Group E
Roccat

Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen
Max "ruuit" Aspe
Samu "plastE" Aalto
Juuso "contE_" Sajakoski
Niko "NA5U" Kovanen

This team is riding on recent success', winning both WSVG and the Asus International Open. Natu was recently replaced with plastE who has yet to play at an international event with the team. It's a toss up to guess whether they will perform better or worse with this new roster. While plastE has a high level of skill, Natu had much more experience.

Either way, Lurppis and crew will steamroll most of the competition early on with their fast play and impressive teamwork. Their play late in the tournament will have a lot to do with how well they have incorporated plastE into the team, and if they are able to find the right balance with him.


Group G
Made in Brazil

Alexandre "gAuLeS" Bochi
Norberto "Lance" Lage
Wellington "ton" Caruso
Thiago "btt" dos Santos
Lincoln "fnx" Lau

Mibr, formerly known as g3x, may have a difficult time living up to the hype that comes along with the name but they certainly deserve to be in that position. It has been a long time coming; finally the core members of g3x have gotten their chance to shine. For years they have built their squad up, only to have it ripped apart by the same organization that they involve themselves with now. With the old Mibr squad moving on to do source with CGS, Gaules will get the organizational support he deserves.

With Gaules’ leadership, the amazing support of the Brazilian fans and one of the most skilled players in the world in fnx, Mibr will definitely be one of the two teams to survive the “Group of Death.” Mibr has the ability to go very far in this tournament. The question is, will the g3x squad play like they did during the Brazilian WCG qualifiers? Only Time will tell.


eSTRO

Keun Chul "solo" Kang
Hyun Jin "miffy" Son
Jin Hee "hee" Park
Sun Ho "termi" Pyun
Sung Jae "bail" Lee

eSTRO has had no success as of late. They flopped at ESWC, losing to Turmoil and NiP in the first round of group play, followed by another flop at e-stars, where they didn't get a single win. But the third time's a charm, right? In the group of death, I highly doubt it.

eSTRO's last quality international tournament was almost a year ago, when they were under a different name (projekt_kr's 6th place finish at CPL Winter 2006). Unless they can somehow become that fast paced, insane aim team that they were back then, they once again will flop. Actually, I wouldn't even consider them going home early a flop, either. Just look at their group and who they have to advance past: fnatic and mibr.

Both of those teams are favorites for winning the entire event, and there only a few teams I could see advancing over one of them. With eSTRO limping into this tournament, it does not look good for the Koreans. Their only shot is if solo lives up to being the amazing player many considered him to be at WEG and CPL. He can be a huge impact player if he just plays up to his potential. But even so, there are players of that quality on both mibr and fnatic, and I just don't see eSTRO advancing past one of those two.


fnatic

Oscar "Archi" Torgersen
Patrik "cArn" Sattermon
Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg
Harley "dsn" Orwall
Oskar "ins" Holm

Representing Sweden, home to teams like SK.Gaming and countless other powerhouse teams, the bar is set extremely high. With fnatic.CSS missing out on the CGS in what seemed to be an extremely controversial draft as they placed second in the combine, fnatic.CS will be out to prove that their team, and organization as a whole, still has the ability to play on a professional and international level. In their last match up, they played against SK.Gaming in the NGL One Grand Finals.

While SK showed they were close to the top again with their performance during that event, fnatic dominated, winning the finals match in two maps. Fnatic finds themselves in a somewhat difficult group with teams like the United Kingdom (Four Kings), Brazil (MiBR), and South Korea (e-STRO). If fnatic can play like they have this passed year, they will win their group and have a great chance of finishing strong, probably within the top two. They are definitely one of the favorites to win this entire event.