TeK-9 head to their own event as favourites for the tournament, but will have to be on their guard with many of Europes finest in attendance. The rollercoaster of form that both the side and European Call of Duty goes through on a regular basis offer a stern warning for any team gunning for glory in Antwerp this weekend.
Fresh from WSVG glory the side were put through their paces in a thrilling game against Defusekids in the Clanbase Eurocup playoff stages. There has been no respite for the side, despite some players vacations. They head to Enschede in a little over a month from now with a four way struggle for the Clanbase Eurocup about to unfold. They side could set an unprecedented record of wins should they overcome the a field of teams who right now, shouldn’t pose them a threat. A potential win is on the cards at WSVG, Eurocup and this weekends OOF with Wonderbase also in the offing. There has never been a better time for any team to hit form, the question is whether its sustainable.
One might have looked at Serious Gaming as the side to clean sweep the summer. They were the first team to really start setting a pace that others couldn’t maintain in Call of Duty and after CPC2 it appeared that their summer may be golden! However, it wasn’t to be and the side will again be missing from a major tournament, meaning that TeK-9 are again outright favourites for the tournament.
Favourites they may be, but there is some real quality in Antwerp, and some of them have a real point to prove. For Speedlink and Dignitas there is an air of underachieving that cannot be ignored, these two sides legacy dates back to Ocrana and PCGamer yet it’s a long time since those were names that ruled the roost and the same can be said for these two names. Dignitas without a major win since September, and Speedlink since OOF1 the two names that carry fear, don’t necessarily carry the weight to backup the reputation and a poor showing at WSVG didn’t help either of them. For Speedlink there was a glimmer of hope from their performance in Dallas, but for Dignitas it was expensive and not really the kind of trip they wanted.
Benelux hopefuls H2k and tempkids (formerly defusekids) are headed to Antwerp with a realistic chance of success. Both sides have gotten through tough times to build themselves a pedestal from which to climb. For the tempkids they were close but no cigar to a place in the Clanbase Eurocup finals, just one round separated them from and victory over TeK-9 online. The Belgian kids put up a valiant fight and raised eyebrows to their potential ability, and how far they’ve come since qualifying for the Eurocup.
For H2k they’ve too often been overhyped and have underperformed, now that the hype has died down they must view themselves as a team who could provide a real upset or two along the way. The Dutch have a roster with bags of talent in the line-up and if form is hit then they can deliver the goods to dislodge any of big name opponents, the doekoe joepoe combination has come to fruition in the past, can they relight their fire?
eSuba have seen their form take a dip since their 4th place in Enschede, however that of course is never helped by playing online. The side relish the LAN atmosphere and have kept up their activity since CPC2, they should buck the trend of their recent form and come up trumps once again to be there or there abouts at the end of the tournament.
As for the best of the rest, there are some really good teams attending that could throw a spanner into the works of the knockout stage. Reason, TLR and Infused should get through their groups and become really tricky opponents. Considering that one of Reason or TLR will finish second in their groups, they will then likely face TeK-9 if they win Group B. That eventuality could lead to a huge upset in just the first knockout round. Infused Gaming will be looking to quash all the rumours of their demise and the allegations that have plagued their success, lets assume they are all angels until proven otherwise and this Slovenian giant could descend onto the event and cause havoc. Impact Gaming have had a great online season recently, boosted by the lack of latency on LAN they should also prove to be another tough team to breakdown when they get out of the groups.
I for one am looking forward to seeing whether any of the bigger, older names who some may not expect a great deal from, can cause problems. Ocrana & HFD being the two that spring to mind.
All in all it should be an excellent tournament, the sensible money has to be on TeK-9 and if they don’t win, they should contemplate some form of suicide. The competitive field right now is not demonstrating the form to challenge them, however, form is there to be broken. There are plenty of teams with enough talent to challenge them, if they start playing well and performing to their reputations. Will they? Find out this weekend!
