IEM Katowice Group A Preview

In just a couple of days IEM Katowice will present us with some of the first performances of season 3 and 2013. Group A of Katowice is the Group of Death filled with super powers and rising stars.




This is the intensity of the victory that they strive for.
The last team to qualify in IEM’s Group A is the Korean powerhouse team Azubu Blaze. Blaze recently fell short against their sister team to an exciting BO5 match in The Champions Winter tournament in Korea, however they are looking to change that with a victory at IEM. Having played so solid the Korean team will ultimately excel ahead in this group to proceed to the group stages. However while expectations are high for Blaze the teams that they will play may prove that the Korean domination might not happen in LoL.


New name, Old faces.
We have the newly acquired Gambit Gaming housing the former players of Moscow 5. If these are still the same players that we remember from 2012 then we will definitely see some great plays out of them. Gambit Gaming is a favorite to make it out of the group stages. However the former M5 team hasn’t seen first place in a premier tournament since August in the S2 Regional Finals against SK Gaming. GG is not a team to take lightly however, having practiced in China against teams like WE and iG these teams will have perhaps a newly combined version of Alex Ich and crew combining strategies of European + Asian plays. Always expect the unexpected from these Russian powerhouses as they will likely be the second team to pull through.

Curse Gaming after recently qualifying for RIOT’s Season 3 NA Qualifiers, is the third team to show that they are one of the dominant teams of North America. With the recent success of the team, they will be riding on some momentum. With Voyboy and Saint Vicious working exceptionally well together and Element and Cop continuing to dominate in NA, Curse is not a team to think lowly of right now. The problem with Curse at IEM will lie with their midlaner Rhux, due to Nyjacky unable to attend due to issues with his Visa. Without Jacky the team’s synergy might not be what we saw in the S3 Qualifiers but don’t count them out just yet, for Rhux is no scrub. If this Curse team can play confidently without Jacky Curse can pull ahead of the Russians.

Lastly we have MYM who showed that towards the end of 2012 that they were a team that is ready to prove themselves to the world. MYM showcased that no European team could stop them, however Asian teams pose more of a problem. In December MYM was stomping through IEM Cologne destroying power house CLG.EU and Korean team CJ Entus in the group stages, until they hit the unexpected speed bump of Korean team SK Telecom led by Reapered in the semi-finals . Don’t count the Polish team out just yet, for they are playing on their home turf and for them this is a war to defend home turf.

With only two of these teams only able to advance to the playoff stage of the tournament, these four teams will likely showcase everything they have right off the bat. Azubu Blaze has been dominant all last year and will likely show that again and may take the group stages by storm. Gambit Gaming will want their debut to be spectacular and will most likely showcase some creative new meta breaking strategies like they always have done, however they are not necessarily the distinctive second place winners for this is not the same Curse of times past, and MYM is no pushover.