IEM Hanover Preview & Predictions

In less than 24 hours IEM Hanover will kick off with some amazing world class teams showing off their skills. The current World Champions from Gambit Gaming have to fight againt teams like the CJ Entus teams as well as their European rivals from Fnatic RC. Other teams will join the fight for the crown and the title of the World Champion. Opinions and predictions on who has the best chances of winning the whole thing are discussed in this article.



Group overview:



Match overview:


Click here for group stage matches


Match analysis:


Gambit Gaming vs. Fnatic RC

This game is a straight rematch of last week's LCS 'Super Week' and overall the third time that both teams fight it out since the LCS has started. Both of the previous matches were won by Gambit Gaming, thus making the Russians the highly favoured team in the eyes of the experts, fans and betting platforms alike. Nevertheless Fnatic RC is considered to be one of the best teams amongst the participants of IEM Hanover, so the game might be closer than most people expect.

Fnatic RC took a major hit during the 'Super Week', which could be interpreted as a decline of the team's performance. Despite being consistent throughout the first few weeks of LCS, they lost the important games to teams such as Copenhagen Wolves, which came into the match as the clear underdogs. The exact opposite can be said for Gambit Gaming. They used to go through an episode of hardship, but showed a good and stable performance recently. Gambit Gaming wins


Gambit Gaming vs. CJ Entus Blaze

The Russians come into the tournament as the current title holders and this game is the first one for them to prove that they deserve it. The match is also regarded as an indicator for the strength of the European scene in comparison to the Korean's. While Gambit Gaming played many competitive matches over the course of the last weeks due to them being in the LCS, the Koreans last tournament was the OGN Club Masters, which was somewhat different from regular tournaments as the members of every team had to be exchanged after each game.

Depending on the point of view, this can be interpreted as an advantage or disadvantage for any of those teams. Gambit Gaming might have gotten more and better training, but their strategies were exposed to the public as well. CJ Entus Blaze surely come to the tournament with extensive preparation under their belts. With their sister team CJ Entus Frost they have Korea's second best team to scrim with. Their advantage is that their strategies are hidden from the public, which might prove decisive in such a high profile match. CJ Entus Blaze wins


Fnatic RC vs. Incredible Miracle

Fnatic RC is one of the strongest teams in the European LCS and their competitors from Korea are rather average. The question here is how strong the Korean or the Asian scene in general are. Does being average in the Asian scene compare to being average in the European scene? Past experiences have shown that there are definitely differences in the overall skill! We will have to see how this one plays out.

What is known, is that LGIM won the last IEM in Sao Paulo vs. some average European and South American teams such as Anexis and Meet Your Makers. Disadvantageous is the loss of their star player 'Ring Troll' just days ago. It is questionable if the Koreans had enough time to practice with their new player, which means that their decision to replace 'Ring Troll' might backfire in this important game. Fnatic RC wins


SK Gaming vs. Evil Geniuses

While Group A is packed with exciting teams and matches, Group B seems rather boring. CJ Entus Frost will most likely advance without any problems and both Polish teams will have a hard time trying to win a single match. So only Evil Geniuses, SK Gaming and SK Telecom T1 are fighting for the last two spots. This game will probably decide who will get one of the two spots.

Both teams already met two times during this season resulting in one win for each of them. So this game can be seen as the final match of a best-of-three between them. It will also decide if 'Krepo' has to give back the scarf of 'Ocelote' or if he wins another one. In the past week Evil Geniuses seemed rather weak and disorganized, while SK Gaming showed a decent performance, so it seems likely that 'Ocelote' will get his scarf back.
SK Gaming wins


Other predictions:





You might also want to check out what 'Alex Ich' thinks about the upcoming IEM in his recent interview with 'Carmac' for ESL TV. You can find the video below. Have fun watching it and tell us in the comments what you think of the upcoming games and the IEM in general.

Sources: ESLTV Youtube, IEM Webpage

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