Group B

mYm

Filip "Neo" Kubski
Lukasz "LUq" Wnek
Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas
Mariusz "loord" Cybulski
Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński

Last year’s champions return to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. This team stood on the top rung of the podium to claim their first place prize and hold Polish flags aloft for the crowd at the 2007 ESWC Grand Finals. Yet after a tough WCG event, and an even worse Extreme Masters LA event they lost their luster.

With a change of organizations from PGS to MYM, signs of life slowly started to reemerge. Despite their failure to qualify for the LAN finals of the Extreme Masters II, at CeBIT they managed to place second at SEC just behind their rival fnatic. They then muscled their way into the top four at the KODE5 Global Finals, and a few weeks later took the gold at Dreamhack Summer 2008. The PGS/MYM team is a team based around passion and momentum, and they notoriously tank when the emotion runs dry. Can they keep it going?

Strengths

Emotion. Not only are these guys talented, but they are really passionate about their play. This translates into lots of swearing and taunting. When MYM is at its best it is hard not to let their emotion impact yours.

Weakness

Emotion. When MYM is at their low point, they play like an entirely different team than the high energy Poles the fans love. Case in point ... KODE5 3rd/4th place decider. After playing fnatic so hard and losing MYM phoned it in for the consolation match.

Recent Results

First at Dreamhack 2008, Fourth at KODE5 Finals, Second at SEC

Prediction

Second. The format might be a bit rough for MYM but don't underestimate them.

mousesports

Navid "Kapio" Javadi
Manuel "Tixo" Makohl
Fatih "gob b" Dayik
Franz "gore" Burghardt
Nils "bara" Waldowski

Mouz started the year off on a bad foot by tanking at the NGL-ONE finals in February. They then came roaring back by taking the Extreme Masters II finals by storm upsetting all the teams standing in their way. They came together on the finals day to rally from the lower bracket after a loss to Alternate in the first round and destroy everyone standing in their way. Extreme Masters II reestablished Mousesports as the number one team in Germany. Alternate had been nipping at mouz's heels prior to their Extreme Masters victory.

However, at the KODE5 finals they didn’t make it to the second day due to tying HellRaisers and losing to Roccat. With this being their last event before the Masters event, there is no real way to tell precisely what form this team is in. Judging from their last comeback, after tanking at the NGL-One finals, this team is definitely one to be frightened of.

Strengths

Old and new. Mouz has the perfect mix of young guns and gray hairs. It paid off for them at Extreme Masters where the cyx and gob b provided the muscle that Blizzard and Silver failed to do at ESWC 2007.

Weakness

Streaky. Fourth at NGL, First at EM II, outside the top eight at KODE5. There has been zero consistency in mouz's results so far this year. Why this is I can't really say but you cannot be sure which mouz will show up to which tournament.

Recent Results

1st at EPS Season XII, 1st Extreme Masters II

Prediction

I'm going with lukewarm. They make it out of group play but not much further.

Against All Authority

Benjamin "KaRa" Carasco Bridet
Nicolas "Dr.Crow" Vaissaud
Judicaël "JED" Chaub
David "Xp3" Garrido
Vincent "YanK" Fournier

Despite the numerous roster changes since last year, the venerable French team has managed to pull together a number of very talented players. However, this line up does not have much experience competing in large events.

Names like "Xp3", "Dr.Crow", and "KaRa" should be familiar to spectators but they have yet to do anything this year on the international stage. They managed to secure enough Cyber-League points to get invited to ESWC Masters but French competition outside of emuLate is not something to rave about.

Strengths

Besides playing in France, aAa doesn't have a whole lot going for them.

Weakness

They just are not that good.

Recent Results

5th at Gamers Assembly 2008, 3rd at Nexen 2008

Prediction

Any other group and they have a shot at top three. In this group staying out of last won't be easy.

Team Alternate

Benjamin "pan" von Mulert
David "CHEF-KOCH" Nagel
Jan "mooN" Stolle
Manuel "approx" Zeitz
Roman "Roman R." Reinhardt

2008 has not been a good year for Team Alternate at all. The team has lost its #1 status in Germany, finishing the last EPS season in 3rd place, behind mousesports and n!faculty. In international events, Alternate has been able to finish in the top 5 places in most of them, except for the Dreamhack 2008 WGT event, where it lost to runner-up roccat in the quarter-finals.

This event will be a make-or-break one for Alternate. If it fails to reach the podium yet again, it may result in roster changes ahead of EPS XIII.

Strengths

Experience. Every player in Alternate has had his share of success and has participated in countless tournaments like this.

Weakness

Roman "roman" Ausserdorfer. Team Alternate still misses him and Roman "Roman R." Reinhardt has not been able to completely fill his shoes.
Recent Results

Top 8 at Dreamhack 2008, 4th at SEC, 3rd at Extreme Masters II, 3rd at NGL ONE.

Prediction

Alternate should finish 3rd in the group, with its only chances of progressing to the Quarter-finals depending on the outcome of their match against arch-rival mousesports.

nEophyte

Michal "rasan" Davitkovski
Tomáš "oskar!" Šťastný
Jan "johan" Juráň
Tomáš "zEro" Bojanovský
Milan "Pepik" Musil

Unexpectedly, nEophyte will draw attention in Group B thanks to one single player: Tomáš "oskar!" Šťastný. He has been in great form for both nEophyte and the Czech national squad and his performances have drawn admiring glances from fans all over Europe. However, that may prove to worth little in a difficult group where they will have to battle against the likes of Meet Your Makers and mousesports.

The nEophyte comes to Paris without any big hopes, and a third-place finish in the group would mean a successful return to the Czech Republic. This line-up is merely a mix team as it will be using fu.sk's Jan "johan" Juráň, who has been allowed to play for nEophyte at ESWC Masters and the local WCG qualifier.

Strength

Tomáš "oskar!" Šťastný will not want to miss this chance to prove he can compete with Europe's best players.

Weakness

The team's lack of experience in LAN tournaments outside the Czech Republic/Slovakia.

Recent Results

3rd place at GIGABYTE league.

Prediction

NEophyte should battle with aAa for the 4th spot of the group.