IEM5 WC Preview: redCode & UMX

In our second preview for the IEM5 World Championship we take a close look at the Asian representatives, South Korean team redCode and UMX-Gaming from Taiwan.

redCode

The South Koreans are the only invited team at the World Championship and recently announced their new organization in form of Spanish-based redCode. The team has been involved in a little IEM5 action, playing the Global Challenge in Shanghai, where they didn't manage to advance from the group-stage with a win, a loss and a tie.

Track record
vs.	SK Gaming	16-10	WEM 2010
vs.	SK Gaming	16-2	WEM 2010
vs.	Frag eXecutors	16-11	WEM 2010
vs.	SK Gaming	7-16	WEM 2010
vs.	Frag eXecutors	16-14	WEM 2010

Going into the IEM5 World Championship the South Korean team has changed organization and changed one player, Sun Ho "termi" Pyun retired to report to military service, and in was brought in Young Mo "enemy" Ahn.

Masters of ties

If any teams are known for playing 15-15 matches, it is the South Korean team. In 2010 the team played a total of seven tied matches, which might not sound like a whole lot, but the team did not attend that many events. The interesting point about playing ties in group-stage matches would be rewinding to Arbalet Cup Europe 2010. The South Koreans played a total of six matches, where five of them were ties.

The ability (if you like) to play ties has a lot of times meant tournament exit for WeMade FOX and have at times been eliminated on a three way tie. The team has for that matter also advanced on special occasions, a win over SK Gaming in the first group-stage at Arbalet Cup Europe 2010 (together with two ties), made them advance to the next stage.

Kings on de_inferno

In 2010 the South Koreans underlined that de_inferno is their map. In the second half of the year they played the map 10 times, won 7 of them, lost once (14-16 against Fx at e-Stars) and to no surprise drew two. Their only victory in 2010 came at WEM, a title which was basically won on de_inferno. They reached the final by playing just de_inferno and then went on to beat SK on de_nuke and de_tuscan.

Perilous new member

Before their third event of the year (Arbalet Cup Europe), the team swapped Seungwook "lsw" Lee for Bum-Ki "peri" Jung. Everyone outside of South Korean knew nothing about this new guy in the team and Jung was the most popular player to buy in our Dreamteam for the event, due to his extremely low value. Jung did however show the world what he was capable of, both at this very event, but also throughout the year.

The one title the team won in 2010, Jung was the team's best player, top fragger with 118 kills and likely MVP of the tournament. With his performance in 2010, Jung also made it into our 2010 Top 20, where he claimed 17th place.

	Sung-Jae "bail" Lee
	Bum-Ki "peri" Jung
	Keun-Chul "solo" Kang
	Min-Soo "glow" Kim
	Young Mo "enemy" Ahn

First match – 09:10CET March 1, vs. SK Gaming

Key to success – The team is attending with a joker in their hands. Ahn has previously shown solid play, but it has been years since we last saw him in action. We do not know what to expect from Ahn and could just like Jung at Arbalet Cup Europe, be a vital piece in the puzzle to advance from the group-stage. Should anyone dare to battle the team on de_inferno, it could very well mean that the South Koreans will book a ticket out of the group.

Exit scenario – The fact that the South Koreans are in a killer group, is a reason of its own. Also, as the way maps are selected at the IEM5 World Championship, it will allow teams to ban de_inferno, one of the best cards in the South Korean deck. The team has lost a lot of matches against Swedish teams and being in group with three of them, could very well be another reason to an early exit.

UMX-Gaming

UMX who? This could very well be the question to many going into the IEM5 World Championship. The Taiwanese team got a last minute invite to the tournament, after TyLoo withdrew due to passport issues. To many UMX is considered as a team with no chances of doing anything in Hannover, with very few official matches, it is very true that what to expect is uncertain.

	Congkai "Evant" Chen
	Yanrui "Nitor" Liu
	Yuzhong "Nevan" Zhang
	Jiaheng "Kandinsky" Chen
	Po-Hsun "Realment" Huang

Without their star

Every team has a star, some more than others. Common for all teams is that they need their star to step up when they need it the most. A fact which adds up to the slim chances for UMX in Hannover would be the team not having Tzu-An "cedrik" Chen to carry them. The team’s AWP and the best player decided to retire and leave Taiwan's finest.

Inexperienced

In 2010 UMX only attended one international event. Attending the MSI BEAT IT finals in Beijing, the team played with a 6-man roster. First of all the team was changing lineup every match, but also the team did not succeed in doing much. Sure the team won three matches and took 12 rounds off fnatic and 10 off TyLoo, but in the long run, inexperienced is one of the few words that describes the team.

Even in the Chinese qualifier, which they attended, the team finished third, behind TyLoo and the Chinese mixteam GANK.

First match – 09:10CET Marc 2, vs. compLexity

Key to success – Success in this case would most likely be winning a match or two, which still seems unlikely. There is nothing in particular indicating that this team can advance from the group, where they will be up against teams with a lot more experience and titles for that matter.

Exit scenario – It's in the cards that the group-stage will be end of the road for the Taiwanese team. Not much more to add.

Did you miss our first preview, where we take a look at compLexity and Evil Geniuses click here and stay tuned for more, as we tomorrow will bring you close to the European teams.