UKTerrorist

Intel Masters Preview

Clan ONE

Sponsors: Xtreme-it, 4u-servers

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: joint 5th (joint 1st UK Team)
WCG UK Qualifiers: 2nd
GDOC: 2nd
CPL Summer UK Qualifiers: 3rd
Primary Strike 2002: N/A

Line-up: Keiju, Righteous, DArtagnan, Barely-Legal, KhAoS, Strikes

For ONE I'm going to examine each player individually:

Keiju, He's made a name for himself in the Team-UK line-up, performing well individually despite generally poor results for the team. If it wasn't for the new arrivals it's more than likely he'd be the star player, however despite his skills (which probably are as good as any of the other players on the team), he's been eclipsed by some of the more famous names in UK CS in recent times.

Righteous: I saw Righteous at WCG-UK qualifiers and he was awesome, nothing but skill. He was constantly ripping apart Infinity-eSports on 'that' train game and was nearly as impressive on Nuke, a class player who definitely would've been in my Team-UK line-up. However with only 2 players being allowed it's understood how he wasn't included.

Barely-Legal: I first heard of Barely-Legal on the old PCGamer forums, we both used to play on the netgames-uk PCG servers. He was fairly good in these days, I remember when we tried to organise a server vs. server games he was mentioned as the top player on those servers. I didn't hear of him again until around Christmas when I started organising games for proZac, he'd turned up in ClanONE who weren't really known at that time. Things went quiet again until CPL Summer Quals, when he literally burst onto the scene. Many believed he was easily a match for anyone in i-es, while I don't rate him quite that highly he is a player of great skill and brings a lot to the team.

Strikes: I must admit I know very little about Strikes. He was meant to be pushed out of the ClanONE team when Greg joined from Infinity-eSports, but according to Tom he's forced his way back into a rotating 6-man line-up which makes me think very highly of him, ‘cos this is surely one of the strongest teams ever in the UK.

KhAoS: Tom, lets face it, he's been in every clan ever except i-es. He's been in most UK teams, french teams, UK/dutch teams, hell he was even been in my ex-clan R@GE. As much as people like to criticise the guy for his clan hopping he's been good enough to be in all those clans. Recently he's stopped the babyish bitching that made people dislike him and many people are happy to have him as part of the UK CS community. Now living with Barely-Legal he's in a stable clan that are developing fast. He also made the recent UK-Team.

DArtagnan: I've spent a lot of time with Greg, been to many LANs with him while he was with Infinity-eSports, what's always struck me no matter how arrogant people claim he is, is his dedication to the game. There's no doubt that he wants to be one of the best in the UK and he probably is. However will he put his whole heart into a LAN that he's at odds with. His recent column on this site might not have been his best idea yet, but he is a very skilled player, and good in a team as well. He also knows i-es' tactics which could be a major plus for the side.

Player to look out for: Very differing opinions here, I'd like to go for Righteous though, so many people overlook him, but on form he's 100% lethal and rarely appears nervous or hesitant.

Does Not Compute

Sponsors: Does Not Compute Gaming Cafe, Gamire, e-planet servers

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: 6th - 7th
WCG UK Qualifiers: N/A
GDOC: N/A
CPL Summer UK Qualifiers: 2nd
Primary Strike 2002: 1st

Line-up: Ajam, KaM, Stinky, Timo, Verifyor, Vertakill

Formerly =DnC=, Does Not Compute were founded in the third week of January 2001 by Malevolence and Telgere. In June 2001 they became .dNC with Verifyor taking the helm. Verifyor recruited the best players in the Irish scene, these included Stinky, Vertakill, Sev and the recently retired Timo, Snaggle and Quozl. .dNC started off well reaching 1st in CB UK with ease. A few months later they attended the CPL london where they memorably fielded 2 teams. The A team didn't do so well losing to mTw and GG in a very tough group, but the B team (which included Tickle, Stinky, Malevolence and 2 .SoE. players: a1ex and telegere) exceeded all expectations beating the likes of Nocturne and m19.

After this dNC went a bit quiet for a while and many forgot about them, but at Primary Strike 2002 they made their mark on the UK CS community by winning the competition with a close victory over Uninspired 25 - 23 in freezing conditions.

Since then they have attended two UK LANs, both of them being CPL Qualifiers. In the summer they finished 2nd (barely) to i-es, and winter, they were ill-prepared and failed to live up to the form we've come to expect from them. Of all the teams that really have something to prove at Intel Masters, dNC. will be looking to restore some of the pride that they lost when they were beaten by an on-form Uninspired team at the latter event.

The question remains whether they can have recovered from their team changes following the departure of Muzzle and Gideon. They've recruited replacements, but with a1ex recently going inactive will they be prepared enough for this event?

Player to look out for: Ajam - I must admit to not having watched dNC. play that often, but when I have seen them play Ajam is usually pretty decent, though don't flame me 'cos I'm really not sure on this one, perhaps timo?

