Follow the action on our Intel Extreme Masters page December 6 and 7!

IEM San Jose is right around the corner and many League of Legends fans are excited to see what the first major tournament of the pre-season has in store. The tournament will be running this weekend, Dec. 6-7, and will be featuring many fan favorites such as North America’s Team SoloMid and Europe’s Alliance.

The format of the tournament is a Ro8 bracket that features no losers’ bracket. Both Alliance and TSM are getting byes to the next round due to their respective LCS championships. The community voted in Cloud 9 and Unicorns of Love while Lyon Gaming and paiN Gaming both qualified through online tournaments.

There are many reasons why fans should be excited for this tournament, it is the first live tournament since Worlds in Korea. The teams will be playing on the new Summoner’s Rift map on patch 4.20 and will be using their new line-ups.

Let’s look at the two biggest roster changes: Santorin to TSM and Rekkles to Alliance.

Rekkles to Alliance

After much speculation, Alliance confirmed that Rekkles would be leaving Fnatic and joining their squad in the upcoming season of the European LCS. While Fnatic fans are saddened, Alliance fans hope that Rekkles will be the catalyst to bolster Alliance’s World champion aspirations. IEM San Jose will be the first time Rekkles will play with Alliance in front of an audience, and it will be interesting to see how he’ll perform.

Santorin to Team Solo Mid

Following the wake of the Season 4 World Championship, Team Solo Mid lost their jungler Amazing due to difficulties being in America. Soon after TSM held tryouts for the empty position that was filled by Santorin, a 17-year-old European who played for Team Coast. Many fans worry that his lack of experience may not translate into the success Team Solo Mid hopes for.

A New Patch, a New Game

A beta version of the new Summoner's Rift map

Intel Extreme Masters in San Jose will be the first major tournament played on the new patch, 4.20. With many changes made in the jungle as well as a handful of new items, it will be exciting to see how players will adapt to the new meta-game. The biggest change is the new jungle, which features revamped, smite-specific items as well as new smite bonuses. As such, the focus will be on the junglers and how they’ll capitalize their modified roles.

In addition to these changes, the games will be played on the new and beautiful Summoner’s Rift.

So make sure you tune in this Saturday to catch some of the best League of Legends teams of the West face off against this at IEM San Jose.