Arbalet Cup preview: Group A

12-5-2010 03:30

As part of HLTV.org's pre-Arbalet Cup Europe coverage, we take a look at the teams present in each group - First one is Group A.

Natus Vincere	mTw
Sergey "starix" Ischuk	Alexander "ave" Holdt
Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko	Danny "zonic" Sørensen
Arsenij "Esenin" Trynozhenko	Christoffer "Sunde" Sunde
Ioan "Edward" Sukharev	Martin "trace" Heldt
Yegor "markeloff" Markelov	Oliver "minet" Minet

Meet Your Makers	Alternate
Faruk "pita" Pita	Manuel "approx" Zeitz
Marcus "Delpan" Larsson	Jan "mooN" Stolle
Marcus "zet" Sundström	Roman "Roman R." Reinhardt
Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson	Direnc "seraph" Öz
Frey "kHRYSTAL" Sjöström	Bastian "b4d" Gaffron

Much has happened in the Ukrainian scene in these first few months of 2010, and the main responsible for this is without a doubt Natus Vincere. Under the aegis of Murat "Arbalet" Zhumashevich, Na'Vi have reached the top and there they seem comfortable. After winning the Extreme Masters World Championship and Arbalet Cup Best of 4, Na´Vi may never be written off again, and the Ukrainians will come into this event determined to prove their fourth place finish at Arbalet Cup CIS was a one-time thing.

This tournament will pose itself as one of extreme importance for mTw, who are still jonesing for international success, as their win at Copenhagen Games did little to calm such hunger. After losing their domestic throne to Cheaptimes at the Danish Championship and crashing out of the Extreme Masters World Championship at the group stage, things look anything but promising for mTw. Still, their recent results at EPS Nordic, where they are currently first, could prove to be a major boost for the Danish players.

Since winning DreamHack Winter back in December, Meet Your Makers have struggled to brush shoulders with their elite rivals, and changes to their roster seem to produce no effect. After picking up Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson and, more recently, Frey "kHRYSTAL" Sjöström, the cloud of uncertainty remains over MYM, and their third-place finish at the Swedish ESWC qualifier, which did not feature either SK or fnatic, only goes to show how desperate they are to get back to winning ways.

It has been quite some time since Alternate showed their colours at an international stage, and even more time since they proudly did so, looking at their latest results. The German giants, known for faring better while playing as a mix than with their full line-up, are still trying to adapt to life without Roman "roman" Ausserdorfer, who left for mousesports earlier this year. Although their results in the EPS league, where they sit second, look somewhat prosperous, only this tournament will show whether they are in the right path.

HLTV.org's final placing prediction:

1. Natus Vincere
2. mTw
3. Meet Your Makers
4. Alternate

SteelSeries competition

Who do you think will win Group A? By leaving a comment below, with the team you think will win, you will have the opportunity to win a SteelSeries QcK+ SK Custom Limited Edition mousepad.

The competition will close at 17:00CET on Friday the 14th of May, when the first round of matches in the group kicks off.

The winner will be drawn between all correct answers once Arbalet Cup Europe has come to an end.