DuRuS previews the CiC7 CoD4 tournament, looking at the groups, the playoffs as well as his underdog team and LAN Crumble team

Group A to D are previewed on the first page, Groups E-H on the second page and the playoffs along with my final predictions and awards are on the 3rd page.

The Crossfire Intel Challenge 7 is just around the corner, starting in a few days time, and boy it is set to be one hell of a tournament. With 46 teams in attendance, as well as QuadV, TEK9 and Cadred, we are almost certainly going to see an excellent weekend’s action.

For me it is set to be a very long weekend, starting at 4 in the morning tomorrow. Enschede is not the easiest of places to get to, and 6 hours of travelling should ensure that I am there in time to get a couple of pints in with some players that I haven’t seen in a long time, before the work starts bright and early on Friday morning.

But this has been bringing up questions in my head about exactly who is going to be at the top of each of the groups. Unlike a lot of other tournaments, this is certainly not as cut and dry as it was in the summer for example. We have no idea who is going to come out on top, nor do we know who will even make it out of the groups.

A preview of the tournament is certainly going to be hard, and I am pretty sure that the majority of my predictions will end up being wrong. CoD4 is one of those games where matches can go different ways all the time. One day you will see a team come out and destroy another team, but the next day they will flop miserably. A lot will also come down to the maps, as well as the mood the players are on the day.

I have put off writing the review for long enough, so it is time to try and take 46 teams and put them into some sort of order. I will do it on a group by group basis, and try and work out who I think will top the group.

Group A:

Next Century
Thermaltake
Team-Impact
Insenia
ManiaX
Sublime

The top seed for the group is NCE.i3D, after winning their games in the seeding tournament, beating corgz in the playoff game. Vanner’s team are definitely the favourites for the group, and should be able to see off all competition from the rest of the teams in the group. They have had a strong time, and have got quite a bit of practice under their belt. Some teams are even suggesting that they might be able to challenge the top 3 teams.

However, I am sure that the first thing on this team’s mind will be to make it out of the group in first place and secure an easier playoff position. Thermaltake will be the biggest team to deal with, and might even upset the group favourites and clinch it. They managed to take TLR to overtime in the seeding tournament, and narrowly lost out on it. They are clear 2nd favourites for the group, taking the 2nd tier seed.

The rest of the teams are probably not going to be able to challenge for the top 2 spots bar Insenia, the Czech team with big names beaster and king playing in their ranks. They are a very slow and methodical team, playing very similar to the old eSuba lineup that came 3rd at TeX 09. They could frustrate some teams, and are definitely determined to try and get out of the group.

ManiaX and Sublime really won’t be able to offer much resistance, bar the battle for last place in the group. Team-Impact should be able to beat these two teams, but like a lot of events, George and his bunch of trusty Italians are probably quite content with having a good time in Holland anyway.

NCE to win the group with Thermaltake finishing in close 2nd.

Group B:

Infinity Skills
D-Link PGS
1stCav
Validus
n!faculty
Empathy

This is probably one of the easier teams in the tournament, with Infinity Skills taking the top seed position with PGS taking the second spot. Infinity managed to beat fnatic in the group stages of the seeding tournament, and though there were a lot of accusations flying around about how legit these guys are, and if they were actually cheating in this game, they are definitely looking like a very strong online team.

But if they are planning on taking that any further and making it far out of the groups, they are going to have to show that they can play well offline. Stormy and bocos will have to get rid of their cheating accusations, and show that they can replicate that form online if they are going to stand much chance.

PGS are looking like a relatively strong team, and will give Infinity a really good game to see who comes top of the group. However, after the groups I really doubt they will be able to push that far through the playoffs.

Validus are a strong UK team, but realistically they will be doing very well if they are going to manage to make it out of the groups. The same is with 1stCav and Empathy. However, n!faculty definitely do not look like they are up to making it through the groups.

Infinity Skills to just win the group, after a very close game with D-Link PGS.

