It's happening a bit earlier this year, and there's nary a Bunny in sight. But this weekend, in Austin, TX, at the South by South West Music Festival, the Championship Gaming Series will be holding its second Combine and Draft for Region 1. Last year's draft saw the introduction of players like Danny "fRoD" Montaner, Kyle "KSharp" Miller, and Mark "masternooK" Torrez, as the first class of CGS professionals. With the announcements that current CGS players can, and will be tossed (for lack of a better term) back into the draft, the Season 2 franchises may look similar or nothing like their Season 1 counterparts. GotFrag takes a look at the Counter-Strike: Source teams competing in the Combine this weekend, and weighs their chances of winning.

CGS 2007 CS:S Players

Carolina Core
Mark “masternooK” Torrez – Redondo Beach, CA
Sam “devour” Chamma – Ypsilanti, MI
Chad “daffsta” White – Avon, IN
Cyrus “org” Habibi – San Gabriel, CA
Sonny “s0nNy” Tran – New Orleans, LA

Carolina has been on a roll over the last four months. They went a perfect 4-0 in the CGS World Finals, though as a franchise they lost to Chicago Chimera for the second time. They next turned their fire to CEVO-P Season 5, where they were an amazing 11-2 during the regular season. They hit a snag in the playoffs, dropping matches to Team Pandemic and Dallas Venom and taking an early exit. That's not to say they're on the down and down. Carolina has proven their ability both online and on LAN, and one would be foolhardy to think that they won't be playing deep into the Combine on Saturday, making their case to be retained or redrafted as a team.

Recent Results: 2nd Place, CGS World Finals (Core.CSS 4-0); 2nd Place, CEVO-P CSS Season 5 (11-2); 4th Place, CEVO/NationVoice Season 5 Playoffs

Chicago Chimera
Garett “grt” Bambrough – Stouffville, Ontario, CA
Corey “trip” Dodd – Fargo, ND
Matt “Stevenson” Stevenson – West Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
Griffin “shaguar” Benger – Toronto, Ontario, CA
Pasha “Lari” Lari - Richmond, British Columbia, CA

We next turn to the CGS World Champion Chicago Chimera. Unlike the Core, Chicago hasn't seen much action since the end of the World Finals, electing not to participate in CEVO Season 5. At the World Finals, they were a mediocre 1-2, although that was overshadowed by the amazing play of the non-CSS players. They've been bootcamping hard for this Combine however, so you can't count them out just yet. Lack of play is a factor however, so it is equally as likely that they may be upset by one of the other teams, severely hurting their draft chances.

Recent Results: 1st Place, CGS World Finals (Chimera.CSS 1-2)

Dallas Venom
Eric “brawwr” Neer – Tustin, CA
Josh “Dominator” Seivers – Polk City, IA
David “zid” Chin – San Antonio, TX
Derek “Exodus” Heidinger – San Jose, CA
Corey “kaM” Hanes – Corpus Christi, TX

The Dallas Venom are probably the most confusing team to predict. They enjoyed great success online, and are currently the defending CEVO-P CSS Champions. That success hasn't translated to LAN, where they've been bad (3-9 CSS Region 1), and worse (eliminated in Group Play, NewEgg LANfest). The addition of Eric "brawwr" Neer has improved their team by a significant amount, but if they can't get some of that online magic this weekend, don't be surprised if the Dallas Venom have a vastly different lineup post-draft.

Recent Results: 3rd Place, CEVO-P CSS Season 5 (10-3); 1st Place, CEVO/NationVoice Season 5 Playoffs

Los Angeles compLexity
Danny “fRoD” Montaner – Plano, TX *LA Franchise Player
Ron “Rambo” Kim – Plano, TX
Matt “Warden” Dickens – Deer Park, TX
Marcus “zet” Sündstrom – Plano, TX
Tyler “Storm” Wood – Plano, TX

It's a shock to have to write this but, the Los Angeles compLexity is not the favorite to win this tournament. After a 2007 where it seemed that LA won everything with little effort, 2008 has started off on a terribly wrong note. Chinks in the armor were seen at NewEgg LAMfest, where San Francisco knocked them to the Lower Bracket, but during CEVO-P Season 5, LA lost more games than even the most cynical people expected, and controversy marred their entry into the playoffs as the #5 seed. They, too, had an early exit from the playoffs, dropping their only two matches (to San Francisco and Carolina). Jason Lake cares about this team, and has been with them for years. But Lake definitely wants to win, and if it takes breaking up one of the most established and storied lineups in North American CS, then he will do it.

Recent Results: 1st Place, CGS Individual World Finals (CSS); 5th Place, CEVO-P CSS Season 5 (9-4); 6th Place, CEVO/NationVoice Season 5 Playoffs

New York 3D
Sal “Volcano” Garozzo – Eastchester, NY
Kyle “Ksharp” Miller – Reston, VA
Jimmy “LiN” Lin – Calgary, Alberta, CA
Michael “method” So – La Habra, CA
Andy “reCTOOOR” Rector – Stony Point, NC

New York is a team that's been giving people fits as of late. They're not a bad team by any stretch, but the days of them going toe-to-toe with the best may be behind them. For all his talent, Method hasn't been able to capture the same success he had in Counter-Strike 1.6, and one can't go too far without hitting a multitude of "Cut Rector" threads. New York will most likely continue their middle-of-the-road attitude, reflecting their last ten months of play, and GM Dave Geffon will have a tough decision come Draft Day.

Recent Results: 4th Place, Digital Life 2007; 3rd Place, NewEgg LANfest 2k7; 9th Place, CEVO-P CSS Season 5 (6-7)

San Francisco Optx
Trevor “p0s” Randolph – Columbus, OH
Moe “mOE” Assad – Fresno, CA
Yazan “clowN” Ammari – Granada Hills, CA
Ryan “pham” Pham – Fountain Valley, CA
Laurent “Warmach1ne” Keoula – Kingwood, TX

San Francisco Optx have been making their case to be the CGS CSS team for 2008. After a disappointing CEVO-P Season 4, followed by an early exit at Digital Life 2007, San Francisco has been on a roll similar to that of Carolina. They took 2nd Place at NewEgg LANfest 2k7, knocking LA compLexity to the Lower Bracket in the process, and then took 4th place during CEVO-P Season 5 after a red-hot 6-0 start to the season. In the Playoffs, they knocked off #1 seed Team Guardians, ultimately losing a heartbreaking overtime match to Dallas, taking second place. The Combine favors San Francisco, who have a long history of being a LAN-proven team. Out of all the 6 CGS teams, San Francisco is the most likely to win the CSS tournament (with Carolina a close second), giving GM Kat Hunter the kind of draft problems the other GMs wish for.

Recent Results: 2nd Place, NewEgg Lanfest 2007; 4th Place, CEVO-P CSS Season 5 (9-4); 2nd Place, CEVO/NationVoice Season 5 Playoffs

Invited Teams and Qualifier Teams on Next Page