IEM Oakland (LoL) Event Preview

The famous Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) tournament series has returned once again to be played in Oakland, California. The six teams competing for League of Legends will be fighting for a cut of the $100,000 prize pool on Nov. 19 and 20.

Location

The event will be held at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. The address is 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621.

Basic Information

Since only six teams are competing, they will be playing in a bracket as opposed to groups, meaning two teams get a bye. Due to their performance at Worlds and the 2016 Summer Split, Team SoloMid (TSM) and Flash Wolves (FW) are guaranteed a spot in the semifinals, while the other four teams will have to fight for a spot.

All games played outside the grand finals will be best-of-three sets, while the grand finals will be a best-of-five. The team who wins this tournament is guaranteed a spot at the IEM World Championship (Katowice) in 2017.

All games will be played on Patch 6.21 to prevent any preseason bugs and issues from stalling the tournament.

Here is how the bracket looks:

Image via IEM

Prize Pool

Here is the cut teams will be playing for:

• 1st place: $50,000

• 2nd place: $20,000

• 3rd-4th place: $10,000

• 5th-6th place: $5,000

Teams Competing

• ---

  Team SoloMid (NA LCS – Summer No. 1)

• Flash Wolves (LMS – Summer No. 1)
• Unicorns of Love (EU LCS – Summer No. 4)
• INTZ (CBLoL – Wildcard No. 1 seed)
• Chiefs (OPL – Wildcard No. 2 seed)
• Longzhu Gaming (LCK – Summer No. 8)

Schedule

All game times are in Pacific Standard Time. Actual starting times may vary depending on how long games last.

Saturday, November 19

• 10:00 a.m. – Show Begins
• 10:45 a.m. – Quarterfinal #1
• 2:15 p.m. – Quarterfinal #2
• 5:45 p.m. – Show Match

Sunday, November 20

• 9:30 a.m. – Show Begins
• 10:00 a.m. – Semifinal #1
• 1:30 p.m. – Semifinal #2
• 5:00 p.m. – Grand Finals

Are you looking forward to IEM Oakland, or are you less excited by the small number of teams in attendance? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us @GAMURScom. If you have any business inquiries, you can contact Josh on Twitter @ienglishbetter or email him at ienglishbetter@outlook.com.