Last year, ESC Ever won the hearts of international fans as the plucky Korean challenger team that won IEM Cologne. But before they were surprising international opponents, they shocked domestic ones in the 2015 KeSPA Cup, which qualified them to the IEM circuit.

This year's KeSPA Cup should be full of a few more surprises, up-and-coming talent and, of course, two chances to qualify for the upcoming IEM circuit.

The Teams

All 10 teams from the 2016 LoL Champions Korea Summer are invited in addition to the two top teams from 2016 Challengers Korea Summer and two teams from the 2016 KeG Championship. SBENU Korea was initially invited but had to decline due to the team disbanding. Ever8 Winners was then invited, but declined. RisingStar Gaming, who finished fourth in 2016 Challengers Korea, will play in their place.

Afreeca Freecs Top Heo "Lindarang" Man-heung Jungle Yoon "Seonghwan" Seong-hwan Mid Son "Mickey" Young-min AD Carry Gwon "Sangyoon" Sang-yun Support No "Snowflower" Hoi-jong

CJ Entus Player 1 Player 2 Top Park "Shy" Sang-myeon Seo "Soul" Hyeon-seok Jungle Lee "Reach" Joo-won Mid Kim "Sky" Ha-neul AD Carry Park "Momo" Min-shik Support Hong "MadLife" Min-gi Park "SungHo" Sung-ho

ESC Ever Player 1 Player 2 Top Kim "Crazy" Jae-hee Jin "Firetrap" Jae-seung Jungle Kim "Ares" Min-kwon Choi "Bless" Hyeon-woong Mid Kang "Tempt" Myung-gu AD Carry Lee "LokeN" Dong-wook Support Kim "Key" Han-gi Eun "Totoro" Jong-seop

Jin Air Green Wings Player 1 Player 2 Top Yeo "TrAce" Chang-dong Kim "SoHwan" Jun-yeong Jungle Park "Winged" Tae-jin Mid Lee "Kuzan" Seong-hyeok Jin "Blanc" Seong-min AD Carry Park "Teddy" Jin-song Na "Pilot" Woo-hyung Support Choi "Chei" Sun-ho Lee "Sweet" Eun-teak

KT Rolster Player 1 Player 2 Top Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho Jungle Go "Score" Dong-bin Moon "Steal" Geon-yeong Mid Song "Fly" Yong-jun AD Carry No "Arrow" Dong-hyeon Support Ha "Hachani" Seung-chan

Longzhu Gaming Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Top Koo "Expession" Bon-taek Lee "Flame" Ho-jong Jungle Lee "Chaser" Sang-hyun Lee "Crash" Dong-woo Mid Shin "Coco" Jin-yeong Kim "Frozen" Tae-il Yoon "Justice" Suk-joon AD Carry Lee "Fury" Jin-yong Support Kim "Pure" Jin-sun Jang "Zzus" Joon-soo

MVP Top Kang "ADD" Geon-mo Jungle Kim "Beyond" Kyu-seok Mid An "Ian" Jun-hyeong AD Carry Oh "MaHa" Hyun-sik Support Jeong "Max" Jong-bin

ROX Tigers Player 1 Player 2 Top Song "Smeb" Kyung-ho Jungle Han "Peanut" Wang-ho Mid Lee "KurO" Seo-haeng Hae "Cry" Sung-min AD Carry Kim "PraY" Jong-in Support Kang "GorillA" Beom-hyeon

Samsung Galaxy Player 1 Player 2 Top Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin Kwon "Helper" Yeong-jae Jungle Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong Mid Lee "Crown" Min-ho AD Carry Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk Lee "Stitch" Seung-ju Support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in Kwon "Wraith" Ji-min

SK Telecom T1 Player 1 Player 2 Top Lee "Duke" Ho-seong Kim "Profit" Jun-hyung Jungle Bae "bengi" Seong-woong Kang "Blank" Sun-gu Mid Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok AD Carry Bae "Bang" Jun-sik Support Lee "Wolf" Jae-wan Kang "TaeHoon" Tae-hoon

Kongdoo Monster Top Kim "Roach" Kang-hui Jungle Son "Punch" Min-hyuk Mid Lee "Edge" Ho-seong AD Carry Seo "SSol" Jin-sol Support Kim "GuGer" Do-yeop

RisingStar Gaming Player 1 Player 2 Top Park "Hyuni" Su-hyeon Jungle Kwon "BBang" Yeong-jae Yun "Catch" Sang-ho Mid Kim "Crow" Sun-kyu AD Carry Song "OdduGi" Kwang-ho Support Song "HighDin" Bang-hyeon

Chungnam Top Park "WooTae" Woo-tae Jungle Lee "Jaeha" Jae-ha Mid Choo "FireRain" Hwa-woo AD Carry Kang "Jihoon" Ji-hoon Support Lee "Changdong" Chan-dong

Seoul City Top Kim "Khan" Dong-ha Jungle Kim "Hoglet" Gwong-hyeop Mid Huh "Bbo" Chung AD Carry Pak "Egoist" Seung-jin Support Ryu "Hoit" Ho-song

The Schedule

The 2016 KeSPA Cup kicks off on Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. Korea Standard Time (3 a.m. ET) with ESC Ever taking on CJ Entus. After that series, Seoul City will face Kongdoo Monster. The Qualifying Round features six best-of-three series from Nov. 9 to Nov. 12. Quarterfinals will take place on Nov. 13 and 14, with KT Rolster and the ROX Tigers seeded into the playoffs due to their second and first place finishes in 2016 LCK Summer. Semifinals are on Friday, Nov. 18, and finals are on Saturday, Nov. 19. All playoff matches are best-of-threes with the exception of the finals, which will be a best-of-five series.

Qualifying for IEM Oakland and Gyeonggi

Two teams from the KeSPA Cup will qualify for the IEM circuit.

IEM Oakland is the trickier qualifier to understand, but makes sense in the context of scheduling. The highest-ranked team — based on their finish in the 2016 LCK Summer season — not in the KeSPA Cup playoffs that also did not participate in the 2016 World Championship semifinals will qualify for IEM Oakland. This narrows the field down to either MVP or the Afreeca Freecs. The winner will move on to the KeSPA Cup quarterfinals, while the loser will attend IEM Oakland.

IEM Gyeonggi will invite the winner of the KeSPA Cup, provided that it’s not SK Telecom T1, who have already been invited to the 2017 IEM World Championship. If SKT wins the KeSPA Cup, the next highest-ranked team will attend IEM Gyeonggi.

Emily Rand is a staff writer for theScore eSports. She wants to see MVP or Afreeca at an international event. You can follow her on Twitter.