It’s not long now until eight of the world’s best teams descend on the Spodek arena for the League of Legends Intel Extreme Masters World Championship. The title, trophy and a US$100,000 prize pool are all on the line, and none of the attending teams are going to let these go without a fight. Here we take a look at ESC Ever and SK Telecom T1- will either of these League of Legends giants be adding another first place finish to their resume?
ESC Ever
ESC Ever had their debut in the first series of Challenger Korean Spring 2015. Finishing fifth to eighth, it wasn’t one of the highlights of the team’s history. Nor was the second series, where they suffered a 0-2 loss against MKZ. The summer saw Ever’s prospect improve significantly, finishing 8-3 after beating Winners 3-0 and securing a spot in the 2016 LCK Spring Promotion (where they unfortunately lost 3-1 to SBENU Sonicboom).
The 2016 preseason is where the team really took off, however. With a new roster including Hyeong-gi “Police” Park, Min-kwon “Ares” Kim and Han-gi “KeY” Kim, Ever caused a massive upset after being invited to the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup. Samsung Galaxy, Rebels Anarchy, CJ Entus and even world champions SK Telecom T1 all fell before them, leading to Ever picking up first place and KeY being named MVP of the tournament.
Following the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup, the team also took first place at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne in December, defeating the Qiao Gu Reapers 3-2 in a hard-fought final battle. Will it also be happily Ever after in Katowice? We’re soon going to find out…
SK Telecom T1
SK Telecom T1 has an undeniable history of formidable results. The first tournament they took part in following the establishment of the team in its current form, the SBENU Champions Spring 2015, saw them walk away with first place finish, having soundly beaten GE Tigers 3-0 in the finals - arguably a sign of things to come.
Although the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational the latter win secured SKT1 a spot at ended in them only taking second place after suffering an upset at the hands of Edward Gaming, this just seemed to be a small hiccup in the grand scheme of things. The SBENU Champions Summer 2015 a few months later saw them go almost undefeated, only dropping a series ot CJ Entus and beating KT Rolster 3-0 in the finals to advance to the 2015 Season World Championship as the first Korean seed. Fighting their way to the finals undefeated, SK Telecom T1 came up against the KOO Tigers and beat them 3-1, thus securing their organization its second League of Legends World Championship title.
Most recently, the team took part in the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup. However, this time their tournament run wasn’t such a charmed one, with them ultimately coming in third to fourth after losing their semifinal series 0-2 to ESC Ever and joining the ranks of other world champions eliminated early on in their first tournament after Worlds. SK Telecom T1 definitely won’t risk resting on their laurels again in Katowice...
See who’ll prevail in Katowice!
Whether you’re coming to Poland to watch in person or tuning in online, make sure your eyes are on Katowice from Friday the 4th of March to see who takes one step closer to the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship title!
Head over to the official Intel Extreme Masters site for all the key information and follow IEM on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates before, during and after the event!