Remember Katowice!

What I many times told players, casters and organizers during the last weekend can't be more true: IEM Katowice surpassed the expectations of a humble journalist. Like many fans, he also was used to look on IEM Global Challenges as just another qualifier for the World Championship and the saturated presence of local stars did not help him get excited as compared to other events.

Silly, silly him, he should have known better. This is, after all, not the first time that Carmac and co take a show and inflate it to proportions not easily surmountable by mere words. IEM Katowice, for the lack of better definition, was otherworldly.

IEM's TRADEMARK

"We're not a reality show, we're a sports league" is one sentence of Carmac that I inevitably remember after every IEM is over. In times when showmanship rules the world of eSports and stories of personalities become more important than the stories of personalities' successes, IEM has always stood out as a tournament which values its qualifiers and open brackets the highest.

From the eight qualified through the open bracket, two players would flow into the tournament to leave a scar of phenomenal performance, reminding the eSports world of their existence. After an entire year of nowhere to be seen, TLO was reborn on the grounds of Katowice, finishing second in one of the hardest groups of the tournament, playing an extraordinary series against Mana in the Ro12 (sharing a friendly hug with him under the sounds of the roaring appreciation of the crowd), and only lost against the eventual champion. "I can beat anybody in this tournament," TLO told Rakaka before our eyes and not counting the two finalists, he really did.

The very same thing happened to Daisy, who's always struggled with the "I play for a low tier team" syndrome but took advantage of IEM's open bracket to copy TLO's run, finish second in the group (below the eventual champion), owning everybody else and losing to the other grand finalist. His play was crisp, almost flawless and helped upset not one or two crowd favorites (it is because of him that Golden, Vortix and Nerchio never made it far), clearly showing that he might have well figured out how to play PvZ. Even Kaelaris recommended his games against Nerchio as something to watch (look below for video) and one has to wonder what would the Korean have done had he not had the worst luck of the draw.

01.09.1939, ESPORTS STYLE

Germans invading Poland is one joke that would not be found funny by the majority of the local population of Katowice but thankfully eSports fan did not care about cheesy references to WWII events (and to those who do, we sincerely apologize). As one particular player crushed every opposition regardless of its nationality, they cheered, they clapped and they approved of his sicknerdballerness.

Much like a Panzer division, Socke quelled every opponent's attempt to bring him down and by the end of day two, he was the best foreigner in Katowice as well as the only other player that finished with 5-0 in his group. Every one of his match-ups was world class, the potency of his play reminiscent of the Socke from MLG Spring 2012, furor teutonicus embodied. He taught SC2 fans how to handle PvZ late-game by looking at the match-up from the vantage point of the heavy aggressor and every victory of his evoked hundreds of "Sick nerd baller" votes. And a sick nerd baller he was, his triumph easily overshadowing even First's and Dream's grand final and the award ceremony itself.

I wonder what he'd do if he was to compete of French ground...

[INTERVIEW] Nerchio: “I don't need to be the best foreigner as long as I am at the top”

CHAPTER II.

KATOWICE ON FILM

With our impressions of the event summarized, we leave you with the work we were actually sent out to do between browsing pictures of cats on 9GAG in the morning and marveling at the beauty of Polish girls (and a lot of marveling there was).

Moonglade on the Australian scene and what keeps it hindered, representing his country and state of the foreigners at IEM Katowice.




Lucifron talks about the state of terran in its various match-ups, if the recent patch hurt zergs too much and what advantage do WC3 switch-overs have compared to BroodWar players in SC2.





TLO the ever-smiling comments on Polish food, his down-time in 2012 and how he coped with the slump, his anticipation of Heart of the Swarm, as well as his team-mates and their chances in the Proleague.

Mana talks about his Korean experience, StarCraft and Poland, Carriers, his match against TLO and the exuberance of the crowd before someone unexpected hijacks the show.



Kaelalris brings his undying charm along as we discuss a great variety of topics including his casting career, if SC2 is losing relevance, casters branching out and what he'd cast if SC2 would die and the idea of unified eSports. We also accidentally almost destroy IEM property... oops.



Bly gladly talks the affects of nerfs onto zerg and if the race is able to win late-game now, how is it to be part of a team with Nerchio, Scarlett and MMA in it, and how has his training habits changed after Cella joined (and why did it hate it at first).

CHAPTER III.

KATOWICE IN PICTURES

CHAPTER IV.

KATOWICE IN REPLAYS

• IEM Katowice highest rated replays