Arbalet Cup preview: Group D

Final part of HLTV.org's pre-Arbalet Cup Europe coverage - Group D in the spotlight.

fnatic	forZe
Björn "threat" Pers	Aleksey "HEL1" Novikov
Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund	Alexey "OverDrive" Birukov
Harley "dsn" Örwall	Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov
Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg	Ruslan "Dober" Shariffylin
Patrik "cArn" Sättermon	Sergey "Fox" Stolyarov
Frag eXecutors	Ravens
Filip "Neo" Kubski	Baljit "zE-" Lal
Jakub "kuben" Gurczynski	Danny "BERRY" Krüger
Jarosław "pasha" Jarząbkowski	Marc "nexiz" Woolrych
Mariusz "loord" Cybulski	Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer
Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas	Michael "Friis" Jørgensen

The Swedish stronghold fnatic will be attending Arbalet Cup Europe for the first time, as the team did not attend the first edition in 2009. Once again fnatic are the favorites to advance in top spot, but as seen before, the team could hit group-stage difficulties, ending up not advancing in top spot. The Swedes are however on a solid streak of notable group stage performance, but will be looking to do better then their last result, when finishing third at Arbalet Cup Best of Four.  Ever since the arrival of Björn "threat" Pers, the team has kept their high level and consistent top3 finishes, most of the times just a nick away from firing up the victory-cigar, the spotlight is once again on fnatic and expectations for the team is once again, go for the first place and the gold medals.

It has been a long time since the Polish WCG champions from Frag eXecutors have shown a good shape. Back in the early days of March, the team did not make it out of the group stage at IEM4 World Championship and has since then been seen attending The Gathering, where the team went out in the quarter-final, losing 16-14 against concede. Fingers are still pointed at Jarosław "pasha" Jarząbkowski as the weakest link in the team, ever since his official arrival in the early days of 2010, the team seems to be missing their magic spark. At the last edition of Arbalet Cup Europe the team made it to the lower-bracket final, where mTw eliminated them from the tournament.  The Poles will however have to keep their game at a high level at all times, as they have a Russian team breathing down their neck.

Ever since their fourth place finish at WCG 2009, Russia team forZe haven't secured any tournament wins, but kept a consistent range of top5 finishes in CIS tournaments. The team recently booked a ticket to Arbalet Cup Europe, following a second place at Arbalet Cup CIS, with a loss to PinG in the overall final. The Russians made it to the playoffs in the last edition of Arbalet Cup Europe, following victories against WeMade FOX and Ravens. They did however not find much success, as they got eliminated after just two matches. The best chances for the Russians to gain access to the playoffs this time around, is to claim a victory against Frag eXecutors and keep Ravens away from pulling the upset.

Bronze medalists at IEM4 European Championship Finals from Ravens, or one-hit-wonders as they have been named by the community, are desperate to find their way deep into an international tournament. After their impressive campaign at the European Championship Finals, Ravens showed Christian "turkizh" Bindslev the exit-door, which haven't seemed to do any good. The team last week announced the permanent addition of Marc "nexiz" Woolrych, adding a victory against fnatic in ESL Pro Series Nordic. It is however the only victory the Danes have claimed in the league, currently placed 10th and last in the rankings. When Ravens attended Arbalet Cup Europe last year, the team went home on the first day, with no victories at all. Ravens will have to pull the upset to not finished bottom last in Group D.

HLTV.org's final placing prediction:

1. fnatic
2. forZe
3. Frag eXecutors
4. Ravens

SteelSeries competition

Who do you think will win Group D? By leaving a comment below, with the team you think will win, you will have the opportunity to win a SteelSeries QcK+ fnatic 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.