Another few days and another preview, this ones a bit shorter than normal due to me not being able to reach the people I intended to, I'll release another version tommorrow, but I feel I'll make up for lack of quantity with quality.

This article again continues the slightly informal style of the last one, at least for the introductions. You can find part one here.

XciteUK

TiLs
JaFro
vpr
Callisto
Shivers

Xciteuk is one of top two best teams in the UK, no doubt about it. Of course when I say that I'm not including the CGS franchises. The very CGS franchises that four out of the five players competed their hearts out to be a part of, shivers being the exception to the rule. Unfortunately for them, but very fortunate for this interview, none of Xciteuk got drafted and this leaves them as they are now. A strong, multi-talented roster who can easily pose a threat to the best.

JaFro and TiLs come from ZBoard, despite the seemingly combustible lineup, and the eventual explosion, culminating in Fatal's strangulation and them not being drafted, these two loveable characters have stuck together. Both vpr and callisto made the transfer to CSS from 1.6 seemingly with CGS in mind, after a brief and unsucessful stay in TLR with TiLs, these two players had a short break before joining forces with Infused Gaming for the CGS combine, a good showing from these two players culminated in a win of $1,000 each. The move to Infused was never to be permenant and after CGS this left both of them and the players in ZBoard with new homes to seek. These four players seeking CGS fame had to put that on hold and recruit one more to make the team complete, they found Shivers. After a break from Source, mostly due to the three letters which makes more clans fold than anything else, no I don't mean Pez. I'm talking about WoW or World of Warcraft, which shivers has since stopped playing, and now is focusing fully on Source, coming from top teams such as r3-gaming, Shivers isn't short of experience.

Normally I wouldn't mention the manager, but when it's someone as charismatic is Dr. Gonzo it's hard not to. Despite being an awful room mate at CGS, he's hard not to love. He's been with TiLs now for a while now, while at CGS I got a real sense of Brokeback Mountain, just without the sexual relations.

Speaking of tils I caught up with him for a longer than usual pre-I32 interview.

Hi tils, this is xciteuk's first LAN together as a team, are you looking forward to it?

Yeah I can't wait, it's going to be great meeting all the guys again,spending time together , sharing manly stories and making waffles and possibity of making some teams taste some lan crumble. I CAN'T WAIT!

So how has the teams preparations been so far, we've yet to see you in any officials. How well has the team been playing and gelling?

We haven't yet had an official worth noting, weve had some great practice results so we know the talent and potential is there and obviously we are all great friends with that comes our chemistry so were hoping that will help us through our first lan together.

How is it playing for the first time with vpr, callisto and shivers?

It's not I've played with them all before I joined zboard with TLR after I was removed I said to the guys I really wanted to play with them again if I wasnt drafted into the CGS.

So what's the long term goal with this lineup, I guess it's for CGS, where does I32 fit in with the grand scheme of things?

All of us except from shivers were at the CGS were we all placed 2nd/3rd in London . myself and dave (jafro) with Zboard . jack (callisto) and simon (vpr) with infused gaming . So we've all come relatively close and had a small taste of what the CGS is like and would love to be part of it. So the team mainly is aiming for CGS but for now i32 is round the corner and would love to place well there

The lineup of attending teams is undoutably the strongest seen at an I-series, where do you see your lineup fitting into the final placings?

I think were seen as the underdogs and rightly so as we are a new team. We're not really afraid of any teams there. If anything im happy theres stronger teams showing up. We can't wait to show what were capable of :)

As the underdogs do you think the other teams will underestimate you?

I hope so!

How does this lineup compare in the ability to get results over the ZBoard lineup at CGS?

Obviously this is entirely my opinion but this lineup is much stronger than the zboard lineup . Zboard wasnt really a team . it was only ever together for CGS . This lineup is a real team . we are all great friends and actually want to play with eachother and not for just a sponser. This lineup will go so much further purely on the respect we have for one and other .

So coming back to CGS, you'll now be playing with the old MR15 format, how does this feel to you, and which do you honestly prefer?

i prefer CGS rules personally its faster paced and suits our style of play . i dont mind playing mr15 as its still the same game at the end of the day but just the pace is abit slower.

Of all the people in ZBoard, why did you and Jafro in particular choose to stay together?

me and jafro have been good friends for a while now and got to know eachother pretty well at our time living together in our appartment. when i decided to leave zboard i already have my 3 players i had told i would be playing with after the CGS and i only had 1 spot to fill in the team we had a long chat with eachother and decided jafro was the perfect guy to fill the spot

You've managed to take your manager and close friend Richard Lewis, also known as Dr, Gonzo with you to Xciteuk, how does Richard help in your role in Xciteuk?

As usual Rich is a great help and takes unneeded pressures away from the team. he is always chatting to us and keeping us updated with things going on . Rich these days is a very busy man but always has time for his "sweet little boys" . Ive always kept Rich close as he is a great friend ,manager and mentor.

