San Francisco Optx (9-4)

Yazan "Clown" Ammari
Trevor "p0s" Randolph
Moe "moe" Assad
Ryan "pham" Pham
Laurent "warmach1ne" Keoula

The Optx have played one of their best online seasons to date with CEVO Pro Season 5. Despite a couple of bobbles late in the season, the Optx have got it done when it counted and now find themselves in a nice position going into playoffs. The Optx began Season 5 with a six game winning streak, taking down the likes of 3D, Pandemic, Devastation and others. The Optx also managed to slip a match in on Complexity in overtime in week 5. San Francisco heads into the playoffs with a 9-4 record and in 4th place in the CEVO standings.

Strengths:A lot of time playing together. Yazan "clowN" Ammmari, Moe "moE" Assad, and Laurent "Warmach1ne" Keoula have played together under various team banners for a good long time. They are basically the core players for Optx, with Trevor "p0s" Randolph and Ryan "pham" Pham

Weaknesses: The latter part of the season was a letdown for San Francisco, after an amazing 6-0 start to the regular season. Optx finished by losing 4 out of their last 6 games (the lone bright spots being an overtime win over LA, and a 10-0 shutout of Eximius, Eximius' second this season.) Momentum is key in Source, and whatever funk the Optx men are in, it had better be worked out by their first match, or they may see an early exit.

Recent Results: 4th Place, CEVO-P CSS Season 5; 2nd Place, Newegg Lanfest 2k7

Prediction: Optx definitely has the ability to make it to the finals, so I'm going to predict that when all is said and done, it's Optx, Core, and Guardians in the money.


LA Complexity (8-5)

Matt "Warden" Dickens
Tyler "Storm" Wood
Danny "fRoD" Montaner
Ronald "Rambo" Kim
Marcus "zet" Sundstrom

It's the weirdest feeling to be writing this but: LA had a relatively subpar season, when compared with the almost everlasting success they enjoyed in 2007. And it was a slow realization. They lost to Core 10-5, and people called it a "fluke," as coL went on a 3-game win streak right after. Then they lost to Eximius, and people started wondering what was going on. That was the start of a 3-game slide, and everyone, especially the LA fans, were shocked. LA picked it up a bit at the end, but it took a forfeit win (always record demos!) in their last match against Devastation to propel them into the playoffs and past the 6th seed, Pandemic.

Strengths: LA, for the longest time has been the unstoppable force in Counter-Strike. Rambo, fRoD, and the rest are names known for skill, teamwork, and winning. Because they're so good individually, they can take "standard" strats, break them down, and rebuild them into something completely unique to LA alone. And, with LA, you know that on any given day, they can roll out a dominant win.

Weaknesses: Zet is currently in Sweden, and Warden has been away from the compLexity House on occasion, so the normal group dynamic (all 5, in the house, playing together) hasn't been the case this season. They did surprisingly poorly against a mediocre Eximius team, and even their wins over the basement dwellers (Team XFX, Mexico City Furia) weren't the complete, dominating performances we've come to expect. Of course, they also have a HUGE monkey on their back, as a result of the controversy stemming from Matt "Warden" Dickens allegedly attempting to bribe Devastation into forfeiting their match so that LA could get into the playoffs. Even Jason Lake can't ignore the enormous fallout from that.

Recent Results: 5th Place, CEVO-P Season 5, 1st Place, Newegg Lanfest, CGS CSS Individual World Champions

Prediction: And so it goes. I don't feel that LA can muster up enough "moxie," as it were, to overcome their less-than stellar season, the enormous amounts of talent in the playoffs, and ignore the rumblings from the community over Warden's HUGE (alleged) lapse in judgment. We'll have to wait for another team's chance to three-peat, because coL won't do it.


Pandemic (8-5)

Mike "paradox" Stanowski
Grant "Griff" Hall
Nick "n0it" Nowakowski
Jon "juan" Mumm
Kyle "Mustang" Cummings

Finally, we come to the sixth seed, Team Pandemic. The same old lineup is here again, and they've enjoyed the same solid success as a result. They had a great start to the season, going 6-1 through their first 7 games. Then things sort of fizzled out, as they lost close matches to x3o, Carolina, and LA, as well as a more dominant loss to the red-hot Team Guardians. They finished the season winning only one of their last 4 games, limping into the sixth spot.

Strengths: Steady, steady, steady. Pandemic is the only non-CGS team to not start anyone but the five you see above. That sort of stability is rare in e-Sports, even with the mini-controversy concerning paradox's jumping ship to Team Turmoil. He's back in the Pandemic fold now, and they are the better for it. Jon "juan" Mumm, Grant "Griff" Hall, and Nick "noit" Nowakowski are still the same talented players you've known during your CSS careers. Pandemic, basically, is unflappable.

Weaknesses: Momentum, momentum, momentum. LA, San Francisco, and Pandemic must have caught the same proverbial funk bug, because they have come into the playoffs on a notable downturn in their matches. When you're matching up against teams like Carolina and especially Team Guardians, the least little mistake could mean the difference between Overtime or going home. Pandemic, as the sixth seed, is also starting the match on Nuke, where they were 0-2 on the season. Worse still, they're playing Dallas Venom, who stomped all over Optx 10-1 on Nuke. There's also the distraction of juansource.com and the revelation that Pandemic had bound to a key, a command that allowed them to instantly be unblinded as a result of flashbangs (No, it's not going here). This would be a huge story, were it not for LA-Dev and Steve "sasquatcH" Csikos's allegations, but it bears merit, as almost every match Pandemic plays from now on will be questioned, starting with this one.

Recent Results: 6th Place, CEVO-P Season 5

Prediction: It pains me to say it, but Pandemic isn't going to get far. There's just too much talent above them. That's not to say they CAN'T win; it's just not that likely.

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