We’re two weeks away from what’s looking like one of the biggest League of Legends tournament of the year. And today, ESL revealed the final teams to attend Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice, the Season IX World Championship for ESL’s premiere league.
CJ Entus, SK Gaming, and Team SoloMid will join five other top teams pulled from various regions around the world, making the upcoming IEM championship one of the most hotly contested international events outside of Worlds in years.
Team SoloMid and SK Gaming both rank atop their region’s League Championship Series at the end of last week, earning them invites to the tournament. They will join Cloud9 and Gambit Gaming, who qualified for the tourney by winning IEM San Jose and IEM Cologne respectively.
Other attendees include World Elite, winners of IEM Shenzhen, and IEM Taipei winners Yoe Flash Wolves.
But the real titans are Korea’s two entrants. CJ Entus, filled with Korean veterans like legendary support Hong “MadLife” Min-gi, joins the only team ahead of them in the Korean standings, GE Tigers. The breakout team of the year, GE Tigers sit atop the LCK undefeated with a 7-0 series record backed by a 14-2 map win loss rate.
While Team SoloMid and SK Gaming look great so far in their regions, can they stand up to the new Korean powerhouses? IEM Katowice, beginning on March 12, will give us a chance to find out.
