Intel Extreme Masters Season XV Beijing-Haidian 2020 Event Preview and Team Storylines

IEM XV Beijing-Haidian is the name of the next event in the Intel Extreme Masters series. Another online event, mind you, but we won’t let latency spoil the fun! If you haven’t gotten used to online events by now, I have bad news for you, friend – we won’t see a lot of LAN tournaments in the foreseeable future. IEM XV Global Challenge is scheduled for December, and that’s about it.
On the bright side, online events aren’t that problematic anymore. The latency has been brought down to a minimum, ddosing rarely happens in top-flight competitions, and the overall watching experience is quite enjoyable.
IEM XV Beijing-Haidian Preview | Interesting Facts
What’s at stake here’ Well, in addition to $230,000 in prize money, there’s also a ton of ESL Pro Tour points up for grabs too. The two main events have an extra prize too – a ticket to the IEM XV Global Challenge next month. That’s a $500,000 event in which the winner takes $200,000. If that’s not a good motivation, I’m out!
Moving on, IEM XV Beijing-Haidian consists of four separate events, one for each of CSGO’s main regions:
- Europe
- North America
- Asia
- Oceania
Thirty-two teams will be competing in total; sixteen in EU, eight in NA, and four in Asia and Oceania. All the biggest CSGO teams will be competing in the European event, except EG and Team Liquid which are still on the other side of the big pond. For more information on the money involved in IEM XV Beijing-Haidian, please refer to the following section.
Prize Pool Distribution
All four events combined have $230,000 in prize money. Yep, that’s a pretty hefty amount in these trying times. But, it’s not all about the money here. You see, the winner of NA and EU events gets an invitation for the upcoming Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge. It’s the highly anticipated LAN event everyone keeps talking about. It’s going to be a grandiose event; a massively lucrative one… and it takes no genius to realize all top-notch teams will want a way in.
Here’s the prize pool distribution for all four events:
- Europe – $150,000
- North America – $50,000
- Asia – $15,000
- Oceania – $15,000
IEM XV Beijing-Haidian Team Overviews
Knowing important information on the participating teams is bound to improve one’s watching experience. It’s even more useful if you’re into betting on esports, although that’s something we don’t promote here at EsportsTalk.
Whatever your reasons may be, here’s everything you need to know about the six biggest IEM XV Beijing-Haidian contestants:
Key European Contestants
Sixteen teams are going to play for $150,000 at the European event. Out of those sixteen teams, nine have won a notable event this year; another two came very close on several occasions (G2 and OG). Yep, as you’d expect – the European event is going to be one big ball of pure thrill and excitement for everyone involved.
In the next four paragraphs, you’ll find short storylines on the four most interesting EU teams coming into this event. I’m referring to G2, Astralis, OG, and Vitality. I was going to say a few things about Complexity too, how the arrival of jks will give them a proper boost, but given their BLAST Premier Fall performance, I gave Vitality the benefit of the doubt. Here goes nothing!
G2 Esports
Time to fuck shit up @G2NiKo pic.twitter.com/CPSHQQCHnm
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) October 28, 2020
Yessir, yessir, yessir! Nikola “NiKo” Kovač has signed for G2, following months of speculations and rumors. Former Faze Clan’s superstar has a new jersey on, and if his BLAST Premier Fall performance is any indication of G2’s overall strength, it’s pretty clear that Europe has another powerhouse to show off.
NiKo and the boys already showed the world they mean business. They won group C of BLAST Premier Fall after defeating the best NA team at the moment (FURIA), and the best EU team too (Astralis). Sure, they had a loss against Astralis too, but they came back in the end and cruised to a sweet 2:0 win in the grand finals.
How important were NiKo’s performances? Well, they ranged from somewhat important at the start to freakin’ irreplaceable in the grand finals. NiKo was by far the best player on the server, snatching 57 kills (ten more than the second-placed device) and enjoying a fantastic 1.51 HLTV rating. Yep, G2 is now a proper powerhouse and chances are they’re going to be practically unbeatable next year.
Astralis
Astralis finally has a worthy opponent… and I’m talking about real Astralis here, not the substitute roster featuring bubzkji and es3tag. The real Astralis already had their taste of G2 yesterday… and if that match is any indication of the battles to come, we’re in for a proper rivalry.
On one end we have one of the most frightening rosters out there; a roster that packs quite the punch in terms of experience, teamwork, and individual skills. NiKo was just the icing on the cake for the French side… Once again, with NiKo onboard, G2 is a force to be reckoned with.
But, we shouldn’t take the Great Danes for granted. They’re still the greatest CSGO team of all time. They’ve won the CSGO Major four times; three consecutive times since September 2018, with a stellar chance to get the fourth consecutive (fifth overall) Major trophy next year. It would be wrong to underestimate Device and the boys, no matter their recent loss against the new powerhouse G2. Their head to head clashes in the coming months are going to be all the craze. I can’t wait to see them in action on a LAN event; hopefully on IEM XV Global Challenge scheduled for next month.
OG
OG’s roster has been considered a beefy one ever since the org’s venture into the CSGO scene late last year. While they did have a few solid outings, their performances weren’t too out of the ordinary, especially for a brand-new org.
