It may be early afternoon on Saturday in Enschede, but already we're gaining a better idea of which teams are looking likely to go all the way and win the big bucks in the CPC. Whilst some teams have struggled to aclimatise to the heights of a LAN environment, others have prospered regardless of previous experiences. Let's have a look at who is in line to come away with the prizes this weekend.
In Call of Duty, the tournament is still at this stage, wide open. Pre-tournament underdogs
eSuba will be brimming with confidence. Having destroyed 
Serious Gaming, the Czechs have now disposed with on-paper, the group's best team, and now only require a win against EDiT.benQ or 
oXid to progress, a task which seems palatable. Serious, who have pulled out the finger to win their remaining games, are through, but their loss to eSuba will have sent out a clear message to the rest of the teams in the competition that they aren't invulnerable to the mortal, critical in a game where confidence can so often be the deciding factor. Depending on eSuba and the events in Group B, Serious look likely to face either 
logitech or 
Dignitas. Banana skin? Think more massive tar trap.
dSLASH adocom must be currently brimming with confidence. Before their first game they had witnessed Dignitas lose narrowly 11:13 to Logitech, their next opponents. If the Germans could somehow engineer a win against the Fins, surely a later game against Dignitas would runs its course to victory as well. What none of us expected was the sheer veracity that dLASH imposed upon Logitech. Yet from their winning position, the Finnish side clawed back the game inch by inch, to end in a fair draw of 12-12. Adocom can see the win now against dignitas forming. But can the i30 champions recover their form to come through this tough patch? The answer is of course they can, and in Mick, mint, and trainee they have definate matchwinners. But their fortune lies in their own hands now. Forget about ephix, the Brits know another loss will seal their fate and send them crashing out of the tournament, an unthinkable prospect. I'd back dignitas to recover. Yes they may be facing a side who is on par with the team which just beat them. Yes they're under pressure. But now is the time for the men to stand up and show the competition just what they're capable of.
Update: dignitas have just taken the game against adocom 13:4, and shown they have no desire to leave just yet. This will leave ephix to play adocom for the wooden spoon, and place Dignitas (2nd) and Logitech (1st) in the winner's bracket 1st round. This will have done wonders for the British team's confidence. But look who they have to play -
TeK-9. Is an upset on the cards? It'd have to be a pretty massive one.
Elsewhere, with dropouts leaving just 3 teams in Group C, the outcome wasrather predicable, with TeK-9 already having picked up the win over 
Copenhagen eSports. However the Danes responded to post a victory over Rubber Duckies, who are now out of the CPC. TeK can look forward to their bracket games with confidence, but Copenhagen need to start producing some better form if their weekend is to result in anything. A combined total of 22 rounds won to 21 lost in the group stage tells you all you need to know. They may have beaten the ducks, but in truth there is some far stronger opposition at this LAN than the Dutch, and one worries that Copenhagen are only just around the corner from a crippling blow. Don't forget there is always the safety of the loser's bracket, but no team should be thinking about that scenario if they have realisic ambitions.
Who Tek-9 will play is still wide open. One team that looks certain not to meet them is H2K, having flopped quite noticably already to Reason and Speedlink. A tough group? Of course you can use that excuse, but H2K will surely not have turned up this weekend to make up the numbers. Reason's final position is almost impossible to predict. This is because of a terrible defeat to inFlux, which even the most optimistic Dutch fan would have struggled to predict. Reason now have to play Speedlink, a game they will certainly not get an easy ride on. Speedlink were early tournament favourites, and will be doing no favours to the i30 runners-up. Reason will have to hope that inFlux do not make a habit of winning and that their pre-LAN predictions ring true; their game against H2K will surely tell us Reason's fate. If inFlux win, Reason are in big trouble. inFlux lose, and Reason are handed a lifeline with which to rescue their tournament - all this preventable had they not capitulated against the Dutch. I would say luckily for Reason, inFlux might just turn out to be one-trick-ponies. Speedlink to win their games, and inFlux to slip up against H2K. Reason (fortuitously) 2nd.