Group C:

Team Dignitas
Corgz
to make odds even
Infernal Gamers
Fear Factory

Group C is a very tough group, with only five teams involved in it. Team Dignitas are definitely the clear favourites for the group, and have been putting a lot of practice in. The influx of the TCM players, mixed with raz and nreo have definitely made this a very strong dignitas lineup. In true Germaine fashion, there are even rumours that he has been anti-stratting all the big teams, and I am sure his nade bank is completely up to scratch.

Corgz and Infernal Gamers look set to fight it out for the 2nd place in the group. Corgz are looking very hit and miss at the moment, and do rely a lot upon ono and cozje to perform well. If these two bring their A games to the group, then they should come away with 2nd place in the group, beating Infernal Gamers, but if that doesn’t happen then the Finnish team should be able to jump in and beat them.

Fear Factory and to make odds even are looking like the teams that will fight it out for the bottom two spots in the group, with neither team being particularly well known. It will be interesting to see how they perform on the day.

Team Dignitas to win the group and the second place team is too close to call.

Group D:

TheLastResort
OX-Gaming
Team Infinite
Universal Soldiers
eSuba
Reclusion

I got approached by Chef, the manager of TLR the other day asking me how he thought his team was doing, saying that he had made sure that if and when he came back into CoD4 he would do so with a strong team. This is certainly how the current TLR team is looking at the moment. They won their seeding game and are currently the favourites to win the group. They are playing really well as a team and have a lot of tactics. This team, playing on home soil, should be able to come away with a comfortable first place in the groups.

OX-Gaming are looking like a strong team as well. They are the best team in Italy at the moment, and bar their seeding game, they have beating everyone very easily. Was this a bad day for them, when they played Reason Gaming and got walked over or does it show you that they simply can’t cope with the pressure of a big game? It definitely doesn’t bode well for the main event, and they will have to make sure they don’t crack under pressure.

OX will have a very hard time getting that 2nd place in the groups though, as they come up against eSuba, with Misak and lucker pushing them on. They have taken all their PCW’s leading up to the event really seriously making them a hard team to practice against, and could quite easily take the 2nd place in this group, if not actually win the group beating TLR. That will take something special though.

Both Team Infinite and Reclusion are mix teams that are going for a bit of fun and a long weekend, and will most definitely not challenge for a place at the top end of the group. Universal Soliders do however stand a bit of a chance. Reaktiv could push his team on to try and replicate their result at the last Crossfire event for CoD4, CC5, where he secured 3rd place with Tempus Moriendi. However, this is still quite a slim chance.

TLR will take the top spot in this group, and eSuba will narrowly beat OX-Gaming for the 2nd spot.

DuRuS previews the CiC7 CoD4 tournament, looking at the groups, the playoffs as well as his underdog team and LAN Crumble team

Group A to D are previewed on the first page, Groups E-H on the second page and the playoffs along with my final predictions and awards are on the 3rd page.

Group E:

H2k-Gaming
mTw
NCC eSports
Hostile Faction
DOK Gaming
Lan Pirates

H2k Gaming were the team of late 2009, when everyone had stopped playing these guys had ploughed on through getting results, especially in the ESH cups. They come into the groups as favourites to win the group, but we have been hearing stories that they are, and have been for some time, on the verge of folding. Could playing at LAN change this? Possibly but most likely it won’t be in a good way.

However, they did win their game against mTw in the seeding tournament very comfortably, and are high up in this month’s Top 10 rankings, published earlier today. They should be able to make it through the groups relatively easily.

mTw are one of those teams that are really hard to predict. If we based it on their online performances they would be right up there, but if we based it on the times we have seen them offline, they wouldn’t even make it out of the groups! They really need to show people that they can play offline under pressure, and that they deserve such a big organisation like mTw. If they do replicate their online form they could give H2k a run for their money and win this group.

NCC have recently brought in the ex MYM player, Stat, or the 2008 “bomb planter of the year” according to the Cadred CoD4 awards from the end of 2008. They are most likely not going to manage to make it through the groups though. The same is true with DOK, who will most likely not be able to make it out of the groups.

However, Hostile Faction are a team that really do look on good form. They have been putting in the hours and this could work in their favour. They haven’t been at the top end of the scene so people will most likely not expect them to be able to beat the likes of H2k and mTw but that is exactly where they will succeed. These are certainly the underdogs for the group.

