The first visit of ESL’s StarCraft II flagship series to Canada looks to have nothing short of an all-star lineup. We already looked at the twelve qualifiers and invitees to IEM Toronto which includes seven of the top ten players in the World Championship Series points standings.

With a week until the tournament starts, IEM and ESL announced the group drawings for the tournament and the sixteen participants in the Dual Tournaments for the last four spots in the Round of 16. The lineup is one of the most stacked tournaments of the year outside of the WCS and a must-watch for SC2 fans.

The first double-elimination Dual Tournament will feature four Canadians. HuK and Kane will lead the Canadian contingent along with hendralisk and Bones who are both strong players capable of toppling top players. They’re in a tough bracket with Korean superstar Jaedong as the likely favourite and Bunny, Leenock and Oz rounding out the first eight players.

The second bracket has two Canadians, Believe and the popular desRow. America has a couple of entrants in this Dual Tournament with puCK and Sasquatch. The international (well, for a tournament held in Canada) contingent is so strong that any of them could conceivably get to the Round of 16. Maru, StarDust, Revival and Snute, the top foreigner in WCS points as of writing, will be battling the North American contingent for the final two spots in the group stage.

Meanwhile, in the sixteen-man main event, the groups have been drawn. The four transferring players from the Dual Tournaments haven’t been allocated out yet but one will be in each group in the Round of 16. I’d point one of these out as a Group of Death but they could all be considered that when the four Dual Tournament qualifiers are drawn into groups.

Group A is the one most people would call a Group of Death as it features fan-favourite Polt, GSL Season 1, Global Championship and Proleague champion Zest, and the winner of the recent IEM Shenzhen, DreamHack Summer and HomeStory Cup IX, TaeJa. Group B includes viOLet, IEM Season VII World Champ YoDa and 2014 WCS Points leader HyuN.

Group C has the first of two Canadians in the group stages as MaSa is drawn into the group. He is joined by First and defending WCS and IEM World Champion sOs. Group D features Canada’s top star, the Queen of Blades, Scarlett, in the other Group of Death with WCS #2, the BossToss, MC, and the legend who was one of the greatest Brood War players of all-time, Flash.

IEM Toronto starts on Thursday, August 28. If you’re attending live, I hope you’re ready to fight through the crowds at Fan Expo.

Sources: IEM (1), IEM (2)