So do you think you can see a chunk of the increased prizefund? What do you make of it?

would love to go home with some prizemoney and im really glad multiplay have finally took that step to add extra prizefund . as you can already see alot more of the top teams are turning up . i hope this encourages multiplay to keep this up in other events

You're being provided PC's by packard bell, how much does this help the team and how did this come around?

Helps the team immensly as we dont have to worry about gettin our computers to the event . I believe they are intel Quad Cores so should run source nicely so we shudnt have any hardware problems . The one and only Tony "Gom8z" Oldfield Pr manager for Zboard and Cadred.org sorted them out for us . Great guy really thankful for what hes done owe him a pint :D

This is the first time ZBoard and ben0 hasn't been at an I-series for a long time, do you think ben0's career is over?

I'm sure Ben will snap some team up to play with him after this event. Hes got many years left inside of him . plus he better not quit he owes me money

Rumors are floating around that you have been recently approached by Reason Gaming as a possible replacement for Ritch, can you confirm this?

rumours... terible things. my loyalties lie with xciteuk

A UK team hasn't won the I-series since I28, do you see the UK ever being able to take back it's crown? Which teams do you think have the best chance at I32.

Hmm hard to say i dont think either of the CGS team have been practicing much due to internet problems of late . And the other UK teams probobly not at the standard to compete with fnatic so i dont think the UK will take the crown . Next i-series i think it might be different

Which teams do you think will really surprise everyone?

i dont think there will be any major surprises . But we will have to see anything can happen at lan .

With Ritch now leaving Reason, do you see this as greatly jeopardizing their chances at the tournament? Having played with ritch what do you make of the whole situation?

I Dont think it _Greatly jeopardizes there chances , but its obviously gonna hurt them in the short term . Ritch was the ingame leader, a strong fragger and having him around gives confidence to your team mates. I dont agree with some of the decisions ritch has made in the past but none the less hes a great player . I dont think anyone can take that away from him

reason arnt one of the best european sides for nothing though . They have great strength allround in there squad. One player Leaving is not goin to change this much .

Thanks for your time.

---

Team Tigit

Exume
Radon
Splatio
Trepje
Ace

Team Tigit is unsurprisingly the team of the UK based server company Tigit. The team is newly formed, with I28 winner Radon at the helm, the team is comprised of some incredible 1.6 talent, who have already proven themselves very adept at source.

Who? You may ask. Well if you don't know these players you're probably like me, a source newbie. Let's start with Splatio, you may not remember this, or have even been around, but while I was increasing my rank on cs_office, Splatio was representing the UK at WCG, a time when the horrible game that Source post release, has mishapen countless 1.6er's views to this day. Unfortunately Splatio didn't have much success at that WCG, partly due to phunky slayering. Splatio has been playing in many top teams since, including the TMG team which destroyed my I29 mix. Exume and Ace I'll explain together, although they have very different playstyles they do have one big thing in common. Dignitas. No they didn't play for the giants of the UK eSports scene but they defeated them at the CGS combine in the biggest shock of the tournament. Dignitas now play as Birmingham Salvo so on the off chance these two teams meet at some point it could prove to be a very interesting match. Trepje is another 1.6er, although having made the switch much earlier to form Polarity with Radon, he has since proven himself adapt at switching between the games at will. A skill few players possess. Radon is probably the most "known" out of all the players, having won I28 by defeating the ever dominant ZBoard, in the mix team Audacious, which contained two players, url and Jon0o who have since become professional gamers in the London Mint. Again if on the off chance they meet up expect a very interesting match up. Despite the team's immense individual experience I feel this is a LAN too soon, we won't be seeing the best from this team quite yet, they can easily expect top ten but I think beating any of the top three contenders will prove a challenge too far, here's hoping they prove me wrong!

I caught up with Trepje

So as the first LAN with the new team, how much of it is bonding and how much of it is going for the prize money?

For me its more about getting to a source lan for the first time, since I've only been to 1.6 LAN's in the past.

What do you make of the I-Series decisions to up the prizepot considerably over past events

I think its necessary to attract teams from europe, and to make it worthwhile even for some of us who live in the middle of nowhere

Where ideally would you like to place, and where do you realistically see yourself placing?

I'd be disappointed if we don't finish top 5 but I will always aim for the top spot.Realistically as this is first lan with a new team it might end up lower of course!

That's quite an ambitious achievement considering the teams attending include Reason, Fnatic, London Mint, Birmingham Salvo and quite a few more, do you think you can cause some major upsets?

I like to set my sights high, if i dont think we can do it i get nervous. "upsets" are what you call it when you dont expect to win.

Do you have the luxury of being in a hotel? If so, how will this help your LAN achievements wise?

Ss usual our arrangements are still a bit chaotic but I will probably go for a hotel after having had bad experiences of sleeping in lans before

Who do you see as the top 3?

You've pretty much already named them... it's going to be close at the top and I wouldn't like to call it

Thanks for your time.

Max "Goodeh" Silver