Everything You Need to Know About IEM Katowice

Riot·Mar 5, 2015·0 votes·59,964 views

It all comes down to this: after five IEM events the best League of Legends teams in the world will face off at the IEM Katowice World Championships. IEM Katowice will pit eight top teams and IEM winners against each other in the first international competition since the 2015 Season began. With a massive prize pool and the IEM World Championship title on the line, here’s everything you need to know about the event.

WHO'S PLAYING AT IEM KATOWICE?

IEM Katowice features eight League of Legends teams from across the world, mixing teams from North America, Europe, China, Korea, and Taiwan. The competitors are:

Team SoloMid (NA)
SK Gaming (EU)
GE Tigers (LCK)
CJ Entus (LCK)
Yoe Flash Wolves (LMS)
World Elite (LPL)
Gambit Gaming (EU)
Cloud9 (NA)

WHAT IS THE FORMAT?

The IEM Katowice World Championship will be played on a double-elimination Group Stage. First up in Group A is NA LCS legacy team Cloud 9 battling against the goliath that is the GE Tigers, while EU LCS titans SK Gaming take on Taiwan’s yoe Flash Wolves. In Group B, past-IEM rivals Gambit Gaming and CJ Entus will go head to head while NA’s current king of the standings Team SoloMid will face off against China’s Team World Elite. The top two teams will advance to the Semifinals while the remaining teams will play in a single-elimination bracket, from which two more teams will also advance to the Semifinals. From there, the Semifinals will be played in a Best of 3. The champion will be determined in the Finals through a Best of 5. For more on the casting lineup at IEM Katowice click here.

WHAT'S ON THE LINE?

Every team invited to IEM Katowice will walk away with a piece of the $183,414 prize pool. The prize pool breakdown is as follows:

1st: $108,414 /€ 96,984.40
2nd: $30,000/€ 26,837.23
3rd/4th: $15,000/€ 13,418.62
5th/6th: $5,000/€ 4,472.87
7th/8th: $2,500/€ 2,236.44

WHAT IS THE SCHEDULE?

Friday – March 13th

13:00 to 14:00 CET - Group A - Cloud9 vs GE Tigers (BO1)
14:10 to 15:10 CET - Group A - SK Gaming vs yoe Flash Wolves (BO1)
15:20 to 16:20 CET - Group A - Winners Match (BO1)
16:30 to 17:30 CET - Group A - Elimination Match (BO1)
17:40 to 18:40 CET - Group B - Gambit Gaming vs CJ Entus (BO1)
18:50 to 19:50 CET - Group B - Team SoloMid vs Team WE (BO1)
20:00 to 21:00 CET - Group B - Winners' Match (BO1)
21:10 to 22:10 CET - Group B - Elimination Match (BO1)

Saturday – March 14th

13:00 to 14:00 CET Group A - Decider Match (BO1)
14:10 to 15:10 CET Group B - Decider Match (BO1)
15:30 to 18:30 CET - Semifinal #1 (BO3)
18:45 to 21:45 CET - Semifinal #2 (BO3)

Sunday – March 15th

18:00 to 22:30 CET - Final (BO5)

HOW CAN YOU WATCH?

You can tune into the IEM Katowice World Championship right here on Lolesports. If you want to watch live, tickets are still available here via the IEM Katowice website.

95 Comments

TrollFan01Mar 5, 201514 votes

I see the Semi-Finals having the GE Tigers, Cloud 9, CJ Entus, and TSM.

OpabaerMar 5, 201515 votes

In my opinion Sk Gaming got better chances than Cloud 9.

ZeroAnarchyMar 5, 201517 votes

SK is one dimensional, if they don't get their lane dominant picks they get wrecked. They still haven't shown that they can do well from behind. C9 has a better chance because they do play well from behind.

OpabaerMar 6, 20154 votes

But SK wont let a team come back from behind.. And against C9 they got a good chance, since C9 doesn't have the strongest early game.

