Photo: ESL
After four events, the IEM circuit will return to where it usually starts - Cologne, Germany. February 13-16 are set as the dates for the last IEM stop before the grand finals in Katowice.
Compared to last seasons, IEM Season VIII did it differently this time around. Instead of kicking off at Gamescom as it's long been the tradition, IEM traveled to Shanghai first, went to New York and Singapore and will fly to Sao Paulo in the first month of the new year. After six months on the road, the tournament looks to finally return to Europe and host an event in Cologne, Germany.
The qualifiers for IEM Cologne will start January 18-19 with the EU preliminaries which will award three slots for the Ro16 of the main event. Two more qualifiers will be held next - one for Asia and one for the Americas - each giving out two slots. One seed will go to the winner of EPS Germany Winter (champion to be crowned December 16th) and four more slots will go to the top ranked WCS players who haven't already qualified through the preliminary tournaments. As usual, the last four spots will be taken by the open bracket winners.
Like the last events, IEM Cologne will feature a $25,000 prize pool but it will also give away some of the first WCS points for the 2014 season. A total of 4000 are on the line, 750 going straight into winner's pocket.
Before IEM travels to Cologne, however, it will make a stop in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Right now, the only two qualified players are Jjakji and TLO and four more will join them after the American Qualifier on December 15-16.
Source: IEM
