Author: uNity
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As I posted a few moments ago, the Seeds have been released for the upcoming tournament, which starts in 20 minutes at the time of this writing. For simplicity's sake, here they are again:
1. SK
2. mTw
3. Mouz
4. Retribution
5. Kaizen
6. Ocrana
7. Xtreme
8. TAG Gamers
9. Team 64
10. Escuadron 201
What follows is a semi-short review/preview of the various teams I feel are the most interesting. Of course, you'll have to forgive my lack of knowledge in regards to the European teams, but hey, I do my best.
The Teams You Know
Shroet Kommando
GitzZz
frag^m
Cloud
Horny
Does SK really need an introduction? These guys were hailed as the strongest team before they played their first games. They won the first (and only) LAN UT2K3 TDM tournament convincingly, as I recall, and have been a force online since, well, ever. They've actually won more than half the tournaments they've participated in. Impressive, to say the least.
Their recent losses to xtreme do beg the question however: Is SK really as good as we make them out to be?
Weakest: frag^m
Strongest: GitzZz
My readers might find my choices here highly strange, as frag^m is very talented and GitzZz is mostly a 1v1 player. However, the reasoning is simple: in such a tournament, nerves will play a huge part. GitzZz, therefore, will be the strongest link, able to maintain his team calm under pressure.
frag^m, on the other hand, seems inconsistent, not completely in control of himself. Maybe I'm wrong, hell, I've never met the guy, but if he loses it, it could prove costly.
Predicted Finish: Top 3
Retribution
Verbal
Vicious (aka Cursive/Judas/AntiHero)
Wesdog
Elix
Retribution's road to the top of North American Team DeathMatch is a strange and flaky one. Originally a UT CTF team, they moved on to UT2K3 upon release and, along with Demise, proved to be the best teams by a fair margin. However, interest dwindled and [R] disbanded.
They returned to UT2K4 on release in different teams, and re-joined under the [R] banner soon after CPL announced the tournament's format.
They learned quickly, however not nearly fast enough to counter the already establish top teams: High Voltage and Kaizen. They continued to practice and, after their loss during the first One Night Stand, they went on to win TDM.Open, the only other TDM tournament the NA community has had.
Retribution is a great team, no doubt, but a few things hurt them greatly: other than Verbal, they have no LAN experience, at all. Even then, Verbal's experience is minimal. Then, there's the fact that their practice has been hurt by the lackluster NA community. A rusty, unpracticed No Escape team was able to give them very close games, even taking one map, during scrims and TDM.Open. While this certainly won't get me many fans, one must be honest: I don't believe Retribution has the natural talent to be the top team. They can and will hover around the top, however, more experienced and naturally gifted teams will take over, relinquishing them to a forced second or third spot.
Weakest: wesdog
Strongest: elix
Elix, and anyone who's played him can testify to this, is a beast. His aim is phenomenal and his calm and collected, defensive play nets him a great deal of fans. Wesdog, on the other hand, seems to be the odd man out. It's not that he's a bad player or anything like that, simply that he's not yet at that level. He has the potential, however, and let's hope he proves me wrong.
Predicted Finish: Top 8+ (Top 5 is they play as well as I know they can).
Kaizen
CombatCarl
Xyber
Tex
Pen
Kaizen's notoriety has, over the course of UT2K4's life, dwindled into next to nothingness. They are no longer feared, they are no longer the team to beat. Ironically, they're the team with all the best North American duelists.
But, Team DeathMatch certainly isn't the same thing, and as was evidenced by ESWC, North American duelists don't mean much anymore. Can Kaizen take back the crown? Possibly. While a few will disagree with me, they sent their best possible roster to CPL, which wasn't due to them knowing this was their best roster, but due to the other (louder) members (who believe they're better) not being able to make it out to Dallas.
Kaizen has been neglecting practice, and while they've bootcamped before the event, I don't think it'll be nearly enough, not when you're faced with the likes of xtreme and SK.
