On Sunday, February 26th, the Spodek arena in Katowice, Poland, saw the culmination of its League of Legends tournament with four remaining teams battling it out for the coveted trophy and the IEM World Championship. G2 Esports, ROX Tigers, Flash Wolves and H2k took the stage but in the end it was Flash Wolves who lifted the trophy and basked in confetti.
Semifinals
The first semifinal was played between G2 Esports, who secured their slot through the group B decider match against Unicorns of Love, and ROX Tigers, who topped group A. First game saw a lot of action and was dominated by the Tigers despite G2 showing some good plays as well. The second game was a different story as it was the European team’s time to dominate and take the win, although not without Tigers fighting back and taking some team fights. The final game in the series was much more balanced with both teams giving their all, resulting in a very even and exciting match. In the end, it was a brilliant team fight in the Baron pit and an ace from G2 Esports that secured the EU team a spot in the grand final.
The second semifinal came down to Flash Wolves, who dominated their group and H2k who defeated Hong Kong Esports in the group A decider match. The first game was sparse in kills and very tactical with especially H2k not wanting to take any risks. The game lasted over an hour with gold income staying at similar levels for both teams. Finally, H2k won a team fight in the top lane and manage to kill Wolves’ nexus. The second game started with the EU taking taking advantage and holding onto it, although never getting too far ahead. Still, it looked like H2k will take the series 2-0 when Flash Wolves won an important team fight that won them the match and took the series to game three which they also won, joining G2 Esports in the grand final.
Grand Final
It all came down to EULCS’ G2 Esports and LMS Flash Wolves, top teams in their respective regions. From the very beginning of the tournament, Flash Wolves shown that they are one of the top favorites to take it all in Katowice and they proved it throughout the matches, including the grand final. Their great tactical thinking and great execution lead to them defeating G2 Esports 2-0, liftin the prestigious IEM trophy and claim their first ever IEM World Championship. Congratulations!
Selected highlights
The @LOL_Tigers seem unstoppable right now and keep on killing @G2esports Bot Lane! #IEM pic.twitter.com/r88zyq5ceg
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 26, 2017
Seonghwan steals the Baron and denies @G2esports their way back into the game! #IEM pic.twitter.com/kNTwCfMMEa
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 26, 2017
Scuttle Crab, the 6th team member of @H2KGG! #IEM pic.twitter.com/lbliBp7FcO
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 26, 2017
First Blood in the Grand Final goes to @G2Trick with a pick in Top Lane! #IEM pic.twitter.com/o4EZ57ocbn
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 26, 2017
Another fight in favor of @flashwolves2013! They get closer and closer to winning the second game as well! #IEM pic.twitter.com/RPRVnQQODU
— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 26, 2017
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Spodek arena or tuned in online, to all teams and players, to the broadcast team and everyone who made another memorable League of Legends IEM tournament happen.
This is not the end for the IEM World Championship as we continue the event with CS:GO, StarCraft II and the IEM EXPO. For more information, visit IEM’s official website and follow IEM on Twitter and Facebook for all updates.