ShadowguynickMar 6, 20153 votes

What in C9's early game has been weak? The only other team who rivals their early game is CLG, at least in NA. This could of course be not as good as SK, I'm not saying that, but to suggest C9 has a weak early game is completely ignoring where they get their leads...

warpedmindMar 7, 20158 votes

how to win against c9: -ban zed -???? -profit

VixanysMar 12, 20155 votes

Welcome Kennen Mid.

-------**Hai ** sends his regards

ConstolMar 6, 20156 votes

One dimensional you say? Has Hai played anything other than Zed since Hai stopped feeding and C9 started winning? The answer is no. These teams aren't gonna be oblivious to a players habits like NA seems to be (there are a lot of examples of this btw). Prep C9 fans, they're about to get very exposed

ZeroAnarchyMar 6, 20153 votes

I'm talking about play styles, not limited champion pools that everyone knew Hai has for the longest. C9, if you watch their games make very intelligent rotations and have one of the best shotcalling in the world. SK if they can't get ahead they don't do much, they have pretty poor vision control. This isn't saying SK is a bad team, they are one of the best western teams. Oh and C9 being exposed that's already been done, SK is not very good at playing from behind which has been shown in their losses and this could be very bad especially since thay have a korean team in their group. C9 can play from behind which means they will stand a slightly better chance against a dominating korean team like GE Tigers. I'm predicting GE and C9 to get out of group stages.

FrikgeekMar 6, 20154 votes

Guess you haven't watched yesterday's SK vs Fnatic game. They came back from behind and had good vision control. Besides, it's not like C9 is some great laning team that can shut down SK's laning phase. After C9 and SK lose to the GE Tigers in the upper bracket they'll face each other in the lower bracket and all the strategy in the world won't save them from a fed Forg1ven.

ZeroAnarchyMar 6, 20154 votes

And if C9 just goes even in the laning phase they'll just take the game from there and out rotate SK so much they'll build up a huge lead off towers and snowball from there. Oh and you also forget one of C9's biggest strengths: teamfighting.

FrikgeekMar 6, 20153 votes

"just" There's a reason why teams haven't been able to accomplish "only" going even with SK in the laning phase. Are you really suggesting that Cloud 9, a team that's WEAK in laning could do that? SK only need a small lead to start their 1-3-1 splitpush. Fnatic is another team that's good at teamfighting and rotating due to Yellowstar's shotcalling, they're also far better mechanically and in lane than Cloud 9. And they're 1-1 vs SK.

ZeroAnarchyMar 6, 20155 votes

How in the world do you think C9 has a weak laning phase, how the hell do you think they get their leads from. Stragetically C9 is far better than SK or Fnatic. Fnatic is limited in their champion pools, ban Lissandra, Rumble, and Rengar and there goes their game plan. Hai has better shot calling than Yellowstar and whoever is the shotcaller in SK. If C9 and SK goes against each other, it will be a close game, however C9 has a slight edge.

FrikgeekMar 7, 20153 votes

Hai has a negative CS difference @10 and Sneaky's isn't that amazing either. In fact, Forg1ven averages ~50gold per minute higher than Sneaky. That's huge, in 20 minutes Forg1ven has 1000 gold more than Sneaky. If C9 really did have some amazing ability to come back from behind they wouldn't have lost to teams like Winterfox or Gravity.

ZeroAnarchyMar 7, 20154 votes

You do realize C9 was in a slump right? If you're going to bring up those losses then explain their loss to UOL, they're not a very amazing team either. And you seem to forget the fact that I said that if they went against each other it would be a CLOSE game, with C9 having a SLIGHT edge because of how more strategically diverse they are. Look at the CLG vs C9 game, CLG is known for their very strong early game right? C9 pretty much matched them.

FrikgeekMar 8, 20152 votes

So, are they in another slump? They just got owned by Impulse, another "not-so-great" team. And yeah, SK lost vs UoL once but UoL also beat Fnatic and 2-0'd TSM in IEM San Jose. UoL can play on a very high level sometimes, unlike Gravity or Winterfox. That strategic team with a good laning phase was C9 in Season 3 and 4, that C9 no longer exists.SK is convicingly the #1 team in EU, while Cloud 9 is #3 in NA. And you're telling me that the 3rd best NA team can beat the best EU team? I don't think the gap between regions is quite that big(if there is one at all).

