There have been many national level tournaments that feature the most dominant set of teams on their home continent. However, the question that has yet to be definitively answered is which continent overshadows the others in regards to pure homegrown talent. With a small amount of international competitions in the past to assist in answering this question, the ESL Extreme Masters III, held in Los Angeles, definitely will be helping to provide some concrete evidence as to which powerhouse team can rise to the top and claim a true international title. Up for grabs is a $30,000 prize purse entire WoW tournament with first place claiming a hefty $15,000 as well as bragging rights to being one of the few who truly are top tier in the world.


David "Ohnoes" Atz
Brian "Caal" McPharlin
Nathan "Kintt" Quinn

Known Comps: Rogue, Priest, Druid ||| Rogue, Warrior, Druid

Pandemic seems to be playing with a roster of veterans here who all have long lists of credentials as far as LAN experience is concerned. Kintt was part of the original Pandemic team that went on an incredible winning streak during the emergence of WoW as an eSport in 2007. Caal and Ohnoes, along with Kintt, have also been competing consistently in many of the previous tournaments. Both Ohnoes and Caal have competed at the 2008 MLG events, but Pandemic must really be looking to redeem themselves from their performance at the Leipzig event. As with any new recruits and especially with new teams, it may take an event or two to have everything click between the players. Look for better performance from Pandemic vs. their previous competitors of SK-Gaming EU and x6tence.AMD both of whom they faced at Leipzig.

Strength: Experience is a huge factor for Pandemic here. There is no doubt that each one of the players on Pandemic Blue are veterans of the WoW eSports scene which will prove to be a huge benefit no matter what team they are a part of. However, putting three of those types of players together on one team can mean serious trouble for an opponent’s strategy.

Weakness: Lack of competition experience with each other as a team. A vast majority of the players on the other teams competing in this event have competed with each other at least once if not many times before. This very well may be disproved at this event as Leipzig was their chance to work this out, but until they prove otherwise this still would be their most apparent weakness.


Neil "Neilyo" Mosunic
Mike "Triks" Peters
"Plants"

The hunger must truly be setting in for star player Neilyo, who is one of the more famous competitors at this event. With a few close championships but none to talk home about, this may prove the event that Neilyo has been waiting for to take advantage of and walk away with bragging rights. However, unfortunately, there has been much talk of roster issues and instability within the team – it’s not even confirmed what roster SK-Gaming US will be attending with, or if they will be attending at all. As with any team with potential, hopefully they can figure out their roster issues and nail down a solid three to compete this weekend. Perhaps they can show up their European counterparts that they deserve the SK tag just as much if not more than they do.

Strength: Neilyo as an in game leader is definitely an asset, not to mention his skill as a Rogue but a Warrior as well. He’s a very good technical player which brings a whole other level of competition to the game, and that can honestly be the difference between a clutch play or missed intervene.

Weakness: Similar to Pandemic’s weakness, this is a new team. However, unlike their predecessor, they do not have anywhere near the credentials that Pandemic does, which will most likely be the downfall of this team in this competition. It’s been seen time and time again where new players will get the “LAN jitters” when not used to competing at a tournament such as this, and not perform anywhere near the level that they’re used to.


Olivier "Orly" Bellemans
Valent "Another" Sebatijan
Simon "Xom" Palmer

Known Comps: Rogue, Mage, Priest

SK-Gaming EU, along with Gravitas Gaming/DGFG seem to be the final two teams desperately holding onto the composition of RMP. Clearly, when their competing teams make a mistake and SK-Gaming is able to capitalize on said mistake, they are able to clinch wins. However, it has become clear that WLD is an extremely difficult problem for most RMP teams. Out of 13 games played against the Nihilum team of Eldissy/Redhot/Infame(WLD), SK-Gaming was able to win 6 games. Perhaps they've found the perfect strategy needed to combat the FOTM build, but unless they can execute that strategy perfectly, they will not be seeing an easy road to the finals.

Strength: Execution and teamwork are absolutely stellar with the SK-Gaming EU team. They have been playing together as a team for quite some time, and obviously are able to perform well – they took second place at Leipzig. Without a doubt going to be a top three at this event, and execution will determine just which number they will be taking.

Weakness: Composition may end up being the downfall of SK-Gaming EU here. As far as America is concerned, RMP is consistently dominated by RLD and WLD, and many of the US teams attending are capable of running those specific compositions. However, there are many differences in play styles and execution styles between the continents, so only time will tell.


