Robert "KleX" Pinsler

Robert came in touch with eSports two years ago and has become more and more interested in the CSS scene since then, and also loves to play the game himself.

Last year he started working for the up and coming German eSports site eFever.de and helped to make it to what it is today. With some changes coming across in the last couple of weeks he quit this job after almost two years.

Nevertheless, Robert says that he will "give himself a go as a free agent from now on, so you better watch out!"

"November has been rather a quiet month regarding roster changes so I'm sure we get an even more precise ranking than we already had in October. maXlan, i38 and another event held in Sweden last week - which I'll ignore at this point since from my point of view it's just been a bad joke - shed some light on who are the current teams to watch. With winning both i38 and the Swedish event I think Team PhP really deserves the #1 spot followed by the Frenchies from current and former Verygames. Power Gaming also climbs up after finally attending an event and therefore pretty much switches places with fnatic after their second horrible lan performance in a row."

Richard "Dr. Gonzo" Lewis

Richard comes from a journalistic background and has covered e-sports in print, on radio and television having worked for such organisations as GotFrag and CGS. He is the current content manager of Cadred where he contributes a weekly e-sports column. He was this year’s captain of Team UK in the ClanBase Nations Cup, although he is semi-retired from playing.

He now concentrates on writing and management. Over the years he has worked for Zboard, xciteuk, Infused and is currently based with 4kings.

"Well, a strangely busy November has thrown a cat with a bomb strapped to it among the pigeons... I haven't really thought this metaphor through, but the point still stands. Expect carnage and flux as the top ten will be close to turned on its head.

Team Dignitas finished third at i-series and many saw that as disappointing even if I'm not so sure it is under the circumstances. Expect them to dip, along with the former Promise Keepers, who have gone inactive with rumours starting to circulate.

VeryGames can't hold on to the top spot either - that surely belongs to Reason Gaming or Nameless, who have both won events this month, Reason looking the better team for my money. They need a show down soon to settle the argument once and for all.

All in all a great month of CS:S action and hopefully a top ten will emerge that reflects not only what transpired but also people's changing opinions regarding the best of the best. "

Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner

Appearing on WorldsOldestHuman.com isn't all that Paul has to his name, he is also one of the most knowledgable and experienced men in eSports.

With a CV that won't fit into an average word processor, Paul is a director of QuadV, a broadcasting company he founded at the start of 2007.

Paul has been commentating for six years now, has appeared on major television networks in three continents, and is one of the most in-demand experts in gaming.

"For my money this has been the month that sees an end to French dominance in Europe, with Reason Gaming looking the strongest team out there at the moment. Nameless aren't too far behind in terms of skill, but Reason looked unstoppable at i38 and were so intelligent at DreamHack you have to give them the plaudits.

There is also an interesting power struggle - no pun intended - developing at the top of the UK scene, Power Gaming and Team Dignitas vying for the top spot domestically. It is something that is too close to call, but Power did have the better of them, just, at i38. The biggest disappointment has been fnatic who upon their return have been something of a damp squib and have yet to get going. They are giants in the scene and a fantastic bunch of players so let's hope they can get themselves together and start to shake up things at the top."

Mike "Rickeh" McGhee

The latest addition to the Cadred news team and CS:S voting panel, Mike brings with him an in depth knowledge of the European scene and not just those usual suspects that everyone can claim to know about. Having started plying his trade as a news contributer, he now contributes features and will be known for rekindling the "A Trip Around Europe" series.

"Another month, another Cadred ranking, another chance for the public to foam at the mouth and scream how we're all wrong and have no idea what we're talking about. This month has been a busy ones for the top teams in Europe and teams like Reason will feel as though they've flown around the world with the amount of travelling they have done, it seems to have paid off for them however as they are my #1, having won 2 extremely competitive LAN events in the past month they have shown that online form - following a loss in the EMS to MCA - is not the measure of a team. Just behind them are Nameless who, at their first event for over 6 months, dominated the opposition with only Verygames (My pick for 3rd place) taking them all the way.

Power Gaming followed up an I-series final loss to Reason Gaming by travelling over to Sweden for Dreamhack, a bit of a waste as it turns out as they were knocked out by the Imperial in the qualifier. Dignitas haven't done anything since their 3rd place finish at i-38 and Blight/Promise Keepers have been another team who have sunk into major inactivity, with many of their players opting to attend LAN events with mixteams, what the future holds for them is yet to be seen. Fnatic attended i-38 with high hopes yet crashed spectacularly to GLG and Power Gaming respectively seeing them slip dramatically in the rankings, a win at the Benelux EPS this weekend lets them hold onto their spot for now, things will have to improve however if the Dutch powerhouse is to get back to winning ways. The Imperial are another team who are constantly improving and going one better at every event, however as proven at Dreamhack last week, they still can't cut it with the big boys. The German contingent complete my top 10 with Alternate sitting in 9th spot and mTw at 10th, whether those roles are reversed or not can be seen at the EPS finals kicking off in a couple of weeks, there may also be a few surprises at that event."

Jason "Jay" Atkins

Since starting his shoutcasting career at the now defunct Team Sportscast Network Jay was until recently a quadv shoutcaster.

Having covered a multitude of games his primary focus has been on CSS and CS 1.6. In the 2 years he has been covering CSS he has seen most if not all of Europe and North America's top teams duke it out in countless leagues and LAN's.

Jay has been around eSports for 5 years now, and broadcasting for 3. In his time he has seen leagues, teams and organisations both flourish and fail.

"With i38 and MaxLAN now in the books, the scene has had some solid results with which to base my picks. Power Gaming lived upto to most's expectations with a second place finish at i38. However the story of the tournament was of course Reason Gaming's continued dominance. Meanwhile across the channel Verygames and Nameless were looking to make their claims on the number 1 spot.

With Verygames adjusting their roster and Nameless looking to become the French powerhouse MaxLAN for my money was always going to decide the number #1 and number #2 spots. Given the performance Nameless put in against Regnam's new boys it has to be said that they are deserving of that spot. Reason, PG, Dignitas and Fnatic are all hot on their heels though. With Source's competitive allure supposedly becoming less of a factor no one has told the top 5 teams who are all still jockying for position"

You'll be able to catch more thoughts from our panel with Cadred's December Rankings in a month's time!