The long awaited and much debated event of the year for Counter Strike 1.6 is probably ESWC. After much drama, MYM is going to continue defending their title from last year but they will play under PGS.MYM tag. After CPL, ESWC has taken over as one of the stronghold, prestigious and important event for the professional gaming scene.

Below, let me evaluate the group and predict the results - feel free to discuss about it in the comments!

Group A:

MYM
PRO100
Dragon
N1
Team 34

As the defending champions, MYM should top this group with ease. However, the boys have not been on top form at events like ESWC Masters or eStars Seoul, and hopefully this event will prove that they are back to conquer the scene. Following up will be VirtusPro playing under the name, PRO100, as they played the qualifiers there. Dragon from China should have a close shot at the 2^nd place, but it is said that they will not be competing in the event due to visa problems. This is not the first time teams from China are having problems entering a country to participate in international events.

Winner: MYM
2nd place: PRO100

Group B:

MIBR
Team Dignitas
Millenium
Mindless
Xuxan

MIBR - back, bigger, and better? Even after winning GameGune with their new line-up, it seems that they seem to be still trying to fill the big shoes that have been left for them. Dignitas is now the strongest 1.6 team in UK, but Millenium is also a solid French team, so second place goes to whoever has a better on-form play on Monday.

Winner: MIBR
2nd place: Team Dignitas

Group C:

Mousesports
Eyesports
Lowlandlions
Winnders
QTP

I think it's kind of obvious that Mousesports are gonna take the top seed. They have been in generally good form for the past few tournaments, besides, now they have Christian "Blizzard" Chimel back in their line-up as 6th player, I'm sure that their morale is on a all time high level. 2nd seed should probably go too Lowlandlions, a decent Belgium team.

Winner: Mousesports
2nd place: Lowlandlions

Group D:

mTw
Frag eXecutors
Motus
Green Troop
Assasin List

Hands up if you say, mTw. Ok, that's the whole room there. Of course they will win their group stage! mTw, aka mortal Teamwork is currently walking on clouds what also the new G7 Teams ranking proofs. Nothing seems impossible for them after sailing thru the last few tournaments. Sunde ''sunde'' Christoffer has convinced the world that he is part of the world elite snipers. With his extremely impressive play in ESWC masters held at Paris, he is definitely more than just a one shot wonder. They should be top 4 in this event if they continue playing the way they are playing lately. 2nd place will be MYM's fellow Polish team, Frag eXecutors.

Winner: mTw
2nd place: Frag eXecutors

Group E:

Fnatic
Team Alternate
Vatos Locos
Speeder

Fnatic is unique. They introduced and led the community into new school playing style, which relies more on situational play than strategics. They will top the group easily, and having a constant line-up which they have not shuffled for quite sometime will make them more stable. Also, they have been topping world rankings since 2 years back, thus in this competition, they are defintely the team to look out for. Following up will of course be Germany's Team Alternate. Also know as aTTax, they often depend on their form rate on the day of play. They are not constant, but have been known to out-perform.

Winner: Fnatic
2nd place: Team Alternate

Group F:

Team Roccat
Emulate
Evil Geniuses
Make it happen

This is what we call a Group of Death! With at least 3 good teams in a bracket, and only 2 of them can get thru. In my opinion, Evil Geniuses will get thru, and so will Team Roccat. Emulate is a good team, and will of course have a chance as they often train with good teams, but EG has been performing very impressively, especially with 'n0thing' in their team. Young and talented, he has surpassed expectations and played a big part in helping the team secure good ranks.

Winner: Evil Geniuses
2nd place: Team Roccat

Group G:

SK Gaming
wNv
Mafia of Brothers
DEFS

Well, wNv will have no problems passing the group. Also being one of Asia's stronghouse, they are the underdogs in this event. SK Gaming been in headlines lately, spectaculating about the return of Marcus “zet” Sundstrom, arguably one of their best and successful players from the old 1.6 team before he left to pursue a not as successful career in CS:Source at America. No official statement has been made yet, however, in a recent interview with Dennis ''walle'' Wallenberg, it is said that they will stay with the same line-up.

Winner: SK Gaming
2nd place: wNv

Group H:

Estro
X3O
N!Faculty
Punto.CL

Group H is probably the 2nd hardest bracket for CS1.6. KANG "Solo" Keun Chul, one of Asia's sharpest rifleman, should be able to pull Estro thru this. Coming right up is X3O and N!Faculty. Ranked no.2 in USA, X3O should be able to pull thru to the next stage.

Winner: Estro
2nd place: X3O

To me: In Counter Strike, good is often not enough. You have to be fantastic, or sometimes, perfect.

So, there you go! My predictions for top 16, and who will pass the group stage. In short, top 16 teams should be: MYM, PRO100, MIBR, Team Dignitas, Mousesports, Lowlandlions, mTw, Frag eXecutors, Fnatic, Team Alternate, Evil Geniuses, Team Roccat, SK Gaming, wNv, Estro, X3O

Teams playing at their peak now: mTw, Fnatic, Evil Geniuses, MIBR

Teams having an off-peak: MYM, SK Gaming, Team Roccat, Mousesports

Following up are my predictions and thoughts for the rest of the competition. I'm not really sure how does the seeding system work and the brackets although I've tried reading them on the ESWC website, there's no map drawn out for it! So the following is who I think will be top 4 without knowledge of the brackets!

Top 4: MIBR, MYM, mTw, Fnatic

Why?

Fnatic oftens get to the top seedings easily, so does SK Gaming, these 2 Swedish team have long been a household name. However, recently SK's been having a spot of trouble bringing it all together. Which means they have what it takes, but there is the SPARK that they lack. Fnatic is just constant, and which means if they can secure their terror sides of the maps, they should be fine in top 8.

mTw is currently, like I said, at the sailing on clouds, this event will be one of the events they list under 'Achievements' on their profile. However, the teams that are competiting are determmined to break their winning streak, so they might have a spot of trouble at this event as teams have now started spotting flaws in their 'flawless' play.

MIBR: Oh how the Brazilians never fail to surprise me! Besides having a great football team, they have a solid CounterStrike1.6 team. Although they have not won anything huge lately except GameGune but I'm sure, very very very sure that they have something exciting to pull at ESWC!

MYM: Meet Your Makers. They know that they have been playing badly, so they have been training doubly hard. This event is sort of like a Make or Break event for them, and that means they are not going to disappoint their fans.

However, it depends who meets who, still, because in a weird sort of circle, MYM> mTw, Fnatic> MYM, mTw> Fnatic.

Short in short, ESWC is going to be an exciting event! I hope you enjoyed and found my write-up interesting, continue checking myMYM.com for updates! And now, discuss this preview!

Vote here: Who will win ESWC 2008 in Counter-Strike?