Group writeups by Trevor "Midway" Schmidt

With the announcement of the second stage groups, inter-nation play highlights all of the upcoming action. Four countries have both of their teams in the same group including Russia, Denmark, China and host, France. Even with the appearance of these teams in the same groups, their chances of both teams advancing seem slim. Great competition including the “Group of Death”, Group 3, could make things extremely interesting moving forward.

Men’s Group 1

This group really isn’t as stellar once you look into the actual matches. On an initial look the home field for the pair of French teams is amazing. Still, last year a similar feeling surrounded the French teams who wilted in the second round of group play. Can GG and Hostile avoid a repeat? I’m not sure.

Lunatic.hai has a ton of experience coming off of two WEG performances while 3D is well, 3D. Both of these teams look like better bets. While Hostile won their first group I think they are outmatched in this second round, sorry France. GG is the real hope and they will need to play well against 3D who they haven’t had much success against in the past. Lunatic.hai is the wildcard. They played well enough in the first round to advance but weren’t impressive.

Midway’s Prediction: 1) 3D – 2) GG
Bootman’s Prediction: 1) 3D – 2) GG
Tek’s Prediction: 1) 3D – 2) Lunatic.hai
Zech’s Prediction: 1) 3D – 2) Lunatic.hai


Men’s Group 2

A random group that could really go anyway features two Chinese teams. wNv and Art, whom impressed everyone who watched making them a trendy pick. The Chinese bandwagon is filling up but an impressive first round by GameCrashers from Brazil and an unexpected a-Losers.MSI performance leaves some doubt.

All four teams have limited to no experience in later rounds of International events. That should leave the door open for someone to make a big statement. If the Chinese want to prove they are an emerging power in the CS scene, this would be the place to do it. Still the only hope for a struggling Brazilians nation is GameCrashers who defeated both Revoltz and mibr to reach ESWC as the top Brazilian team.

Midway’s Prediction: 1) wNv – 2) GameCrashers
Bootman’s Prediction: 1) Art – 2) wNv
Tek’s Prediction: 1) wNv – 2) Art
Zechs’ Prediction: 1) wNv – 2) a-Losers.MSI


Men’s Group 3

Officially the obvious choice for the “Group of Death”, the third group of the second stage of the men’s tournament is grueling. When the first three teams had been announced starting with mouz, NiP and then coL, every team left was hoping it wasn’t them. The poor Spanish got the short end of the stick and anything above last place would be a great achievement for x6tence.

As for the power three, Complexity has wanted a chance to prove to the World they are the best team-enter a perfect opportunity. Can they actually come through in the clutch? NiP and mouz don’t think so. NiP’s play in the first round was beyond stellar with many wondering if a revival has finally arrived. Mouz was a clear favorite to win entering the tournament and they did nothing to remove that title in the first round.

Midway’s Prediction: 1) mouz – 2) coL
Bootman’s Prediction: 1) mouz – 2) coL
Tek’s Prediction: 1) mouz – 2) coL
Zechs’ Prediction: 1) mouz – 2) NiP


Men’s Group 4

Two countries make up this group as the head to head match up of Russia against Denmark. Neither side has a clear cut advantage with Virtus.Pro and forZe both solid first rounds while Clan-IT surprised all beating coL. SK.dk also was impressive advancing with a huge win over Astralis. Still SK.dk looks a little overmatched based on their play in the first round and will need a big effort in the second round to advance.

The wildcard in this group should be Clan-IT and forZe. Both were surprise winners of their local ESWC events for Denmark and Russia but now face the more favored and established second place teams from those countries. A repeat performance of the local tournaments would allow them to advance to the single elimination eight team championship bracket.

Midway’s Prediction: 1) Virtus.Pro – 2) Clan-IT
Bootman’s Prediction: 1) forZe – 2) Virtus.Pro
Tek’s Prediction: 1) Virtus.Pro – 2) SK.dk
Zechs’ Prediction: 1) Virtus.Pro – 2) Clan-IT