Rio Sinistro

Bruno "brun0" Ono
Raphael "cogu" Camargo
Jorge "Jorginho" Elias Junior
Renato "nak" Nakano
Norberto “Lance” Lage

The Rio Sinistro is comprised of some of the most talented players from the South American continent. Headlined by Raphael "cogu" Camargo, this team, formerly known as Made in Brazil, has tons of talent and experience competing and winning on the top international level. After switching to CSS and being drafted to the Rio franchise, the CSS team underwent some roster changes, due to Bruno "bit" Lima's age ineligibility. In their regional match, Sinistro squeaked out a 10-8 win in their one point franchise loss to the Mexico City Furia.

With Olavo “cky” Napoleão unable to obtain a travel visa, Rio was forced to use a replacement player. Stepping up is Noreberto "Lance" Lage formerly of MiBR, and g3x. He is certainly a solid replacement, but he has already voiced some doubt in the ability for the team to succeed at this event, saying "Two months is not much to know all differences between Source and 1.6 and we will face very experienced Source squads in the finals."

The team has already been eliminated from the franchise competition, after an embarrassing 12-6 loss to the Birmingham css squad and an overall score of 30-16.

Strengths:

Individual talent. Sinistro's roster is a veritable who's who list of Brazilian CS players, with the majority of their players having experienced winning at the highest level in CS 1.6. While Cogu and Bruno both showed glimmers of hope during the loss to the Salvo,
they need to come up even bigger for their team in order to keep them in contention.

Weaknesses:

A new fifth. While Lage may very well be an amazing replacement for Olavo “cky” Napoleão, pulling the team together and trying to put together all of the pieces just weeks before the event will put a strain on the team. Also, having played and lost in their match against Birmingham, Sinistro may have mentally checked out of this tournament.

Predictions:

While this team is chock full of talented players, the chemistry problem has already reared it's ugly head, and will probably be an underlying issue carrying into the individual tournament. Facing a strong Sword squad, Sinistro may fall flat against the Asian powerhouse and land themselves in a 3/4th place finish.

Singapore Sword

Randy "Randy" Lai
Ghim "Squall" Toh
Prasad "StryKerX" Paramajothi
Chia "Kazuya" De Wei
Kenneth "Monster!" Yeo

The Singapore franchise got off on the wrong foot when their former GM tried to finagle additional funds by forcing his drafted players into signing contracts which would transfer half of their salaries to his bank account. At that time, the titans players refused to sign the contract, and despite winning the qualifier in dominating fashion, were undrafted due to "unsportsmanlike conduct." Once the story surfaced, the CGS took immediate action, replacing Chris Soh with Steven Yong, and announcing a new draft for the franchise.

This time around, the Titans were selected as the CSS team, and were all set for the Pan-Asian Championships. While they dropped their first match in the Pan-Asian Championships to the Wuhan Dragons, strong play from their DOA4 Male player helped them advance to the finals. There, they faced off against the Sidney Underground, where they bested the team 12-6, ultimately resulting in their franchise winning the tournament.

Strengths:

A storied history. The Titan's name is synonymous with the top team in Singapore. While this team only consists of two of the original members who attended CPL Winter 2005, they have always maintained a strong roster, and this one is no different.

Weaknesses:

Inconsistency. While the team showed they are of championship caliber in their win over the Sidney Underground, they fluttered against the Wuhan Dragons. If they want to have a chance to win this competition, they need to bring their best at all times. None of the teams here

Prediction:

With the Brazilians struggling, the Singapore Sword have a huge opportunity to make it into the finals. However, regardless of which team they face if they make it there, they will be outmatched. Had this tournament been in a group format, it would be easy to place them at 3/4th, however, they have a huge chance in making it to a second place finish.