Intel Extreme Masters is back in Singapore: here’s why it’s worth attending

2012 was the Electronic Sports League’s first time hosting any tournament in Southeast Asia, let alone a top-grade pro-gaming tournament. The Intel Extreme Masters Season 7 Singapore stop was not without hiccups, and poor support from local companies and fans caused many to believe the prestigious tour would not return.

But it did.

“If you were there during the StarCraft finals [last year], something magical happened there, in the sense that there was a really fantastic atmosphere,” said Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz, the Electronic Sports League (ESL)’s director of the Intel Extreme Masters. “Now thinking about it I have shivers reminding me how cool it was how everybody got behind Grubby and really enjoyed those matches.

“It doesn’t happen very often that something this magical somehow in a crowd of people gets created, so that was a good reason to come back.”

The finals at IEM Singapore 2012.

And come back in full force they have. Previously relegated to a corner of SITEX 2012, the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) has been given an entire half of an exhibition hall this year. The crew at ESL have even managed to fit soundproof booths onto the stage for the StarCraft II players, as well as a nice corner in the players’ area for participants to watch the streams. The expanded seating area alone points to one thing: ESL expect an even larger turnout compared to last year.

The previous Intel Extreme Masters Singapore featured a poor showing for League of Legends, a game that could be said to possess the most rabid eSports community in the world. It got to a point where Blicharz tweeted about how the StarCraft II community in Singapore appeared to be much stronger than the League of Legends community – an irony considering that Garena had just splashed cash on new advertisements at that time, advertisements which claimed 1 in 4 Singaporean youth played League of Legends.

The reason for the lack of turnout? The local League of Legends fans were distracted by the Garena Carnival, a fan event for Garena-published games that ran concurrently with IEM. IEM Singapore 2012 also lacked the attendance of Singapore’s only professional gaming team, League of Legends players Singapore Sentinels, as well as many other notable League teams. It was fortunate that the StarCraft II tournament stepped up to fill the shoes left by League’s absence last year. The grand finals of IEM Singapore 2012 featured an intense playoff between legendary player Grubby and talented Korean youth Sting, with Sting eventually taking first place.

With Garena pitching in with their sponsored team’s participation, a host of renowned League of Legends teams playing, and an interesting StarCraft II group stage, this might just be the year where ESL finally find their footing for IEM Singapore. As if further excitement is needed, Dutchman Manuel ‘Grubby’ Schenkhuizen and Canadian Sasha ‘Scarlett’ Hostyn stand out from their opponents as the only non-Koreans in the entire StarCraft II tournament.

IEM Singapore is also playing host to an amateur tournament for League of Legends, which will see four teams, who have come in via online qualifiers, make a name for themselves and split a cash pot of $20,000. The winners of the StarCraft II tournament in IEM Singapore will leave with a share of the $25,000 pot, while the League players will go home with a slice of their $50,000 pie.

A passionate audience, great players, interesting matches and a top-notch TV broadcast are elements Blicharz feel are integral to a successful tournament. And looking at Intel Extreme Masters Singapore this year, it looks like the show has got it all.

The Intel Extreme Masters Singapore will be continuing over the weekend at the Singapore Expo, Expo Hall 4B, with matches beginning at 11am daily. You can take a look at the full schedules here.