Weakest: Pen
Strongest: Tex
Tex is, by far, the best TDM player in Kaizen's arsenal. Without him, Kaizen always seems to fall apart. He might lack the aim to play at the top, but his smart play and strong TDM instinct will help him pull through and, hopefully, guide his team.
Pen, on the other hand, would normally be one of their stronger players. However, I'm unsure as to how active he's been, and coupled with a relatively inactive team, that's not always a good bet.
As I said, however, I do feel that, on paper, this is the best Team Kaizen we'll see. Let's hope they prove me right.
Predicted Finish: Top 8
Xtreme
roach
Lauke
2aU
R0X
The most promising team to come out of Europe to participate in this year's CPL is most definitely xtreme. They're sitting pretty at 6 victories (including one over SK) and no losses on the ESL rankings, and although they havn't actually won tournaments (to my knowledge), they're certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Whereas Kaizen's team, on paper, is the strongest they could bring, xtreme's team is the strongest anyone could bring. These guys all have a lot of tournament experience, most of which is on LAN, they've got world-class players all around and, most importantly, this means they're very likely to remain calm in even the most dire situations.
I'm expecting great things from these guys, and I sincerely hope they can pull through and show the dominance I know they can achieve.
Weakest: R0X
Strongest: Lauke
Lauke is their strongest player for the same reasons as GitzZz is SK's. Large LAN tournament experience. He will remain calm and he will be able to hit those all-important shots when it matters.
R0X, on the flipside, is also one of their strongest players. So why is he the weakest here? Simple! Last year, great things were expected from R0X due to his various online successes, but when it came to LAN, he couldn't pull through. Let us hope, then, that this issue has been resolved and that his LAN play will be even stronger than his online play.
Predicted Finish: Top 3
MouseSports
Stranger
Zeta
Demonaz
THoR
Falcon
(Please contact me if you know the players present at CPL!)
You'll have to forgive my lack of knowledge about mouz, but other than the fact that they're doing relatively well on ESL, having only lost to SK (they've not yet played xtreme), there isn't much to go on.
I do remember these players and I know mouz is a greatly feared team (their seed confirms it), but beyond that, I've got nothing to go on. However, their loss to SK seems to indicate that they're not quite at the top of their game. Perhaps we'll see them shine here, though.
Weakest: Kingpin
Strongest: THoR
Predicted Finish: Top 5
mortal Teamwork
Crush
Sleizer
Povi
Joe
mTw, since they didn't manage to get into the ESL and, worst still, arn't active in any UT2K4 league that I know of, are even harder to determine. Therefore, I shall refrain from making any predictions on their account, even though I'm quite sure they'll perform well.
Ocrana
schnig
rep0r
g1bonn
pakman
I know absolutely nothing about Ocrana other than their strong reputation. From their ESL scores, they don't look as strong as the majority of the other teams mentionned on this list.
The Teams You Don't Know
Note: I won't go too in-depth for these teams, as they won't have a big enough impact on the eventual outcome.
Continuance
Bor Strongest
med
tarsis
method
cevx Weakest
lane
North America's most active clan is looking here to prove they're here for business and that they have to talent to make it to the top. Unfortunately, they don't. Continuance is a talented team, they're just not at that level yet. The interesting thing here will be seeing whether or not they improve over the course of the tournament and how close they play other, stronger teams.
Predicted Finish: Top 12
Team AMD Gamer
Stevo Strongest
Virus
Shaggy
Quasar Weakest
As is often the case with British teams, TAG hovers near the top, never quite breaking in. They're a team not to be underestimated, of course, but much like Continuance, they won't be able to make a big enough impact to drastically alter the course of the tournament. I'd personally love to see a match between these two underdogs.
Predicted Finish: Top 12
I've chosen not to cover the other teams, in part because I don't think it matters, but mostly because I don't know nearly enough about them to make accurate predictions. Hopefully these will satisfy your thirst.
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