ZeroAnarchyMar 9, 20156 votes

Impulse is actually doing quite well right now, they beat TSM and TL along with C9. The thing about C9 is even when they are like 10 kills down, they always manage to put up a fight. They made TiP confused on how to even close the game out. Even at worlds when they went against SSB they always managed to get relatively even in towers. I'm saying it will be a close game because of past results, they can always pick it back up.

FrikgeekMar 13, 20151 votes

Oh well, guess we'll never know now since C9 got knocked out by YFW. Nobody was expecting them to win against the GE Tigers but they just got stomped. They got a lead against YFW but they managed to fuck it up.

flashman260Mar 6, 20154 votes

just wondering i am not that good with analysis with either team; however, when does C9 just roll over and give any team a free win even if they are behind. Would C9 just see their turret going down without trading object which they are rly good known or force a team fight. Sneaky goes 1 v 1 with reckless and doubelift and he can stand on his own. Hai is known with his small pool; however, his shot calling is one of the best in the game.

LiamNeesonsssMar 7, 20157 votes

SK may be able to get away with not warding in EU but in an International Event they'll get butt-devastated.

OpabaerMar 8, 20153 votes

Do you even watch EU LCS?

KushwalaMar 9, 20153 votes

Almost every loss has been chalked up to poor vision control, Fredy122 admits to this in an off-game interview. If anything can be talked shit about SK, it's definitely the vision control.

lemmefriendyouMar 15, 20151 votes

Everyone who commented about C9 and SK should feel like stupid fanboys by now, so.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Go suck the GE Tigers off since they're also out of the tourny. TSM TSM TSM TSM TSM TSM!

EpsilonAlphaMar 5, 20154 votes

The Flash Wolves are insane though.

ZeroAnarchyMar 5, 20154 votes

Insane at losing that's for sure

warpedmindMar 7, 20155 votes

are you on crack? you cant take the flash wolves lightly. if you would have watched at least one or two games you would see their power level is maybe slightly less than the best western teams, so not playing serious against them is suicidal

llaycloutMar 6, 20154 votes

I doubt TSM will make it, I think Gambit is better, but I think C9 will definitely beat SK. WE may upset, but probably not and I don't know enough about YFW to say.

ZeroAnarchyMar 6, 20153 votes

I think it's a toss-up between Gambit and TSM, Gambit I think have more carry potential then TSM.

warpedmindMar 7, 20152 votes

TSM will not be able to handle Gambit if they let them their cheese picks. if they dont ban sejuani and kennen they will get destroyed

ZeroAnarchyMar 7, 20153 votes

That's the downside if TSM went against Gambit, they're not good at adapting to weird picks.

WonMadDogMar 6, 20154 votes

Please it will clearly be Flash Wolves, TSM, WE, and GE Tigers with TSM pwning the shit out of all the asian countries cause 'MERICA! (And Denmark and Korea... And Canada)

MMMHOTCHEEZEMar 16, 20151 votes

You called it.

Mirai no MiraiMar 6, 201513 votes

Another NA fanboy summoner 3

btw. SK will beat C9 easily.

xRivalryMar 7, 20159 votes

I'm from NA but I support and watch EU LCS only. But C9 is better than SK Gaming sorry bro.

C9 has faced many high level opponents throughout their time and many of them a lot harder than SK Gaming is, and they've managed to pull wins. I have no doubt that C9 will win if they play their usual way. I am also sure that C9 will prepare very well.

Everyone thought EL could beat C9 when they got Rekkles, of course they had less pratice time together as a group. I think It'll end up the same for SK Gaming.

warpedmindMar 7, 201517 votes

if you watch EU LCS you know elements have other problems than being able to beat C9

Mirai no MiraiMar 7, 20156 votes

Elements without Tabzz is bottom tier LCS team, you can't say that El is better than SK lol Everyone says that if you destroy SK in early they will lose, but it's easy to say, harder to do -,- When Hai doesn't plays Zed he sucks as fuck. NA teams didin't play with new SK yet so they don't have practical experience and that's why SK will shine. If they'll play their game i think they can beat even GE Tigers.

