With the news team being mega busy the past few weeks thanks to various LAN events and leagues coming to an end the 5th season of the ESL Major Series slipped under the radar.

The qualifiers came to an end 4 weeks ago and we are now into week 4 of the group stage, however most of week 3 is still to be played. Apologies for coming into the league so late but here is a little catch up on whats been happening so far, and what is still to come.

Group A

Featuring some of the top talent Europe can offer this is most certainly one of the hardest groups. Power Gaming, Team Alternate, HastaLaVista(Formerly DSRack), UBITEAM, YouDon'tKnowMe and Exotic Island make up the group and so far PowerGaming have been in command as they have overcome YouDon'tKnowMe and Exotic Island with relative ease, Alternate sit in second spot on round difference after drawing with DSRack in the second week. DSRack sit joint second with one win and one draw, below them are UBITEAM with a win and a loss. The bottom 2 are Exotic Island and YouDon'tKnowMe who have yet to pick up a point between them.

Clan Details	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	RD	POINTS
Power Gaming	2	2	0	0	33	6
Team Alternate	2	1	0	1	20	4
HastaLaVista	2	1	0	1	6	4
UBITEAM	2	1	1	0	2	4
YouDontKnowMe	2	0	2	0	-27	0
Exotic Island	2	0	2	0	-28	0

Group B

Group B is another extremely difficult group as German cracks mTw and Snogard Dragons are joined by Pincho, D4Gaming, TLR.EU and Stofftiere Online e.V. So far it has been mTw who have taken the lead with 3 wins out of 3 with both Snogard and Pincho biting at their heels. TLR have been disappointing so far as they have lost out to both German teams whilst Stofftiere Online have become the group whipping boys losing every game they have played so far.

Clan Details	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	RD	POINTS
mTw	3	3	0	0	38	9
Snogard Dragons	3	2	1	0	-4	6
PinCho	2	1	1	0	10	3
D4Gaming	3	1	2	0	-6	3
TLR.EU	3	1	2	0	-7	3
Stofftiere Online e.V.	2	0	2	0	-30	0

Group C

Group C should be the most 'open and shut' case of any with Hoorai.Xilence, The Imperial and FM! Sapphire expected to take the play-off spots, however dRu.css have caused a few upsets so far. Geeks Illustrated and Riders On The Storm who replaced Southbay make up the rest of the group. Hoorai.Xilence slipped to third after losing to the Imperial, The Imperial sit on a 3-0 scoreline and look certain to top the group whilst FM! Sapphire have had a terrible start so far losing their opening 2 matches.

Clan Details	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	RD	POINTS
The Imperial	3	3	0	0	44	9
dRu.css	1	1	0	0	8	3
Hoorai.Xilence	2	1	1	0	2	3
Fragmasters Sapphire	2	0	2	0	-22	0
Geeks Illustrated	2	0	2	0	-32	0
Riders On The Storm	0	0	0	0	0	0

Group D

Every competition needs a group of death and this is most certainly it, Dignitas, Verygames, Thermaltake, Excello, Playing Ducks and Ruthless make up the group and, although Thermaltake sit top at the moment Verygames and Dignitas are certain favourites to join them in the play-offs. For the lesser teams in the group it is a pretty unlucky to be stuck in there with 4 of the best teams Europe can offer and they will be doing well to get a couple of points.

Clan Details	Played	Wins	Losses	Draws	RD	POINTS
Thermaltake	2	1	0	1	22	4
Dignitas	1	1	0	0	12	3
Playing Ducks	2	1	1	0	8	3
Verygames	1	1	0	0	2	3
Excello	2	0	1	1	-4	1
Ruthless	2	0	2	0	-42	0

We will have the games still to be played from week 3 and the week 4 games out to you by tomorrow evening.