Mad Catz Birmingham group preview

Here we take a look at the second tournament running this weekend, Mad Catz Birmingham, taking place at Gadget Show Live with some of the world's best teams competing for £10,000 in prizes.

Although four of the world's top teams are in Kiev, Birmingham also has plenty of talent on show, as the likes of VeryGames, Western Wolves and fnatic will collide with British teams Anexis and Dignitas.

Other challengers include Portuguese k1ck, now Danish fm.TOXiC and three Brits in Infused, Reason Gaming, and CRG, who upset n!faculty at Mad Catz Vienna in February.

Portuguese fans will be happy to see this guy playing

Similarly to the old IEM format, winner of each group will advance directly to the semi-finals, while the second and third place teams will face off in the quarter-finals.

This preview will be split into the two groups instead of going over each team one at a time, so continue reading to find out what kind of chances your favorites have in Birmingham.

Group A ( VeryGames, Anexis, k1ck, Infused,   CRG)

VeryGames are clear favorites in this group, although both anexis and k1ck are at leat capable of giving them a scare if given a hot start. CRG only has two members from the somewhat memorable Mad Catz Vienna performance which saw them knock out n!faculty in the group stage, while Infused are also outclassed in Birmingham by the other teams in their group.

Sam "RattlesnK" Gawn's Anexis can always be a threat to any team who shows up to an event, but they do once again lack preparation due to a recent roster change and having to use a stand-in as opposed to their newly recruited members. Gawn seemed confident in our interview with him, and if what he said was true, his team must be extremely motivated to prove some of the doubters wrong this weekend.

We haven't seen k1ck in action at LAN since DreamHack Valencia and although they've had some promising online results such as the upset win over ESC Gaming in RC EMS One Cup #1, it's be bold to predict anything more than a third place finish from the Portuguese side. They could score a win over Anexis in best-of-one setting, but I don't see it very likely.

The Frenchmen have by far the most routine out of all these teams and I find that to be exactly what you need in group stages, so I don't see anyone knocking them out of a first place finish here, especially after hearing Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux' positive attitude. While they'll go directly to semi-finals, Anexis and k1ck are going to have to go through quarter-finals, with the Brits most likely finishing second over Portugal's pride.

Predictions: 1. VeryGames, 2. Anexis, 3. k1ck

ScreaM's VeryGames have a lot to prove this weekend 

Group B ( Western Wolves, fnatic, fm.TOXiC, Dignitas, Reason Gaming)

Western Wolves are the big dogs in this group after two straight second place finishes at Mad Catz Vienna and Copenhagen Games, and are actually favorites to win the entire tournament as well. Standing in their way is of course fnatic, whom they defeated in Copenhagen after a long protest due to one of the fnatic players' computer crashing with the WW squad up 7-2 in the first half of the match.

With Jacob "Pimp" Winneche on a school trip this week, WW will not be able to prepare much specifically for this event, while fnatic has been busy with their group of RaidCall EMS One group stage playing out on Wednesday. If fnatic can figure out the map they're likeliest to play or even narrow the choices down to two or three and properly prepare for WW, they could score a top four finish through an upset here. Unfortunately for Patrik "cArn" Sättermon's boys, I don't see that kind of leadership in that team right now.

Many might consider fm.TOXiC heavy favorites for a third place finish in this group after almost scoring an upset win over ESC Gaming in Copenhagen, but I think Joshua "steel" Nissan's Dignitas will actually knock the now Danish squad out of Mad Catz Birmingham. Reason Gaming could spoil either fm.TOXiC's or even Dignitas' tournament, but they most likely aren't much of a threat to the group's best two teams who are eyeing a podium finish.

In the end I believe in Western Wolves, who have continued showing impressive play across the board with leader Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander also stepping in with some big plays, to finish on top. I don't see anyone upsetting fnatic, who stand a chance at doing that to WW, but will likely finish second. Third place will be up for grabs among Dignitas and fm.TOXiC, while Reason Gaming isn't expected to make much noise.

Predictions: 1. Western Wolves, 2. fnatic, 3. Dignitas

Nico and company aim for their first international win 

We will return on Saturday after group B has finished with a full playoff preview. HLTV.org will be on-site in Birmingham to provide you with full coverage of the £10,000 CS:GO tournament.