The group is going to end with a 3 way tie, between mTw, H2k and Hostile Faction, and the top 2 teams will go down to round difference.

Group F:

Reason Gaming
fnatic
Team Infused
Gamelimited
mSpire
4Sypher

Who would have ever thought that the groups would seen both Reason and fnatic in them. If you saw these groups without knowing much about them you would immediately assume that this was terrible admining and seeding, putting these two top teams together. However, this is definitely not the case.

Fnatic lost their seeding game against the French side YoYoTech, and thus are the 2nd tier seed in the group, behind Reason. This is going to make the fight for the top place in the group incredibly hard and we can expect to see an excellent game from these two teams, maybe even a similar calibre game to the Upper Bracket Final from OutPost on Fire 3, where fnatic clinched it in overtime. They are definitely the two favourites for the group.

Team Infused and Gamelimited don’t really stand much chance of making it out of this group, with Reason and fnatic in it. They will do really well to beat these two teams, and I think realistically should be aiming for 3rd or 4th place in the group.

mSpire on the other hand will do really well to not finish last in the group, whereas 4Sypher could quite possibly upset this group. Individually they are up to scratch, but they will require a bit of luck to go their way if they are going to break into the top 2 of this group.

Fnatic to beat Reason and clinch the top spot, with Reason finishing in 2nd place.

Group G:

Power Gaming
MouseFX
Playground Avenue
GFO Gaming
MCA
Loaded

People immediately saw Group F and claimed that that was the group of death, but after looking at them more closely, Group G certainly looks like a hard group as well. There are 5 good teams in this group that could all have a good game against each other, thus making it a very even group.

Power are currently the 2nd best team in Europe according to the Cadred CoD4 rankings, and should, on paper, come away with the top spot in the group. However, we have seen them self destruct a few times, when things aren’t going their way, and they need to make sure they don’t let this happen.

Loaded are not seeded in this group, and are flying over from America just for the tournament. How they will do is completely unknown as they haven’t played against any of the European teams. Are they up to the standard that EG and Pandemic were back in 2008 or are they at a similar level to what Pure were last summer? We simply do not know, but that is definitely going to make the teams play more cautiously against them.

MouseFX qualified in 2nd place but realistically probably shouldn’t have. They will do very well to beat Power and MCA, and most likely Loaded. The same is the case with Playground Avenue. These guys have obviously improved a lot recently, and won’t get beaten easily in most of the games, quite possibly causing a few upsets. Will they win the group or come anywhere near the top of it? Probably not.

MCA on the other hand could get into the top 2. They are a bunch of old school players who have been really working on improving their game. It does look that they are about a month or two behind the current standard though, so if there are the expected summer events, then we could quite possibly see these guys competing at the top level.

Power to take the group and it will be a very tight battle for 2nd place, possibly falling to Loaded in the end.

Group H:

YoYoTech
Speedlink
Hardware Arena
dfine
rodcad

YoYoTech have taken the top spot in the group after beating fnatic in their seeding game, and look like they deserve it. They are a strong team of French players that could really do well at this event. They should be able to comfortably win this group, if they play well, but then again we have seen how H2k did at OOF3, crumbling under the pressure. This team of French players should be able to do better though.

Speedlink rely upon reflexzr a lot to win their games, and will need him to really bring his A game if they are going to manage to win this group and beat YoYoTech. They have had a few great results online especially in the ESH cups, so they have got the potential to do well. However, they might struggle if things don’t click properly.

Hardware Arena on the other hand are looking like a very strong team that could beat SpeedLink. They were incredibly unlucky to not get a seeding, after TLR drew with corgz. Some people are even claiming that TLR threw this game away to stop HWA from progressing but this has definitely just a rumour without any real substance to it.

They could take 2nd place in the group if they play well, and will definitely be looking to beat dfine and rodcad, two teams that shouldn’t be able to do too much damage to the structure of the groups.

YoYoTech to win the group and SpeedLink/HWA to have a hard game for 2nd place.

