The following piece is largely satirical, and should not be taken literally. A lot of the opinions expressed are to be taken very lightly, and do not reflect that of Cadred.org

10. Not all of the French are onliners.

Okay, so the French are generally considered the new Germans in European CS:Source. With more cheat accusations than there are teams that have been folded by Pez, the French have a very questionable reputation. However, WebOne managed to go against the grain earlier this year, beating fnatic to win Digitalsace, as well as proving to the world that there's a little bit of credibility in their somewhere, no matter how minute. Their 1.6 counterparts emuLate have done the same, with a couple of impressive performances this year, and French eSports is finally gaining some credibility on an international scale. One can only hope that the French players aspiring to be there one day will have the sense to replicate this, and gain their skill without the help of dll's.

9. You don't have to be amazing at 1.6 to convert well to CSS.

Earlier this month Birmingham Salvo showed everyone that you can be incredibly average at one game, but still perform in another. Having never really challenged any international teams in 1.6, they managed to return from LA with a lossless record, despite AdY's best efforts (Just a joke, AdY played fine, he was just the least noticeable player for Salvo). RattleSnK really stepped up to the challenge, and showed us all that the UK don't have to constantly embarass themselves at every opportunity.

8. Tom Chenery isn't awful anymore.

Okay Tom, you know I love you, but you used to suck. There's no glamorous way to say it, or any way I can make it sound nicer. Pretty much every old school UK player has come back to the scene recently, because they saw that "even url can be a professional these days". Now, this sounds like I'm just ripping into the guy for this whole point, but as fun as that could be, this is actually a compliment (no matter how excessively long winded it may be). In LA, Tom really stepped up his game under the pressure, and was by far the strongest player in London Mint. Consistently top fragging, despite playing a lot of the hardest positions, he was one of their most redeeming features in their weaker matches. We salute you Thomas.

7. Fetish is an awesome player.

When Ritch left Reason, people thought it would be the end of them. Despite the huge amounts of talent in the rest of the team, Ritch is an incredible player, and there was a lot of question into whether they would be able to perform as well without him. In comes Fetish. With approximately 2 weeks of preparation before i32, he had an amazing tournament and filled the gap perfectly. Of course, people will say "Everyone knew he was good before, from Roskilde". While this is true to some extent, his play with Reason has (in my eyes) established him as a great player, rather than a good one, despite holding the same position on train every single round of every game in his career.

6. Magnetik should have kept Hellblinde.

As you all know, the Swedish team EYEballers were 1.6 converts who put a team together for CGS. They quickly established themselves in the upper echelons of European CS:Source, led by the omniscient Red, but very much fuelled by Hellblinde, one of their biggest fraggers and an incredibly smart player. Despite a disappointing performance at TeX, they received a lot of respect from all the top players, and were considered a very good team. A month or so after TeX came a major announcement from their camp - A 2 player swap, removing Hellblinde and Giftig, and replacing them with Vizzion and HaZ. Up until CGS, this team had no chance to prove themselves, and were considered a well guarded secret in Europe, training almost exclusively with Dignitas (now Salvo) in the run-up. At the combine they were truly explosive, playing some of the best CS:Source the world has seen, and demolishing all their opposition. However, the yellow brick road ended almost before it began, with a very disappointing performance at the world finals, and a worryingly short trip to the other side of the globe. Now I'm not trying to place blame on anyone in particular, but I blame Sparkle. Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh, but he really wasn't up to the level of his teammates (Red for example played fantastically), and it really made me think how much they missed Hellblinde.

