Cover Image Courtesy: Intel Extreme Masters | Thumbnail Image Courtesy: IEM 2020 Katowice - Liquipedia
The North American and Asian qualifiers for IEM Katowice 2020 came to an end yesterday with Cloud9 and ViCi Gaming making their way through to the main event.
ESL who initially faced a lot of flak from the community for not broadcasting the closed qualifiers in a proper manner was quick to respond, and it turned out to a great decision as a lot of people tuned in to watch the two exciting qualifiers come to a close yesterday.
Revamped Cloud9 Take The Cake
The North American Closed Qualifiers were packed with big names like MIBR, Complexity Gaming, and Gen.G Esports, amongst other deserving teams, but it was the revamped roster of Cloud9 that stole the show with their absolutely dominating performance.
The South African - North American mixed roster proved to be too tough to handle for the other teams, dropping just 2 off the 11 maps that they played. They faced tough matches towards the end against Complexity and MIBR, but nothing that overwhelmed them.
On the other hands, Gen.G Esports heavily underperformed, maybe BnTeT can bring more order to the team who seem to be all over the place right now. Complexity could have done a better job, they had enough time on their hands to prepare for this qualifier.
ViCi Gaming Smoke The Competition
With trouble in the TYLOO camp over BnTeT moving to Gen.G Esports following the Katowice qualifier, ViCi seemed to give it their best to rock the already shaken Chinese roster, and they did a fine job, running away with an easy ‘3-0’ victory.
Despite their victory, all eyes were on the Filipino team Bren Esports, who took down TYLOO to reach the Upper Bracket Finals against ViCi Gaming. Unfortunately, the team dropped back-to-back matches but the effort was there, and they just might win it big in the coming qualifiers.
Coming back to ViCi, they seem to be in good shape with the youngster JamYoung really stepping up his performance. Kaze did not have the best of outings, but when the team is in such a good flow, it is hard to pinpoint flaws. Let’s see if they are able to inflict noticeable damage at the main event or not.
Stay tuned as the European qualifier comes to an end today, with the Oceanic qualifier following it. With these qualifiers coming to an end, all the teams participating in IEM Katowice 2020 will be set in place.