ZeroAnarchyMar 7, 20158 votes

No, SK will not beat GE Tigers, the fact that GE can play so many different comps means you can't even ban them out. If GE sees how SK loses then they will absolutely demolish them, same with C9 and every other team they will happen to face,

GuillenMar 12, 20154 votes

C9 is against GE Tigers in the first game. The undefeated GE Tigers. C9 have a 0.1% chance of actually taking them down.

DeltaRavenMar 6, 201510 votes

Honestly I think the GE Tigers are going to win the whole thing; I got my hopes on Cloud 9, but I'd be really happy if any team from EU or NA won. I may be from NA, but if it takes an EU team to disrupt the Idea of the "Korean Master Race" then i'm all for it.

warpedmindMar 7, 20153 votes

would be suprised if the tigers drop a single game.

ladies and gentleman, please welcome the season 5 world champions

SaladierMar 12, 20152 votes

If SSW lost a game to TSM, then it's not impossible.

ZeroAnarchyMar 12, 20153 votes

Oh please, that game was pretty much SSW giving that win to TSM rofl

Random EnoughMar 13, 20151 votes

That TSM SSW series wasn't that one sided. SSW dominated the first game but made a mistake and threw one and then the following one it was TSM going even until they made a mistake that gave SSW the advantage which they snowballed from there. I'm not saying they were as good as SSW were just that they very nearly gave SSW a scare and that means noone can underestimate them. Not to mention their BO5's are insane in the improvement they can make over the course of the series!

L2D tyler1Mar 6, 20154 votes

Honestly, how TSM does is going to be based on how hard Bjergsen carries. C9 has a roster thats strong throughout but i dont see them going far. I think Cj Entus can pull off the upset against Gambit, and i think flash wolves take down the SK Machine

MaryJGodMar 5, 20151 votes

tigers cuz tigers , entus cuz they against gambit, wolves cuz they wolves, tsm cuz they have easiest match every tournament in semis

ZeroAnarchyMar 5, 20159 votes

guess you didn't see s3 worlds lol. they got in a group with skt.

NeoDeimosMar 6, 20157 votes

Or Season 2 Worlds for that matter. TSM gets a bye into the Quarterfinals, where they draw... Azubu Frost, ranked #1 in the world at the time.

Look at TSM's draw in the Quarters of Worlds 2 and 4. Both times they ended up going against what was thought to be the toughest team remaining (Azubu Frost, and Samsung White).

RC StyxMar 6, 20155 votes

Don't talk about the elimination bracket at season 4... TSM got THE easiest group stage in that tournament, having no Korean team in their group and no REAL other competition since SK didn't get to use their junglier. And they still didn't get first out of their group

TrollFan01Mar 6, 20159 votes

TSM was the #1 seed. ALL the #1 teams had "protection." By that Riot said no other #1 seeds will be in the same group. Technically TSM had another #1 seed int heir group (TPA) but they meant from the top 4 reason.

Group A (#1 EDG, #2 SSW, #2 AHQ, and IWC Dark Impulse) Group B (#1 TSM, #2 SHR, #3 SK, and #1 TPA) Group C ( #1 SSB, #2 FNC, #2 OMG, and #3 LMQ) Group D (#1 ALL, #2 C9, #3NWS, and IWC KUM)

Luck and un-luck of the draw happens. ALL had a good chance of making it out of Group D but they got upset. EDG got upset too. You can say TSM got lucky but so did SSW and EDG.

Don't forget that TSM got the 2nd place team from Worlds in their group too. SHR got 2nd palce in the world. Top it off TSM was the very first team to beat SSW and SHR was the second team to beat them. Only TSM and SHR were able to take a game off of SSW.

SaladierMar 12, 20153 votes

TSM no competition? Please they had SHC in their group, you know the semifinalist?