5. Allianz should be renamed Olandqvist.

Now try and say that 5 times fast. It seems a bit unnecesary to pick on two Swedish teams in a row, but they seem to go hand in hand these days. Another opinion formed on their play in the world finals, but Olander and nordQvist really were insane for their team in LA. Firstly, Olander. The core of the team. The backbone. He really showed what an incredible leader he is, as well as providing huge frags as well. David, we salute you. Secondly there was nordQvist, who consistently got the opening frags on both sides, often picking up 2 or 3 a round. He played fantastically under the pressure, and never seemed to fumble. Now this isn't to say the rest of the team played bad. Fifflaren and majk played fine, and made a lot of important rounds for Allianz. However, Ted... Ted, Ted, Ted... What can I say Ted? You know it, I know it, and my Dad knows it after watching it on Sky, you had an awful tournament. I don't know if the pressure got to you, or it was just an off...month, but I can't imagine there will be little asian kids queuing up to buy "hnt" shirts for a while.

4. MYM could be the best in the world... if they played.

Now I have to apologise to the MYM guys, because I have not been their biggest fan in the past. Not because of their skill, that's undeniable. Not because they're bad guys, they're all friendly enough. The reason I haven't been fully behind MYM in the past is because they're completely wasting it! If we're looking at raw skill, and ignoring all the preparation and practice teams put in, MYM are untouchable. It may seem a bold statement, but I believe this fully - If they practiced, they would be the best in the world. Easily. However, they just don't seem to care. They have skill oozing out of their every pore, but they never practice, and it shows in their play. Despite pulling off some of the most incredible frags anyone has witnessed in CS:Source, they lose games due to a severe lack of preparation. Consider this one a plea. Everyone saw how much the Americans trashed us in LA, and if there was one team to change this, it would be MYM. Show the world what you can do.

3. The Germans have corrected their wicked ways.

Alttab Attax, Alternate Attab, cheating German bastards, whatever you want to call them, Alternate Attax had a very negative reputation a while back. With questionable offences at two LANs in the past, Attax (and Head in particular) were looked down on by many people in the scene. However, they have gone Mary Poppins on us, and come out (apparently) squeaky clean, with an impressive LAN win at Pro-LAN this Autumn. This bodes well for German CS:Source as a whole. Even though the French have overtaken them as the worst people to PCW against, the Germans are following close behind,and when teams like Attax and egp do well at LAN, it puts a nice positive gloss on the whole scene, which will hopefully trickle down to the newer players.

2. The UK scene will never learn.

We're notorious for it. Despite the most lucrative opportunities being thrown our way all the time, we can't seem to stick together. Ritch, pez, and numerous others constantly get ripped into for this, but it's true of so many people in the scene. The grass is always greener on the other side in the UK, and if a team manages to last 3 months then they're considered veterans. One of the main problems is how volatile a lot of the players are, and how little they seem to learn from the past. I hate to pick on them because I have a lot of love for all the players who've gone through this organisation, but pretty much every incarnation of Zboard has fitted this mould perfectly. Zboard is always filled with amazing players who have nothing but contempt for each other. No matter how much you try and make it work, if you don't like your team, and you think they're shit, it is NEVER going to work. Zboard have shown us this time and time again, H2K recently showed us this, and as much as I hate to say it, Mint are showing us this as well. Teams need to built from a core group of friendship, and developed and nurtured into something more. You don't pick 50 players out of a hat, throw them in a pit and put the last 5 standing in a team together. We need more teams like Salvo, NA, Ebuyer (well, an incarnation of Ebuyer that practiced...), and just teams who actually like each other. Games are meant to be fun, and UK players need to think about that before they commit to playing together.

1. fnatic are not untouchable.

A year ago this statement would have seemed shocking. fnatic really are the team for everyone to look up to. Through thick and thin these guys have stuck together, put in the hard work, and reaped the benefits that were sent their way. However, the last 6 months have been difficult for them. Having been at the butt of one of the most questionable decisions in eSports history, they have had a lot to adjust to, and have had to suffer from patches of the instability theye managed to avoid in the past. Suffering from a few questionable LAN results recently, they haven't seemed the ultimate killing machines they once were. However, they are still one of the best teams in Europe, and their resilience in the face of trouble has proven (in my eyes) that they will be back to their former selves in the near future.