It’s been an interesting month in the World of eSports. When CPL Winter ended with several teams placing lower than expectations, the only thing that was certain was: “Things will be different.” The issue now is how different will they really be?

The North American scene seems to have chosen a different path than the rest of the world. CS:Source has been hailed as the future, and CGS is working on making that a reality. Still, the rest of the world might not come along so easily. And so, looking at the future, we will probably have to answer two questions: Who is the best at CS:Source, and who is the best of the rest?

Let’s take a look at where teams stand after the turbulent off season.


Evil Geniuses

Alex, manager of team EG, changed the focus of this team as being the best Canadian team to “Let’s see if we can’t get the largest number of recently cut and angry people, and make one team.”

It’s a brilliant strategy as tr1p, grt, and Shaguar provide tons of upside if they can mix well with the current team. tr1p preformed very well setting up fRoD and controlling a very well organized team. In the past bl00dsh0t and the other members of EG have been more unpredictable; they seem to work best when they are surprising people, not methodically tearing them apart.

Shaguar gives tr1p and EG the chance to repeat coL’s formula, but I’m not sure it’ll happen. There are a lot of potential leaders on this team, but not enough followers. Not to mention that tr1p’s lack of Canadian citizenship might undermine his authority because eventually he’ll have to be replaced no matter what role he plays.

The team's best interest could be to muzzle Shaguar and focus his attention on in-game revenge. Let tr1p lead the team and allow bl00dsh0t to be comfortable inside the team’s strategies. bl00dsh0t, grt and Shaguar could be solid replacements for Warden, Storm and fRoD given the proper teamwork. There just might be too much ego and personality for tr1p to control.


EFG

When you look at EFG's acquisition of Justin "sunman" Summy from a more historical point of view, it almost reminds me when coL added him to their roster. At the time it was truly the first big move on a talent level for the rising American team. I know they had picked up Bullseye previously and while fRoD and Storm were good additions, it wasn’t until they got sunman that the team became respected.

I’m not sure sunman will have the same effect on EFG but one has to wonder. Sunman comes into a team that’s the most established in Source and has proven talent. He adds experience and big game skill. With an open roster spot already, I’m not sure he costs EFG too much either. Say he doesn’t work out, he’ll surely be enough to give them five solid players to make the cut at CGS. At that point EFG can use the new found salaries to look for a replacement.

On the other hand, say sunman becomes reinvigorated after being cut from Complexity; a little revenge never hurt a player’s motivation. We could look back and note that EFG’s respectability in the eyes of the entire community, both 1.6 and Source, came when they picked up sunman.