Eight of America's top players have gathered in San Diego, California for the Blizzard Season 5 Regionals. The top two from last season were directly invited to the tournament, while the other six had to qualify through Blizzard's online ladder.

The format is a standard double-elimination bracket, where the top two will qualify and take spots for the global finals.

There are several familiar faces in this tournament. Franklin "Nilknarf" Pearsall, who was also at the recent Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, will again attempt to qualify for the season finals. Last year, he chose WSVG over Bnet S4, forfeiting any possibility to play on the finals.

Another notable player is Nikolaus "SonKiE" Cassidy, who took part in the finals last year, along with Canadian Jonathan "KiWiKaKi" Garneau. Both of them were directly invited to the tournament due to their performance last year.

The rest of the players can be roughly considered some of the finest talents the Americas has to offer. The top two winners will progress to the global finals, which will be in the Blizzard Convention, this coming August.

Nilk has been America's wonder boy for quite some time now. By popular vote he was sent to last year's ESWC event, and finished with a solid top 8 placing. Some say he was trained by ToD himself, and I wouldn't doubt it with his amazing performances. He took a map from Moon at the recent WWI tournament, and nearly won the series. This youngster has amazing talent and is the clear favorite to represent the America's at the Global Finals.

ShrieK is known more for his usage of towers, in both the offensive and defensive style, rather than his stellar micro and superior thinking. This is not to say that he lacks the former qualities though. Much in the way that SonKiE is over-shadowed by Nilk, ShrieK is over-shadowed by both. Although in recent performances he has come into his own and is now a starting player for the top team PGS. With a little luck, especially against a first round opponent such as Nilk, ShrieK may have a shot at attending another Global Final much like he did last season.

Seemingly out of nowhere, LongWalk exploded onto the American scene last year with solid performances on LAN. He defeated Nilk twice at the Digital Life tournament in New York, and followed that up by taking a map from Moon in the finals. He recently joined up with mTw alongside the best players that the Americas have to offer. LongWalk is easily the best Night Elf in America and with this title comes a great chance of earning a spot to the Global Finals.

Hailing from Brazil, PaTo will be the only South American competing at the event which might give him a slight advantage as he will not have to deal with his usual high ping. Despite his latency issues he has been going on a tear recently, with great performances in both the NGL and WC3L - including a convincing victory over the Undead star Lucifer. Look for this streak to continue as he has a real shot at this event.

KiWiKaKi was last season's top performer, and was invited to this event without qualification. More recently, KiWiKaKi was the first North American to win an inCup by defeating 3 top Night Elves -- previously his weakest match-up. This win is extremely significant for this event, as his bracket leading up to the final contains only Night Elves. While to most people this seems to be a racial disadvantage, KiWiKaKi has seemingly overcome it with that inCup performance. If he is able to keep up his success against Night Elves, this tournament should be a breeze for him.

Probably the least known player in attendance, Chipoti is certainly not the weakest. Always out of the spotlight, he trains countless hours on the Kalimdor ladder. He is a staple in the ToT lineup which has had much success in the lower leagues. People say that his best match-up is Night Elf mirror, which would be great for this tournament. However, he recently dropped a match 0-2 to an unknown European Elf in the WC3L qualifiers.

Being the other player directly invited to this event, SonKiE is another favorite. He has been America's 2nd best Human player for quite some time, always over-shadowed by Nilk. This might be his break-out tournament, as he in all likely-hood will need to defeat Nilk in order to reach the finals and claim one of the tickets to Blizzcon Finals.

The lone Undead player will have his work cut out for him. YanE is one of the more active players, and a prominent starter in the TeK-9 lineup. Luckily for him there is only one Orc in the tournament, which was seeded on the other side of the bracket. In order to reach the finals he will have to face all Human players, which will help him in his practice sessions by allowing him to focus on one particular match-up until the finals.