DuRuS previews the CiC7 CoD4 tournament, looking at the groups, the playoffs as well as his underdog team and LAN Crumble team

Group A to D are previewed on the first page, Groups E-H on the second page and the playoffs along with my final predictions and awards are on the 3rd page.

The Playoffs

This is where things are going to get interesting, and we are certainly going to see some simply amazing games, probably with more overtime that people that D1ablo has flamed in game! The business end of the tournament, and probably the hardest to predict.

However, I have to come up with some predictions, and so I am going to outline who I think is going to appear in my top 3, as well as the team that is going to fail, and the team that is going to be the biggest underdogs.

We have also gathered the predictions of some of the players from .invite and .preinvite to see what they had to say.

1st Place

Fnatic get my number 1 prediction for CIC7, as they are the complete package. They have the experience, the individual skill and the team play to be able to push through and win. Their losses in the seeding tournament shouldn’t really be taken that seriously, as we know that this team is completely different offline at an event.

Stevy is probably the best sniper in the world, and most would agree that KyoChi is one of the best callers and leaders in the game. Though they have a new player in the form of zenith, he should be able to play to the same standard that we got from rivve.

Fnatic will win this tournament with some very tight games, going to overtime in most, mainly due to their motivation as well as their experience under pressure.

2nd Place

Team Dignitas are looking very strong, especially now that they have 3 of the ex TCM players that impressed everyone last year. Raz is simply a machine, and we know he can turn it on and win some amazing clutches when needed, and nreo is definitely up there as one of the best SMGers in the game.

From the sound of things these guys have been playing a lot and putting their tactics together to make sure they are ready for all of the teams out there. I think they will not be able to beat fnatic, but they will certainly give them an amazing game.

3rd Place

Power Gaming will finish 3rd in my predictions. They have put the hours in and have even got practice playing with each other offline, after playing at FOM together. Though they sometimes have the tendency to self destruct, they are a very talented bunch of individuals who know the game inside out.

They will take either fnatic or dignitas right to the wire in their game, and just lose out to them in the final spot. This won’t be down to individual or even team skill, but rather the game on the day. The top 3 teams are incredibly evenly matched, and I think they could all beat each other on different days, but under the pressure, the experience of fnatic and dignitas will shine through.

Underdogs

Infinity Skills come into this tournament as a team that has shown that they can get the results, but have been questioned about their legitimacy. I think they will be one of those teams that will shine through and might be able to clinch some big games that people weren’t expecting them to win.

They do not have the pressure on their shoulders that other teams do, and any game they win in the playoffs will be a huge bonus to them.

This earns them my underdogs of the tournament award.

LAN Crumble

Predicting a LAN crumble is always going to be hard, and as you can see from the graphic, most people are predicting mTw to do what they did in the summer last year, and “have a mare”. However, I don’t think that is going to happen this time round. Yes they have a lot to prove and so the pressure is really on them, but I think they have learnt from their mistakes last summer and should be able to change them. Though they won’t win, they aren’t going to be my LAN Crumble team.

The team that does get my LAN Crumble award will probably cause quite a lot of controversy, but I feel that Reason Gaming are going to have a nightmare of a tournament. They do have a lot of pressure on their shoulders, and are expecting to come away with a top 5 finishing, but realistically I don’t think that is going to happen.

Individually they are incredibly good, with players like D1ablo and SoCLoN able to win games on their own. But we can also see them crumble and get some horrifically negative scores, especially Tom. Though it might be a long shot, if things start going the wrong way, the team might start getting annoyed and simply not perform like we know they can.

For this reason, (excuse the pun), Reason Gaming get my LAN Crumble award. Who knows, Duffer might try and beat up some Turks again and end up locked up in a Dutch prison during the group games! Hopefully Reason can prove me wrong.

So that ends my preview of the Crossfire Intel Challenge 7. Though I am sure this will get scrutinised, this is always going to be the case. For now it is time to go and pack, and get ready for my 6:40 flight tomorrow morning. Boy I can’t wait for that!

See you all in Holland tomorrow, and for those that can’t go, expect plenty of CoD4 coverage coming your way throughout the weekend.