Team SoloMid Wins Intel Extreme Masters World Championship
Last night, North American squad Team SoloMid won its first international title in years, defeating China’s World Elite in stunning fashion and going 3-0 in the Grand Finals of the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) World Championship in Katowice, Poland.
Team SoloMid, owned by Andy “Reginald” Dinh, is one of the oldest organizations in competitive League of Legends. However, as the scene became slowly dominated by Korean teams, TSM and North America in general haven’t won an international tournament for so long. Their last victory in such waters was during the IPL Face Off: San Francisco Showdown last August 2012. Having qualified for IEM Katowice together with Cloud 9 was TSM’s chance to prove that NA still has what it takes to take on the world.
On the other side of the fence, World Elite suffered a huge downfall these past few months. From being one of the best Chinese teams in the world, a slew of controversies and roster changes led the team to place last in the LoL Pro League (LPL), China’s equivalent of the LoL Championship Series (LCS).
During the tournament itself, TSM came up huge, defeating Korean and Taiwanese contenders CJ Entus and yoe Flashwolves, respectively. As for World Elite, they pulled off the biggest upset in LoL history, taking out GE Tigers who were undefeated in the LoL Champions Korea (LCK), considered by many to be the most elite tournament in the world.
The Grand Finals was a showcase of TSM’s continual growth as a team. While game 1 put them up against a wall, Jan-sik “Lustboy” Ham and Lucas “Santorin” Larsen helped their teammates survive the onslaught of aggression. This allowed Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Jason “Wildturtle” Tran to carry their team to victory, while Marcus “Dyrus” Hill acted as the reliable and flexible backup that he always has been.
Riding on their first win, TSM used that momentum to become even more dominant during the second and third matches. While Da-yoon “Spirit” Lee and Han-Wei “xiye” Su tried their best to bring their team back from defeat, the superior coordination and strategy of TSM was too much to handle.
Victorious, TSM receives $108,414 in prize winnings and heads back home as the IEM World Champions.
(Credits to Helena Kristiansson for the image. Link here)
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