g3x

Thiago "btt" Monteiro
Olavo "Chucky" Napoleao
Alexandre "gAuLeS" Bochi
Norberto "Lance" Lage
Wellington "ton" Caruso

They are the eternal rivals of MiBR and have almost never managed to be beat cogu's fellows. They are veterans of the Brazilian scene and wern't lucky at their last abroad trip: the CPL Winter in which, with an internationally mixed line-up, they didn't pass out of the second group stage. With their complete lineup, they will be better for sure but will it be enough to make a good performance at ESWC? They can gamble on players like gAuLeS and Chucky who are examples of consistency and who may lead the Brazilians to a solid result. They are the kind of team who are hard to play for the biggest power-house but also who may not deal with easier teams and be far under their capabilities. It's why the rank of Challengers fits them perfectly since their result will vary if they are or are not playing on top form!

Virtus.pro

Konstantin "groove" Pikiner
Alexey "LeX" Kolesnikov
Viktor "Sally" Filimonchenko
Roman "ROMJkE" Makarov
Alexandre "KALbL4" Gribov

For a year, Virtus.Pro have had a ton of problems: they have been banned from almost every online events and have endured several line up changes. The latest news was that Ivan "F_1N" Kochugov and Aleksey "HEL1" Novikov were leaving the team just after good qualifications: the internal tensions were too strong. They had to call for some help from their manager and the legend KaLbl4. This change, so close to the ESWC, is a really bad thing for Virtus who are able to do the best as much as the worst. They are coming from bad performances at the ASUS Cup or at other tournaments and their qualification at the ESWC was quite surprising with forZe who also seemed very strong. But now they are in Paris, they will play like a mix without pressure and they may be the surprise of the ESWC again like in 2004 where they defeated the, at that time, unbeatable SK.

x6tence

Jose "DrastyK" Blasco
David "DeyF" Arroyo
Antonio "FlipiN" Rivas
David "r1bera" Antón
Jonathan "MusambaN1" Torrent

After a breakdown for x6tence when MusambaN1 left them, now he is back and the team is breathing again. It's amazing to see how just one player can change the level of all a team. Since his come-back, the team is getting back on track, and lost not one map at the ESWC qualifier. But the results are not so good outside the Spanish borders. In fact they have been destroyed by NoA twice in NGL-One and Eurocup losing 16-00 and 16-02. It's almost the same versus the other European teams even if they have managed to surprise mousesports in NGL. On European terms their level seems a bit random and currently not good enough to represent Spain well. Their only chance is to train very hard for the event and to hope to be hot the day.

Lunatic-hai

BeumHo "mal" Choi
YoungMo "enemy" Ahn
MinWoo "cliper" Choi
MyungSuk "loki" Sung
MinSoo "glow" Kim

Three teams are actually dominating in Korea: eSTRO, LaVega and Lunatic_hai. The latter have just been knocked out of the KeSPA league and it's hard to guess what their level will be. They remain one of the best Korean teams and posses in it's rank some incredible players. They proved it at the Razer CS league 2007 where they finished first and at the ESWC qualifier where they won an important game versus LaVega. Why did they give up KeSPA is a big question and we are hoping that the answer is not a lack of preparation or motivation. What is sure is the fact that they have the means to beat a very large number of teams and since WEG has not been organized for a while, it's hard to compare Asian and European levels. With a very specific game based on a accurate synchronization and some incredible skill, they may surprise more than a team in Paris!

A-Gaming

Yuriy "strike" Tereshenko
Sergey "starix" Ischuk
Andrew "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy
Nikolay "weiss" Poplavskyi
Aleksey "xaoc" Kucherov

A-Gaming is for sure one of the best East-European teams. They are feared by the best Russians teams and there are reasons for that! They have managed this year to get on the European scene and the results have not been so bad. With pro100, they are used to great results in ASUS Cup and since they have managed to qualify for ESWC instead of their eternal rivals, they will try to perform well in Paris. Regarding the players, we see a very skilled line-up who is able to surprise some of the greatest European teams but also to realize a halftone ESWC. It's why if they may train a lot they may do better than in Eurocup XV Play-Off where the ping matters a lot. Every match played versus the B1ad3's fellows will be a trick match and the Ukrainians may pass the first group stage this year!

Global.Gaming

Alexander "telli" Lundkvist
Henrik "walth" Hecklen
Magnus "pzyclone" Hansen
Martin "woodi" Holm
Bardi "bardi" Haraldsson

Global Gaming is one of the surprises of this ESWC. Everbody was believing that the Danish representative would have been NoA and H2k, but Global Gaming managed to beat both at the ESWC qualifier and got the H2k spot. When you're aware of what h2k has done this year in International events, you just can think that there is a lot of pressure on Global Gaming's shoulders. Some of the players have shown their talent in teams like Ideal Gaming or SoA but none are used to such tournaments. So Global Gaming is one of the unknown of the ESWC equation, since we don't really know their level and if we just look at their results, they seems far under h2k or NoA. But they've got their ticket for ESWC and now they have to prove they deserve it.

emuLate!

Mathieu "MaT-" Leber
Michael "HaRts" Zanatta
Mickael "mSx" Cassisi
Jeremy "ioRek" Vuillermet
Mathieu "RiGo" Bridet

emuLate! has been dominating the French scene this season. A stability out of the ordinary, an incredible blend of skills and chemistry seldom seen before. Their only mistake was the Gamers Assembly where they lost in Semi-Finals but it was the occasion to work back on their game and be accurate for the ESWC.fr. We have not much seen emuLate! out of the French borders after the WCGa long time ago. But emL! have two strengths in their games. The first one is their leader: HaRts. The game of emuLate! is very slow on terrorist, waiting to create a foothold in the enemy defence to exploit it. This style is very hard to forecast and mixed up with their other strengths make them hard to beat. In fact the players have great skills and are able to lock off situations, and they may be the great French surprise!

Turmoil

Matt "PaTyoJoN" Iantosca
Ediz "goodfornothing" Basol
Derrick "impulsivE" Truong
Dan "mehLer" Mehler
Joe "perez" Perez

The first Amercian team that qualified didn't managed to win a match versus a European team at the WSVG. It was quite surprising and disappointing for the American team, but the powerhouses are now playing Source, and the level on 1.6 is not as good as it should be. We miss team3D and coL but we have to deal with it. Turmoil is a solid American team with PatyoJoN as a motor unit who has played for D!E and united5. Perez is also coming from united5 and mehLer from rSports. The team is still evolving, winning Cevo-Pro Season 5 and finishing second at the Buy.com tournament and first at the Comcast $5k Tourney this year. Not enough to beat a favourite but their matches versus the other challengers promises to be tough!

TR.victory

Xiaoyu "xpy" Zhao
Dan "Ray" Wang
3#
Richie
Rita

A lot were expecting to see one of the two wNv teams at the ESWC. But here they are, TR.victory, a very good Chinese team that has managed to be the best the ESWC Qualifier's week-end. Though their whole season has met some ups and downs, managing to finish third at WSVG China but being disqualified in the Quarters of the IEF 2007 this week. Their defeat in two maps versus wNv.cn was close but it's still a defeat and they will need to play better to be efficient in Paris. The team has been fully built up by the structure and is gathering players coming from several horizons. #3 was playing for Hacker.gm, xpy for E-Home and Richie for SP. It's a lineup mainly based on skill and they will come to Paris with a game who may surprise European teams. It will also be their first international event outside their borders, and it's hard to know if they will be as good as at home. Hence the conclusion that TR.victory will be a bit random at this ESWC!