But, as time went on and players slowly started settling in, OG players showed their true strength. They’re yet to win a notable event, that’s true, but they were inches away from winning IEM XV New York, the last IEM event before this one. On top of that, they also had several campaigns that saw them compete well into the playoffs. Semifinal eliminations are nothing to be ashamed of, especially for a team of their stature and age.
Most recently, OG conquered BLAST Premier Fall regular season by defeating S1mple’s NaVi in the grand finals of group A. Valde and the co won in what was a pretty weird match from start to finish. They played well, that can’t go unmentioned, announcing better things to come for the newest EU CSGO org.
Vitality
This is our commitment to CSGO, this is our future. We want to create a Legacy. Welcome to the young prodigy @Nivera__ in our six-man roster. pic.twitter.com/e30tcsBxBn
— Team Vitality (@TeamVitality) October 16, 2020
Here’s the last team we’ll be checking out in our IEM XV Beijing-Haidian preview – Vitality. Yes, ZywOo and the French baguettes are still out there, still hoping to win an event in 2020. A quick reminder, Vitality played in four grand finals this year, and the poor French souls lost all four times. G2 has a similar story, but we’ve already talked about them so let’s cut it right here.
What’s there to be said about Vitality? Well, the freshest news are mostly related to Nivera’s arrival from Heretics. The 19-year-old Belgian prodigy has already made an impact on Vitality on BLAST Premier Fall. They’re the first team to alter their roster in the middle of a match, hoping to get the much-needed advantage.
This is definitely a move that’ll echo throughout the CSGO scene. If Vitality can win matches by using such innovative tactics, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more teams opt for six-man rosters specifically to exploit map advantages. We’re living in crazy times, that’s for sure!
Key North American Contestants
Now let’s turn our attention to the other side of the pond. The North American events are typically worse, quality-wise, than their European counterparts. Now that Complexity, MIBR, and FURIA went to play on European events, EG and Liquid are the only two top-tier NA teams remaining in NA. There’s really no other competition to be found unless one of six participating underdogs makes a run for it. Even though that’s highly unlikely, we’d all love to see a proper Cinderella story, right?
Team Liquid
Even though Evil Geniuses had won three consecutive events a few months ago, they suffered a catastrophic European campaign and are currently in very rough shape. While I don’t doubt in their ability to qualify for the playoffs, I don’t think they’ll be able to surpass Team Liquid that easily. Yep, I’ve said that knowing well that Team Liquid’s form isn’t much better either.
The boys in blue haven’t won a single event since April. They were the runners-up on three occasions, although that’s not such a big deal considering the level of competitiveness in the region. Their runners-up placements saw them on the receiving end of the likes of FURIA and EG, the only real competitors.
As mentioned earlier, FURIA is not going to play IEM XV Beijing-Haidian. That’s one less worry for the boys in blue. If they come out of the group stage unscratched, they should have enough fire left in them to beat Evil Geniuses in the playoffs.
Evil Geniuses
GG @NiPGaming 0-2 and we are out of @BLASTPremier
— Wilton Prado 'zews' (@zews) October 27, 2020
IEM Beijing & Blast Showdown next!
Learn & improve for the next ones… it's in the details and nothing to do but keep pushing it!
Why do I think Team Liquid has a shot at taking EG down, especially after they’ve suffered six straight h2h losses? As stated earlier, EG players will be shellshocked. They had to fly across the Atlantic, got beaten into the dirt after overtime, and then had to fly all the way back home. They’re physically and psychologically exhausted, and it’s bound to show off.
On the bright side, EG is not in the same group as Team Liquid. If they play their cards right (heck, if both teams play their cards right), they won’t have to face them until the grand finals. Everything is aligned perfectly for another thrilling grand final.
Statistically, Brehze and Ethan are EG’s pivotal players. The Bulgarian beast CeRq has been doing well too, but his ceiling is much higher than what he’s been showing off lately. All in all, the NA IEM XV Beijing-Haidian event is going to be a fiery one, that’s guaranteed!
IEM XV Beijing-Haidian Schedule (CET)
We were just about to wrap up our IEM XV Beijing-Haidian preview, but we figured we haven’t told you anything about the schedule. So, here’s the opening round info on both NA and EU events:
Europe
Friday, November 6th
- Team Vitality vs. Team Spirit – 3 p.m.
- Faze Clan vs. OG – 6.30 p.m.
Saturday, November 7th
- MAD Lions vs. NaVi – 3 p.m.
- Complexity vs. Fnatic – 8.30 p.m.
Thursday, November 12th
- Heroic vs. North – 3 p.m.
- G2 vs. NiP – 6.30 p.m.
Friday, November 13th
- Astralis vs. ENCE – 3 p.m.
- BIG vs. Mousesports – 6.30 p.m.
North America
- Liquid vs. Rugratz – Nov 6, 10 p.m.
- Whalers – Chaos – Nov 7, 10 p.m.
- EG vs. Rebirth – Nov 12, 10 p.m.
- Triumph vs. oNe – Nov 13, 10 p.m.
That’s all for today folks! Hope you’ve enjoyed our IEM XV Beijing-Haidian preview; we also hope the action exceeds everyone’s expectations!
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