Alongside fellow manager Kim, Kimmo "Sauna" Vähä-Ruohola is the brains behind the well respected Finnish multigaming community Insignia Cadre. After negative-image's well publicised move to the organisation, I decided to have a short chat with the man behind the venture, and discuss the mechanics of the move.

Following a spate of recent skintness, I instead directed my time to interviewing a character I think most are more than aware of by now, the unforgettable shoutcaster experience that is Mashed. We did it the old fashioned way: the proper way. Read on xfirefans.

Arriving fashionably late at the TGS Centre, Rotterdam on the opening day, Jeroen "taLa" De Ridder casually introduces himself with a eager grin and a cheeky Belgian accent, much to the delight of all his fans in the shape of Fusen and raza. He appears indifferent to the throng of activity which includes idle busy setting up their computers and Adacore being drafted in as a last-minute match supervisor.

Here's something I've been savouring for a long while. This story goes beyond the time I became inactive, and has only reared its head thanks to a certain owner of this website causing me to think in things esports again. Before I bore you with a pointless introduction, I mean to state that I wish to talk about online content, and specifically those who write it.

Now we're well and truely in the business end of the CDC, we've had time to gauge the strengths, weaknesses and form of the teams who believe they have what it takes to win this lan. But just how well are each of these teams playing?

Any team that has just lost the first round of the winners bracket is bound to be affected. Not according to xfire favourite humM3L. Speaking straight after their defeat to TLR, humM3L was full of positivity. "No, I really don't care. Come on, its TLR, theres no shame in losing to them". In fact, he revealed how his GMPO team has played TLR before in pracs, and drawn quite a few of these games. "Next time it could be completely different.

In terms of the CDC series, you will struggle to find a more seasoned attendee than Arachon. This friendly and helpful character has been a part of past Crossfire events in both playing and adminning roles, most notably including his part in the CDC2 team ALIS. This situation puts him a unique position of being able to judge events from both sides of the fence, and understand the needs of both players and spectators.

SRP have arrived in Enschede backed by legions of fans and expectation resting upon their shoulders. Certainly blame is quick to flow whenever the performances do not meet demand, or signs of weakness emerge. But in truth, times have moved on from the superteams of old, and we must not expect the famous names that glitter the SRP team to illuminate the scene in the same way.

Three games, three wins. Thats the sort of form that gets you noticed, and n1ce have certainly proved they are no pushovers so far this friday. Despite this impressive start however, the mood in the camp remains distinctly calm, and certainly the team is not getting carried away. Nevertheless, they can afford to be pleased with themselves.