Erm:cs

Sponsors: Fastvision, Everglide, Cybercuts, Virtual Realm - Bath

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: 6th - 7th
WCG UK Qualifiers: 6th - 7th
GDOC: 5th - 8th
CPL Summer UK Qualifiers: 5th - 6th
Primary Strike 2002: N/A

Line-up: Teppum, Bom, Waz, Monst, Blackey

I was going to write up a detailed report of erm's history, but to put it in Teppum's own words:

errr...I left vets started erm, ppl joined ppl left, then we ended up here.

Looking at their line-up, Teppum's attended every LAN event this year, lots of experience on his shoulders and plenty of knowledge. Bom has emerged significantly from WCG and the recent CPL Qualifiers. He's made the UK-Team squad and has been dominant online as well as offline especially with Cybercuts1.

As for erm's chances, I'd say their time at the Virtual Realm Bath centre will have done a lot to improve their teamwork and most likely their aim. Erm always seem to be one of these teams who finish just off the money or major recognisable placings at LAN events. This time it could be their chance to make their mark on a major tournament.

Player to look out for: Bom - 8 months ago, no-one knew anything about him, now this guy is well up there with m0rph as an ever-improving player and definitly someone to watch out for in this tournament and in the community.

Illuminati

Sponsors: e-planet servers

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: 9th - 12th
WCG UK Qualifiers: N/A
GDOC: DQed/Left
CPL Summer UK Qualifiers: N/A
Primary Strike 2002: N/A

Line-up: smiffeh, benji, tmc, dark0r, moozo

Illuminati were formed in February by Xs (now ui). Since then there have been a lot of member changes and they've attended the GDOC and CPL Qualifiers. The new team was formed two weeks before CPL qualifiers after Xs and SiN joined Uninspired.

It's difficult to see exactly why Illu were invited this event, not really criticism of them, but looking at their LAN results I've yet to see what justifies their appearance over say Twisted:Reality, Disturbed or one of the top VGA teams. But they're at the event, so what can we say about them. They've been fairly successful online, topping the Clanbase UK ladder for a while and doing okay in other competitions.

Their disqualification at the GDOC event is well known, no point going back over it now. Hopefully they'll be able to handle decisions going against them this time and this time justify their invitation to the event.

Player to look out for: Dark0r - adapted well to the way illu now play with the new team, however smiffeh is the only original illu player.

Infinity-eSports

Sponsors: AMD, Gainward, Everglide, Cyberweb - Slough, the IT-Centre - Northampton

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: N/A
WCG UK Qualifiers: 1st
GDOC: 1st
CPL UK Qualifiers: 1st
Primary Strike 2002: 5th - 8th

Line-up: Doug Wright, Marc Mangiacapra, Pieter Bas Kwak, Dan Lucking, Stuart Harriman, Harvey 'Xenon' Migotti

Infinity-eSports, are probably the team most familiar to me. They have been around in some form or another for over 3 years and have won more UK LAN events and prize money than any other gaming team in the UK... ever!

Looking at this event, Infinity-eSports have just come back from WCG, Korea in which they were impressive and finished 5th. In the UK they've been dominating the LAN scene since the q-tec event of mid 2000. However with the recent loss of Greg EDwards to rivals ONE and the recruiting of former CPL World Champ Harvey 'Xenon' Migotti, one has to wonder how this has affected their play.

I would say that if anyone had a chance to beat Infinity-eSports then this is it, they're slightly out of practice because of the other commitments the team presently has, however they will no doubt go into the event as favourites and are still my pick to win.

Player to look out for: Marc Mangiacapra - Mr. Consistent...consistent headshots...
2nd Player to look out for: Harvey 'Xenon' Migotta - Has anyone seen this world champ in action since he moved to the UK?

North and South

Sponsors: Choosehosting

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: N/A
WCG UK Qualifiers: DNQ
GDOC: 5th
CPL Summer UK Qualifiers: N/A
Primary Strike 2002: 9th - 16th

Line-up: Scara, Kron, Bj, Abs, Hav

n@s have been going as a clan in one form or other since 1999. Most of their members come from old skool legends =BmE=, however they do have the qualities of Krondor from LR and Hav0rs from SCEE to spice up their line-up. In their time together they've attended many LANs.

Looking at North and South's performance in the past year it would be very easy to dismiss them as possible contenders for the £5,000 grand prize. Sadly that is exactly what I'm about to do. I think coming into this event not only will they lack the skills individually but as a team I can't see who else they'll be able to match up to.

I'm never someone to rule a team out completely, and I have no doubt that they have the ability to give some of the other contenders the jitters. I was standing behind Infinity-eSports as n@s gave them their hardest game at the Games Domain Online
Championship at which they finished 5th.

However, unless they can produce that sort of form at every game in this tournament then they'll struggle to make it out of their group by defeating either ClanONE or Does Not Compute.

