IEM European Championship Finals Preview

By Francis "fcnz" Cloutier

January 14^th, 2010

Held this week-end in Bruehl, Germany, the IEM European Championships will feature twelve qualified teams, each competing for $50,000 and six qualification spots for the World Finals in March. With a lot to play for and the best teams list the IEM has offered us yet, this week-end is guaranteed to be filled with spectacular games.

Prior to the event, the teams were split into two groups of six, in which they will face every other team once. From there on, the first place finisher in each group will move on to the playoffs, while the second and third place teams from both sides will play each other in a relegation stage. The top six teams will automatically be granted entry in the World Finals, although all twelve participating teams are guaranteed some prize money.

Group A, which will be played today, might very well turn out to be the most intense of the two. With four of the six favorites drawn into it, this group will surely bring some surprises and some very unlikely results, as top contenders face each other early on. Look for AGAiN, SK-Gaming and mouz to be the likeliest picks to move on to the playoffs, if they can dodge being upset by Millenium and Rokslide Ravens, the clear underdogs in this pool.

In Group B, the defending champions, mTw, should feel fairly confident to move on. The Danes have had a decent year so far and should only have their hands full when facing Swedish powerhouse fnatic, the early favorites to take this group, and possibly the tournament. For oXmoze, n!faculty, KerchNET and Alternate, this group is a blessing, as they now all stand a chance to at least take part in the relegation round, particularly for the German squad Alternate, who came close to taking down the whole event last year, falling in the grand finals to mTw, who had been on fire all week-end.