Ballz too. People love to hate him, but Dardoch's my man. I was really hoping that FOX move had worked out cuz uniting him and McBrief would've been gangbusters. Fox is going to get dumpstered again this split but IMT I think is looking like a top 4 team.