What to expect going into Intel Extreme Masters in San Jose

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A brief talk through the teams

In San Jose, the number of European and American teams looks evenly split, mainly due to the late withdrawal of Team EnVyUs, who decided to stay in France because of the terrible attacks that have happened in Paris and – though having affected the whole world – it mainly impacted the French and it is a matter of safety passing on this event. The result was a vacant spot, and together with the spot that was to be decided by the iBuyPower Cup, both have been taken over by NA teams, respectively Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid. The lineup looks really strong and even without nV, the European power coming into this tournament is just overwhelming.

Virtus.Pro have put up an amazing run in the last months which had its peak at the ESEA Dubai Invitational, where they took out fnatic and TSM to succeed as the winners. The last major in Cluj, however, was more of a short journey as the surprising runner-up Gamers2 took them out. In return, VP acquired the winners’ trophy at the CEVO Season 8 finals in Santa Ana. Their recent online results have looked a little mixed, with losses to NiP, Na’Vi and G2 again. But as we know, online matches and LAN tournaments are two substancially different stories.

As the ones who have made it to the finals of Cluj, Natus Vincere could be considered the most favorable team to take the trophy home. However, their recent shaky online match history indicates a slight drop-off in terms of performance and it should not be forgotten that during the CEVO finals they were knocked out pretty heavily by mousesports and Titan respectively. The extent to which they had an easy run through to the finals of Cluj is also questionable, with NiP being the only team that should have posed an actual threat.

Seeing TSM lose against the Ninjas in Pyjamas at Cluj was a real surprise, since they were expected to go big in this tournament by everyone. They have sadly not had many matches recently, which complicates reading the significance of that loss. Was it a one-time slip? Or has Team SoloMid dropped off a little? Well, only the matches in San Jose will be able to give an answer to that.

If we had to predict the chances of Gamers2 with the lineup that they had just a week ago, a lot of people would have gone with a definitive “yes” when being asked whether this team could take the title and the trophy. In Cluj, they made a clear cut through Virtus.Pro and almost broke EnVyUs, that later took out Na’Vi. The sheer clutch abilities of every individual in that team made even 4v1 rounds a real danger. But looking at the present, a roster change has stirred up the equation pretty badly. As fnatic acquired dennis, dignitas’ aizy transferred to Gamers2. Their chances are so difficult to tell now, since every roster change can bring weaknesses to light as well as unknown strengths. New strategies have to be developed in order to integrate a new player, positions within the team will have to be reconsidered.

Concluding the evaluation of the European teams and noticing that they have all more or less been majorly upset in recent history, there is but one question left to ask.

Could this be the point at which the North American teams break through?

The four NA teams that have been brought into this tournament can be considered to be the best of their region.

Luminosity were the ones that beat fnatic and sent them into the loser bracket at Cluj. At the iBUYPOWER Cup, however, they were pretty much drowned by a Cloud9 that just seemed to be on point, but nonetheless they have the ability to demonstrate a major upset at San Jose.

Team Liquid have proven to be the second best NA team in the last week, being the only team that was able to partially tackle Cloud9. They were fairly close to taking out VP in Cluj and have overall shown that they are a team to be reckoned with on the international stage.

Counter Logic Gaming may be the weakest team in the lineup right now. As an NA team they managed to come second furthest in Cluj – eventually losing out to Na’Vi in the group phase– but their recent history indicates a slight disadvantage to their NA opponents. Liquid and Luminosity have won most of the matches against them and though CLG have won the last two matches against Cloud9 online, it should be noted that Cloud9 have since come back with much stronger form.

This is what brings us to, currently, the best NA team, who has earned the title again by succeeding in both the iBUYPOWER Cup and the RGN Pro Series. Cloud9 seem to have fixed issues that have bothered them in the last few months, which makes their top form far less out of reach. We have seen them perform very well at the ESEA Pro League finals, at ESWC Montreal and at DreamHack Valencia, where they made it clear that they can dominate close to every other team in the world if they find a rhythm that suits them. Seeing them compete at this level makes room for speculations towards Cloud9 actually taking home the IEM trophy.

Having some great runs lately, the North American scene is hungry to show that they are capable of taking on their European opponents. In a time where the top-tier teams are looking slightly shaky, this is actually more than just feasible and the Counter-Strike scene may be facing the biggest international upset it has ever seen.

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