Keep with CoD2 - its proving to be quite a tournament.
Enemy Territory to follow.
In Call of Duty, the tournament is still at this stage, wide open. Pre-tournament underdogs
eSuba will be brimming with confidence. Having destroyed Serious Gaming, the Czechs have now disposed with on-paper, the group's best team, and now only require a win against EDiT.benQ or oXid to progress, a task which seems palatable. Serious, who have pulled out the finger to win their remaining games, are through, but their loss to eSuba will have sent out a clear message to the rest of the teams in the competition that they aren't invulnerable to the mortal, critical in a game where confidence can so often be the deciding factor. Depending on eSuba and the events in Group B, Serious look likely to face either logitech or Dignitas. Banana skin? Think more massive tar trap. dSLASH adocom must be currently brimming with confidence. Before their first game they had witnessed Dignitas lose narrowly 11:13 to Logitech, their next opponents. If the Germans could somehow engineer a win against the Fins, surely a later game against Dignitas would runs its course to victory as well. What none of us expected was the sheer veracity that dLASH imposed upon Logitech. Yet from their winning position, the Finnish side clawed back the game inch by inch, to end in a fair draw of 12-12. Adocom can see the win now against dignitas forming. But can the i30 champions recover their form to come through this tough patch? The answer is of course they can, and in Mick, mint, and trainee they have definate matchwinners. But their fortune lies in their own hands now. Forget about ephix, the Brits know another loss will seal their fate and send them crashing out of the tournament, an unthinkable prospect. I'd back dignitas to recover. Yes they may be facing a side who is on par with the team which just beat them. Yes they're under pressure. But now is the time for the men to stand up and show the competition just what they're capable of.Update: dignitas have just taken the game against adocom 13:4, and shown they have no desire to leave just yet. This will leave ephix to play adocom for the wooden spoon, and place Dignitas (2nd) and Logitech (1st) in the winner's bracket 1st round. This will have done wonders for the British team's confidence. But look who they have to play -
TeK-9. Is an upset on the cards? It'd have to be a pretty massive one.Elsewhere, with dropouts leaving just 3 teams in Group C, the outcome wasrather predicable, with
TeK-9 already having picked up the win over Copenhagen eSports. However the Danes responded to post a victory over Rubber Duckies, who are now out of the CPC. TeK can look forward to their bracket games with confidence, but Copenhagen need to start producing some better form if their weekend is to result in anything. A combined total of 22 rounds won to 21 lost in the group stage tells you all you need to know. They may have beaten the ducks, but in truth there is some far stronger opposition at this LAN than the Dutch, and one worries that Copenhagen are only just around the corner from a crippling blow. Don't forget there is always the safety of the loser's bracket, but no team should be thinking about that scenario if they have realisic ambitions.Who Tek-9 will play is still wide open. One team that looks certain not to meet them is
H2K, having flopped quite noticably already to Reason and Speedlink. A tough group? Of course you can use that excuse, but H2K will surely not have turned up this weekend to make up the numbers. Reason's final position is almost impossible to predict. This is because of a terrible defeat to inFlux, which even the most optimistic Dutch fan would have struggled to predict. Reason now have to play Speedlink, a game they will certainly not get an easy ride on. Speedlink were early tournament favourites, and will be doing no favours to the i30 runners-up. Reason will have to hope that inFlux do not make a habit of winning and that their pre-LAN predictions ring true; their game against H2K will surely tell us Reason's fate. If inFlux win, Reason are in big trouble. inFlux lose, and Reason are handed a lifeline with which to rescue their tournament - all this preventable had they not capitulated against the Dutch. I would say luckily for Reason, inFlux might just turn out to be one-trick-ponies. Speedlink to win their games, and inFlux to slip up against H2K. Reason (fortuitously) 2nd. Keep with CoD2 - its proving to be quite a tournament.
Enemy Territory to follow.
Fuck yeah.