Alexander "Mazud" Mazev
Henry "Offcell" Forber-Pratt
Somebody "Limewire" Somebody

Known Comps: Priest, Shaman, Warlock

This is MoB Shadowplay, except instead of Kollektiv playing as their Shaman, they have newcomer Limewire. As the originators of the now popular Shadowplay composition, they obviously have become masters of their comp. HLD seems to be the accepted straight counter-comp for Shadowplay, and without that pesky Nihilum team around to shut them down, perhaps they will have an uncontested ride to the finals bracket.

Strength: Shadowplay is increasingly becoming niche composition. While difficult to play at a high level due to the ridiculous amount of coordination needed to do effect bursting and target swapping, Shadowplay definitely requires a high caliber of play to perform well with. The ability to place pressure on all opponents in an arena match, combined with the quick bursting power allows Shadowplay to catch an unaware team down a player or two very quickly.

Weakness: Limewire is a relatively new player to the team, and when you have a team such as Shadowplay who is known for playing for so long together, it becomes very difficult to judge how a new player will perform. Consistency when moving from online practice to implementation on LAN is a huge roadblock for many teams, and it's hard to say if MoB Gaming will be the exception to this rule.


Conrad "Zyz" Lope
Dan "sp0h" Street
Isaac "Azael" Cummings-Bentley

Known Comps: Rogue, Warlock, Druid

Evil Geniuses is one of the teams that has both the capability and the willingness to take first place here, without question. Placing 3rd at MLG Orlando and 2nd at MLG San Diego, they immediately have two advantages that give them a true chance at winning here in LA. First of all, they have the LAN experience together as a team needed to perform well, as well as the track record of doing very well against both US and European teams.

Strength: They have the experience of having to battle back from the loser’s bracket. While some times, it becomes a huge uphill battle when playing after you've already been pushed into the lower bracket, with sp0h leading team EG as a veteran they definitely have someone who is willing to take charge and make the needed calls and decisions to put them on the right track to the finals.

Weakness: The popular FotM comp of WLD seems to be the true weakness of team EG. They were 3-0'd in the upper bracket finals at MLG Orlando by fnatic.Orz and if they still have yet to find an answer to this type of a setup, then they will still have trouble placing well in LA.



Known Comps: Warrior, Priest Druid - Rogue, Priest, Druid, and Warrior, Shaman Druid.

"Souler"
"Siler"
"Falcon"

Previously known as Improved Clicks, x6tence.AMD recently placed second at the WWI Paris event and fourth overall at EM III Leipzig. There is no doubt about the skills of the players from Spain; however the question remains if they have the execution needed to actually clinch tournament win. Many of the more vocal members of the WoW eSports community have cited this team as the best team in Europe, and if they want to retain that title then they will have to prove it in Los Angeles.

Strength: Well rounded players who can play multiple compositions here. At the last event, EM III: Leipzig, we saw x6tence go through no less than three different setups including WPD, RPD and WSD. Being able to adapt and respond to any situation will be a definite advantage here, competing against international teams with different play styles.

Weakness: Inability to stick to one main composition seems to make this team more of a "jack of all trades and master of none" than anything. Being able to play multiple classes and compositions is obviously a plus, but with x6tence.AMD running no less than three different comps at Leipzig; it seems to have been more of a curse than a blessing.


The Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge: Los Angeles will be held at the E-For-All Exposition at the Los Angeles Convention Center on October 3rd through the 5th. Be sure to check back here for future content regarding the competition, including live updates and interviews with top players competing at the event!


Galleries: Day 1a | Day 1b | Day 2a | Day 2b | Day 2c | Day 2d

Counter-Strike: Extreme Masters Day 2 CS Melee | Extreme Masters Day 1 CS Melee | WCG Day 1 CS Melee | Viewer's Guide | Cogu discusses all things MiBR | WCG USA, EM Prediction Contest | Ninespot reflects on Day 1 | x3o gives fnatic an early test | Five with punkvillE | Zonic on mTw's early exit | sfX on taking down MoB | savi0r: Looking forward to E4All | WCG CS Group Preview

StarCraft: WCG StarCraft Melee | WCG Day 1 SC Recap | Five with NonY | G5 talks about NonY and Day 2 | StarCraft in the U.S: Why care? | WCG Starcraft Preview

World of Warcraft: Extreme Masters Day 1 WoW Melee | Extreme Masters WoW Preview | Five with Sp0h