Paragon of Virtue

Jeff "hero" Mettetal
Andrew "dRew" Timmerman
Eugene "zby" Watson
David "savior" Park
Zan "zinger" Mian

POV is back with the same core as before of hero, drew, and savior, with which they have two second place finishes at local events. This time they hope their fourth and fifth players end up working out, as that seemed to be the problem in the past. Hero and savior have been a veritable tag team, both stepping in and out of several teams together this past year.

The new players to the team are watson and zinger. Watson has been on several teams, including local team ka4 and iPlay. Both he and zinger are what you would call students of the game. They might not be as familiar as some of the other members of the team, but they have put in plenty of time and effort to catch up. Currently POV is competing in CEVO-P.

Strengths Chemistry. POV is a group of guys who really get along inside and out of the game and they have the aim and communication to back them up.

Weaknesses Lack of confidence. Having never beaten EG and with no first place LAN finishes under their belts, it's going to be hard for them to place in the top 3 especially having only completed their lineup a week ago.

Prediction They are in the group of death with 50 cal and focal. It's really a toss up between them or focal taking second in the group. If they don't get out by winning, they should with the wild card. From there they should be a shoe in for top 5.

Focal

Liridon "quas" Ademaj
Zeus "demos" Wu
Fadil "Nepo-" Canaj
Richard "Iza" Levy
Chris "projeckt" Costoso

The east coast scene seems pretty unstable right now. With that in mind, focal is yet another new team to form out of the same handful of people. A few weeks ago, they qualified for CEVO-P with the same core. However, b33f and mxd were replaced by Levy and Nepo, mainly due to their inability to attend the finals for x3o.

This lineup while still new, has players who have been on the same teams together and have LAN experience with each other. They have qualified for the WCG Atlantic Regional Finals and also plan on attending the x3o finals, ESL ACF, as well as some additional upcoming local events.

Strengths New team, old chemistry. With a team built out of a pool of players who all have experience together and who have known one another for years, you have instantly strong chemistry.

Weaknesses Strong personalities. Some of the players have been on teams together and failed in the past due to ego's and people not being able to get out of their own way to do what is best for the team. This can overwhelm the team if they get down early.

Prediction Group of death is going to be an early test for them. It's really between them and POV as to who is going to get out of the group flat out. If not they will get a wild card and place top 5.


acta Non verba (action, not words)

Kyle "Hurr1canE" Libby
Keith "k33f" Kim
Paul "tomcho" Tomcho
Kyle "synikaL" Mendez
Nick "nickf" Febbraro

Is newly formed but is comprised of some up and coming players in the local NY scene. The team started with k33f and hurricane. They decided to sort of break the mold and recruit based on how well they got along with the team. Having fun is much more important for them than performance, thinking that results will come based on enjoying playing together. They are competing online, focusing solely on CEVO-M.

This is the first LAN event as a team for aNv. With such a new lineup, they are looking at this event as a time to test the competitive waters and see how well they do. That in mind, they got a little lucky and should be able to get out of their relatively easy group while getting an early warm for the better teams against MoB.

Strengths Positive attitude. This team is built around having fun and remembering that no matter what this is still a game meant to be enjoyed. The laid-back attitude might help them remain calm and focused against some of the better teams. Also several members have been on other teams together and bring that experience with them.

Weaknesses Lack of preparation. The fact that some members have busy schedules may cause this team to be a bit less prepared than others.

Prediction Second in their group followed by a struggle in the double elimination bracket.


PainTrain

Robert "d1xoN" Dixon
Justin "taRt" Tart
Ryan "nvrx" Owens
Jeshua "jStar" Scully
Andy "blue" Hassan

PainTrain is another relatively new team to the scene. Comprised of the core of last season's unmoderated team, four of five members are local to the Carolina's and have played together at local events there. They also played at the last x3o where they missed the wild card to get out of group play by 2 rounds.

Since then, they have practiced hard, defeating focal in GRT and having a close match with x3o in CEVO OCZ. With that added confidence you would think they should improve upon their previous performance. However, this time around they will have a few added obstacles to success. Oddly enough, two players have eye injuries on the team. Kryminal will be sitting this event out and will be replaced by ringer blue. On the other hand, dixon will be toughing out his corneal ulcer, and will be playing like a pirate with only one eye open, no word on whether or not he will have a parrot on his shoulder.

Strengths The team is comprised of dedicated players who are all comfortable with one another in and out of game, which makes improving much easier.

Weaknesses Other than the use of a ringer and a one eyed player, the team has players with conflicting play styles and they are still figuring out how to handle certain situations.

Prediction Second in their group with EG, probably an early exit in double elimination though.