Player to look out for: Abs - ex-4k, plenty of LAN experience on these ageing 25 year old shoulders, also a recent father of two twins, congrats :)

Online Multiplay Gaming - OMG!

Sponsors: Everglide, LazerLinez, e-planet servers

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: N/A
WCG UK Qualifiers: 3rd
GDOC: joint 3rd
CPL UK Qualifiers: N/A
Primary Strike 2002: N/A

Line-up: Craig, m0rph, Sarge, Vip, Gideon and Landshark

#omg! were born after the demise of -CSA-. Dave (dsx) started the team and recruited several unclanned players in the shape of KaM,fly,Sarge,Gimp,Stan and skitzo with a main emphasis on fun. omg! got into GDOC online championship and pretty much defaulted through the group stages, around this time the old #omg! started to break up, climaxing with dsx,fly and kam leaving the team meaning everyone else did not wish to carry on.

The players split and for around 3-4 weeks were in various teams but none found a safe home, then one day m0rph (ex- UKLA) decided to start omg! again and re-structure a team. Munk (LCA) was brought in to help run things, KaM came back into the fold, Sarge was re-asked to join and Craig (UKLA) was also added to the team. Also the addition of a manager ven0 helped to kick start things once more in the omg! camp.

The squad was growing but still needed more activity, enter Baal + Brorjace (back from the dead). They started playing right away, re-instating themselves into the GDOC league in which they progressed through the online qualifiers to make it to the LAN final, all expenses paid courtesy of BT (nice one BT, GDOC #2 anyone) with the LAN team of m0rph, munk, Sarge, Craig and Brorjace. They finished third, somewhat disappointed but still had a great time.

OMG! might be a good outside bet for the tournament, their recent LAN form isn't bad, 3rd place at two events this side of summer. However their current line-up haven’t been together for that long. Craig has plenty of LAN experience, m0rph is probably the player to look out for in the team, an extremely skilled player who's in the current UK national CS team, Sarge is rated very highly in some circles (england.cs) and has plenty of experience after joining OMG! when LR folded. Vip is a fairly recent addition but could be a bit of an X-factor in the team, while Gideon has knowledge of dNC and -CSA-'s teamwork and tactics which could prove useful.

I would give omg! an outsiders chance, but I feel something will be lacking when they take on the on-form teams and those who could be better prepared.

Player to look out for: m0rph - Improves every time I see him play, a class player, and worthy of his Team-UK spot.

Uninspired

Sponsors: Clearhost, Everglide

CPL Winter UK Qualifiers: joint 5th (joint best UK team)
WCG UK Qualifiers: 4th
GDOC: N/A
CPL UK Qualifiers: N/A
Primary Strike 2002: 2nd

(likely line-up) Puneet, Raider, Messiah, Sin, Toomy, Xs

Ahh Uninspired, very few people had heard of Uninspired until they made their mark at The Playing Fields in the 2001 Winter CPL Qualifiers. Four months later they were runners up at Primary Strike 2002 just losing to Does Not Compute in the final 25 - 23. Shortly after, for unknown reasons, they folded and most of their team got jumbled around with Nocturne for a while.

They seemed to reform again around WCG Qualifiers where they battled through the harsh mr 8 format on the Saturday into the finals and finished 4th.

Two months later at the UK CPL Qualifiers they produced the best performance of any UK team and finished 5th. A result that might not look that impressive on paper, but anyone who can win comfortably against dNC and can push GoodGame from France into overtime has my respect.

Looking at their line-up it's slightly different from the one that competed at the CPL qualifiers. Houd is unable to attend the event, and Raider thus steps up to take his place. Raider is a top class player so no worries there. Uninspired are also undoubtedly the on form team going into this event, with several people predicting them to eclipse both ONE and Infinity-eSports for the top prize. I feel their lack of a proper boot camp before the event could hamper them. Also when they begin to lose they can slide all the way. Anyone remember that WCG performance against ONE, going 11 - 1 up only to lose 12 - 0 in the second half. If they can keep it together then no doubt they'll be looking at a top 3 placing. Remember of course, they're the only UK team to beat i-es on a LAN this year.

Player to look out for: Messiah - Though most people might go for Toomy, if anyone else had seen Messiah's performance at CPL qualifiers they would agree it is a close call. If Messiah's on top form then him, though usually I'd say Toomy. We'll see.

Final Predictions

1st: Infinity-eSports (seeded 1st)
2nd: ClanONE (seeded 3rd)
3rd: Uninspired (not Seeded)
4th: Does Not Compute (seeded 2nd)

5th: Erm (not seeded)
5th: OMG! (seeded 4th)
5th: Illu (not seeded)
5th: North and South (not seeded)

The de_science map makes the whole tournament much more random than usual and we can only wonder how each game will turn out.

Games to look out for will be the Uninspired vs. Infinity-eSports game on Inferno and Does Not Compute vs. ClanONE on Dust2.

I wish all teams good luck in this tournament; hopefully it will be an exciting event.