Pre-Season is in full force and with it, comes the first international tournament. Hosted as usual by ESL, the IEM Cologne competition will bring high quality League of Legends entertainment to the fans worldwide once again. The line-up of contenders is more than satisfactory, we have North American champions Cloud9, European champions Fnatic, fan-favourites CLG, Russian overlords Gambit Gaming and dark horses Team Turquality and Team RED. The aforementioned six will battle for the grand prize in the pro tournament. The winner will take home 18,500$ and all the bragging rights.


It's revenge time for Cloud9

On the side, an amateur tournament will also take place. Stacked with one of the best teams in Europe, the "amateur" line-up consists of Ninjas in Pyjamas, SK Gaming, Copenhagen Wolves and TCM-Gaming. With all possible scenarios being epic clashes, it is no wonder that the overall winner will take home a cheque totaling 17,000$ and a lot of momentum coming into the EU LCS qualifier that is to take place in mid-December.

It is worth mentioning that the games will be played on patch version v3.13, which means that we will not see interesting new shenanigans, the revamped jungle or trinkets. Also, Heimerdinger, Syndra, Olaf and Sivir will be disabled due to bugs or remakes.

With all the technical details out of the way, we can jump right into the matches!



Pro tournament: Europe versus North America, take 2

When we take a simple glimpse of the bracket, what immediately stands out is the "underlying" theme of NA vs EU. Obviously, the organisers have worked hard to provide not only skilled contenders and good show for the crowd, but a strong incentive for the teams as region pride will once again be on the line. Last time we saw North America being outclassed in three sets and having to sit out of the top 4 during the Season 3 World Championship. This time, two of the top teams namely, Cloud9 and CLG will have to go through some serious competition if they want to regain their honour.

The two top seeded teams in this tournament ( C9 and FNC) will be awaiting their eventual opponents in the semifinals.

Gambit Gaming vs. The RED

Brothers versus Brothers. The two Russian teams collide in the quarterfinal match of IEM Cologne. This will mark the official return of the one and only "support-carry" EdWard since his brief spell at Curse during the Summer Split of the NA LCS. Recent reddit post from the support player himself did state that "previously existing problems are no more within the line-up" and that he has "no problem with [AD Carry player] Genja".
The original M5 quintet is reunited and many expect a solid performance in their first international showing after finishing among the top 8 at the Season 3 World Finals.


IEM tournaments are historically great for Gambit. Let's hope they can showcase their excellence again.

What plays heavily in their favour is not only the fact that they are facing a Challenger team, but also the access they supposedly have to the domestic League of Legends scene. On the other hand, The RED have two tournament winnings so far under their name - the WCG Russia qualifiers and the Plantronics RuLoL League. Aside from that, they rely on coordinated team fights to spearhead them into the lead. The team led by Alex Ich is expected to convincingly take the series, but if history has taught us anything, it is not never underestimate Russian underdogs, especially in IEM tournaments.

How do Cloud9 feel about that? The Americans will be preparing thoroughly for the match with Gambit. My personal opinion is that they may underestimate or think a less of them given the shaky performance at the World Finals, but mainly because their main effort would be targeted towards Fnatic, who await on the other side of the bracket. Key aspects of the game against the two powerhouses would be:



If all these are covered, we will be in for a fantastic match!


CounterLogic Gaming vs. Team Turquality

As one sided as this match may seem on paper, we have seen CLG fail to deliver on multiple occasions when facing a team they should demolish. With that in mind, I do believe that the new additions to the team, TrickZ and Aphromoo will have a stable debut in Germany. The Americans come from a rather disappointing LCS affair and will be looking to at least go deep in the tournament to regain some of their former glory. One of the good points in CLG's book is the fact that for the first time since the departure of Saintvicious, they have a dedicated Jungler who did not come off another position. Despite TrickZ's zero international experience, the Turks will provide a great catalyst to see if he will rise to the occasion.

Despite, Nientonsoh improving by the minute the "big man" in the line-up remains Doublelift who will have to do a pretty good job to show us how all the EU Carries "are trash". Supported by Aphromoo, the dubbed "Rush Hour" or "AphroLift" bot lane should have no problem against the Turkish challengers once it come to lane dominance or mechanical outplay.


Link may very well be the key piece in solving the fnatic puzzle. Source clgaming.net

For Team Turquality, this represents a perfect opportunity to gain valuable international experience. They are a well-rounded competitor back on home soil, taking part in almost every Riot-organised competition in Turkey. In addition, they placed second in the Sesaon 3 Turkey qualifier, which unfortunately saw DarkPassage go on. This being said, the Turks could potentially take a game off the North American legends, but only if they go the extra mile and spare every minute preparing for this clash.

How do Fnatic feel about that? My European pride tells me that the fanatics will not break a sweat, but let us not delude ourselves, CLG has what it takes to bring them down. This match does seem more like a crowd-pleaser on paper, but the pressure in both camps will be off the charts! The burden is to fall on TrickZ who has to counter or outplay one of the most experienced and mechanically gifted junglers out there in the face of Cyanide. The Finn single-handedly spearheaded Fnatic into the lead with a Lee Sin double kill in the deciding match versus Cloud9. With the constant rise of Lee Sin in the last month, I am more than certain and this will be a must ban of the Blind Monk. We should also note the Finn's mastery in Aatrox and Jarvan IV, disruptive Junglers who seek to wreak havoc among the enemy [bot] lane.


Go big or go home right from the get go.

The other big clash in terms of nerves and skill will be the AD Carry deadly dance: DoubleLift versus Rekkles. The Swede will officially debut as a starter for Fnatic and has to live-up to all the expectations, while his North American opponent will have to live-up to all the trash talk. I much rather not go into detail as to why this match-up will be the one to watch out for, instead I hope that the two maestros will leave us in awe with astounding plays, calculated executions, flashy mechanics and lots of friendly bm. The factors in this game will be:




The amateur tournament begins on Saturday, 23rd November while the pro competition begins and ends on Sunday, 24th November.