yoonamaking the assertion that Australian teams can't compete with NA teams because of a smaller community is funny- If that was the case, our country wouldn't win at any sports..... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_at_the_Olympics, etc.)
iM have been playing together for a long time, and if you think they pose no threat.....
u r silly
This is a bad example really. After a certain size, the amount of talent coming out of a country is pretty much the same. Then it becomes all about training.
There's a good point being made in that the Aus/NZ scenes are small. It means the people with top level talent are going to be much less numerous, and the best way to improve is to play with your peers. iM is pretty unmatched in Aus so the thinking isn't really OFF. However, claiming the meta is stale is a little more questionable. Euro and NA have well established metas that Aus can learn from without necessarily playing in those leagues.
Only i49 will tell and frankly, I hope iM does insanely well. Do you know how fucking incredible it'll be to see THREE undefeated teams from three leagues playing against each other at the SECOND community-sponsored world LAN tourney?
Let's make good hype and try not to shit on each other, yeah?