It is supposed to be the highlight of the entire season. The Grand Finale of yet another year on the pro circuit. The biggest prizepool and the single biggest cashprize to be won.

World Cyber Games is something special. Not only because of its size or its professionalism, but also due to the format of the competition. This is not only the Olympics of eSport, it is also the "real" World Championship. There can only be one team from a certain country - and the players have to be citizens in that country.

	Even though they are one of the best teams in the world right now, Mouz won't be able to participate in World Cyber Games this Fall due to the national composition of the team.

No defending champion in 2008

In 2008 this means that there will be no title defenders. Last year's champions from emuLate crashed out in the French qualification, and will thus not be present in Cologne.

Other victims to the "one team per nation" rule are fnatic and Mousesports (which consists of three nationalities), both counted amongst the European gaming giants.

The latter is showcasing the cons of this rule, as the German team has been the one of the absolutely best performers this year.

Mouz not being able to participate in the biggest tournament of the year, coming straight off a win in Dubai and atleast a top 2 placing at WEM, is going to be a major setback for the competitive level in Cologne.

Made in Brazil beat Jules Verne and travelled around the world in 60 days. They will have to win WCG to justify the travelling.

The last chance

For several of the competitors at the WCG, this is their last chance to make their mark on 2008. The German participants from Alternate has for example had a horrible year, but if they win on home soil in Cologne, that is what people will remember.

The Brazilians from Made in Brazil has been travelling all over the world this Fall, but with no titles as an outcome. It has been close but no cigar for cogu and his team, a faith they will be more than happy to change in Germany.

The team will have one of the most thorough preparations for the tournament, as they will have spent several weeks bootcamping in Sweden.

	zonic and co. won ESWC Masters, but with a victory at WCG they can almost double their yearly winnings.

mTw and SK aiming for a biggie

A lacklustre year was redeemed, as SK won Extreme Masters Global Challenge in Los Angeles. With the victory came a $25,000 prize purse, but more importantly, the Swedes came out ahead of fnatic, mTw and MYM.

Since then, SK failed to win GC Montreal from Upper Bracket, crashed out of GC Dubai rather quickly, and didn't proceed from the WEM groupstage. Not the kind of performances that makes it clap in the ambitious German organization.

If SK Gaming can take down World Cyber Games though, they will finish 2008 as the team to beat; and with one of the Grand Slams in their pockets - enough to please even bds.

mTw is another story however. Being one of the most consistent teams in 2007, taking silver at both ESWC and WCG, the Danes came into 2008 with their guns blazing. They finally won a big event, as they took down fnatic in style at KODE5, and repeated that feat in Paris at ESWC Masters.

I know my fellow Danes badly if they will be satisfied with that though. The team wants to take down one of the Grand Slams, grabbing the big cash - and possibly securing a number one spot for the entire year.

MYM won ESWC Grand Final, can they take down WCG Grand Final?

Writing history - in Polish

The Polish MYM-squad was the first team to ever defend an ESWC-title, when the players took down ESWC Grand Final this summer.

Now they have the chance to write history again, as no team has ever won both ESWC and WCG in the same year.

Even more, MYM - who won the title in 2006 - would be the very first European team to ever win two WCG-titles, should they take the honour in Cologne.

After the miserable performance at WEM in China, the Polish side will be hungry for a victory. And what way is better to satisfy that hunger, than to take down the juciest event of the year?

Picture 1 from www.readmore.de
Picture 2 from ESL.eu
Picture 3 from HLTV.org