Blizzard’s esports scene has been steadily growing since the new year with a large surge of tournaments. The recent qualifiers for the upcoming IEM Katowice 2020 have helped to garner interest for the tournament, with most of the biggest names in StarCraft competing to see who would get to move to Katowice.
The final qualifiers have taken place now, with the last of the competitors filling out the roster. Rogue and Parting have managed to find victory and move onto the next stage of the competition, earning their qualification to Katowice.
As a note, the new roster isn’t an exhaustive list of everyone who could compete. There will still be an open bracket at the event itself, giving others a chance to compete and earn their place in Katowice if they’re lucky – or good – enough.
PartinG had a bit of a tough time through his bracket, only managing a single clean sweep against SpeCial in a 2-0 matchup. Afterwards, he had nervy showings against fellow Protoss main Trap before moving on to a 2-1 against Impact. In the final, PartinG and Rogue went head to head, with Rogue coming out the victor as he knocked PartinG to the loser’s bracket.
Once in the loser’s bracket, PartinG faced off against fellow Korean Protoss main, Trap. PartinG had an easier time in the loser’s bracket where, despite the name, the competition is just as fierce as the winner’s bracket. He went straight to the finals where he defeated Trap in a clean 3-0 sweep.
Rogue didn’t have a significantly easier trip through the winner’s bracket. The Zerg main dropped maps against both Astrea and INnoVation, only earning a sweep against fellow Korean Zerg main RagnaroK. Once in the final, his victory over PartinG secured him qualification.
With this finished round of qualifiers, we officially have the eleven qualifiers from the realm Qualifiers From the American qualifiers, we have Zest, Maru, and Reynor. The European qualifiers pushed Cure, Elazer, and Serral through. With the end of the South Korean qualifiers, we can add PartinG, Stats, TY, Rogue, and Solar to the list.
IEM Katowice 2020 is coming soon, with the first day of the tournament beginning in a bit over a month on February 24th. The tournament features a $400,000 prize pool with all 76 players competing for their chance to claim some of that prize money, along with the glory of an IEM Katowice victory. Regardless of who brings home victory, the tournament’s roster is shaping up to be one tough competition.
