Group of Death in Intel Extreme Masters World Championship StarCraft 2 draw

 

 

The groups for the Intel Extreme Masters World Championships StarCraft 2 series have been drawn – and while hot favorites Nerchio and MC can give themselves gratulatory pats on the back for having avoided the strongest contenders; the same cannot be said for the hopefuls who find themselves in Group D.  In an outcome that will definitely have neutrals and fans alike at the edge of their seats come 5 March— the group of death will pit four-time GSL champion Mvp against a slew of world renowned European superstars including Grubby, TLO and Stephano.

 

As this will be the very first major tournament event to feature the still unreleased Heart of the Swarm expansion, it will be interesting to see how, arguably, the best Terran player in Wings of Liberty, Mvp, holds his own against the highly experimental and forward thinking European Zerg players.  With the game still suffering from several minor balance issues, the faith of the 11 players who registered in the tournament as Zerg (against eight Protoss and five Terran) will be tested—especially now that widow mine supported contains are harder to break and that Sky-toss armies rule the skies.

 

Returning to CeBIT in Hanover after five years from 5 - 9 March, the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship will boast an incredible prize pool of US$100,000.  With the imminent release of the game, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm lurking on the 12 March, this contest will no doubt be the very last tournament to run on the Beta SKU. 

 

Who do you think will emerge from the group of death?  Can MC retain his crown or is there an upset on the cards?  Let us know in the comments section below!

 

For more information on the Intel Extreme Masters World Championships, head on over to the IEM Facebook fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/iem.