Fresh from WSVG glory the side were put through their paces in a thrilling game against Defusekids in the Clanbase Eurocup playoff stages. There has been no respite for the side, despite some players vacations. They head to Enschede in a little over a month from now with a four way struggle for the Clanbase Eurocup about to unfold. They side could set an unprecedented record of wins should they overcome the a field of teams who right now, shouldn’t pose them a threat. A potential win is on the cards at WSVG, Eurocup and this weekends OOF with Wonderbase also in the offing. There has never been a better time for any team to hit form, the question is whether its sustainable.
One might have looked at Serious Gaming as the side to clean sweep the summer. They were the first team to really start setting a pace that others couldn’t maintain in Call of Duty and after CPC2 it appeared that their summer may be golden! However, it wasn’t to be and the side will again be missing from a major tournament, meaning that TeK-9 are again outright favourites for the tournament.
Favourites they may be, but there is some real quality in Antwerp, and some of them have a real point to prove. For Speedlink and Dignitas there is an air of underachieving that cannot be ignored, these two sides legacy dates back to Ocrana and PCGamer yet it’s a long time since those were names that ruled the roost and the same can be said for these two names. Dignitas without a major win since September, and Speedlink since OOF1 the two names that carry fear, don’t necessarily carry the weight to backup the reputation and a poor showing at WSVG didn’t help either of them. For Speedlink there was a glimmer of hope from their performance in Dallas, but for Dignitas it was expensive and not really the kind of trip they wanted.
Benelux hopefuls H2k and tempkids (formerly defusekids) are headed to Antwerp with a realistic chance of success. Both sides have gotten through tough times to build themselves a pedestal from which to climb. For the tempkids they were close but no cigar to a place in the Clanbase Eurocup finals, just one round separated them from and victory over TeK-9 online. The Belgian kids put up a valiant fight and raised eyebrows to their potential ability, and how far they’ve come since qualifying for the Eurocup.
For H2k they’ve too often been overhyped and have underperformed, now that the hype has died down they must view themselves as a team who could provide a real upset or two along the way. The Dutch have a roster with bags of talent in the line-up and if form is hit then they can deliver the goods to dislodge any of big name opponents, the doekoe joepoe combination has come to fruition in the past, can they relight their fire?
eSuba have seen their form take a dip since their 4th place in Enschede, however that of course is never helped by playing online. The side relish the LAN atmosphere and have kept up their activity since CPC2, they should buck the trend of their recent form and come up trumps once again to be there or there abouts at the end of the tournament.
As for the best of the rest, there are some really good teams attending that could throw a spanner into the works of the knockout stage. Reason, TLR and Infused should get through their groups and become really tricky opponents. Considering that one of Reason or TLR will finish second in their groups, they will then likely face TeK-9 if they win Group B. That eventuality could lead to a huge upset in just the first knockout round. Infused Gaming will be looking to quash all the rumours of their demise and the allegations that have plagued their success, lets assume they are all angels until proven otherwise and this Slovenian giant could descend onto the event and cause havoc. Impact Gaming have had a great online season recently, boosted by the lack of latency on LAN they should also prove to be another tough team to breakdown when they get out of the groups.
I for one am looking forward to seeing whether any of the bigger, older names who some may not expect a great deal from, can cause problems. Ocrana & HFD being the two that spring to mind.
All in all it should be an excellent tournament, the sensible money has to be on TeK-9 and if they don’t win, they should contemplate some form of suicide. The competitive field right now is not demonstrating the form to challenge them, however, form is there to be broken. There are plenty of teams with enough talent to challenge them, if they start playing well and performing to their reputations. Will they? Find out this weekend!
http://crossfire.nu/?x=column&mode=item&id=232
1) when is it?
2) games will be casted @ stream?
i don't know if there will be any games broudcasted, tosspot was going to attend with itg, but he moved to quadv so it's rather unclear