European Finals preview: Group B

13-1-2010 16:23

In our second installment of the pre-coverage for Extreme Masters IV European Championship Finals, we take a look at Group B.

Group B house the European Champions and the World Champions from last season, which should guarantee us a great load of eye-candy when Group B kicks off at the European Championship Finals. Just like Group A, six teams where only one will get direct access to the playoffs, second and third placed teams will enter the relegation stage.

fnatic

Björn "threat" Pers

Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund

Harley "dsn" Örwawll

Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg

Patrik "cArn" Sättermon

Favorites to win yet again, it is starting to get old, but that is just how it is, when a team like fnatic, dominated as much as they did in 2009. They have now added Björn "threat" Pers as a permanent member, following the departure of Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl. Pers helped fnatic to grab first place at WEM 2009, which showed that the addition will fit just fine with fnatic. Six major titles were won by the Swedes last year, making everyone point their fingers at the team, stating they will go far, if not all the way.

During the online season, the team also proved that they are a team of high caliber, not a single match lost. Last year the team managed second place in their group, which made them play in the relegation stage. Winning against SK allowed them entrance to the playoffs, where the Swedes managed fourth place. We do however all remember that the Swedes took great revenge at the World Championship Finals. The biggest hurdle for the team, will be the Danes from mTw and most likely Alternate.

Alexander "ave" Holdt

Danny "zonic" Sørensen

Martin "trace" Heldt

Oliver "minet" Minet

Timm "ArcadioN" Henriksen

mTw

The defending champions from mTw come to Brühl with a victory in the relegation stage, which allowed the access. In the online part of the championship, the Danes lost to H2k, which made them end up in second place. Never the less, the Danes made it, but it is a very different mTw squad we see this year, compared to last. Last time the team was in action they used Timm "ArcadioN" Henriksen as stand-in, due to the absence of Christoffer "Sunde" Sunde. Henriksen helped mTw claim second place at Arbalet Cup Europe and fans seemed to get the eye for mTw again after a down-period.

Looking at the latest battle between the two, mTw got the upper-hand against fnatic and the two go way back. It never gets old when the two play and it is once again expected to be a great show. The Danes will be challenging the Swedes for the first place, but will watch out for likes of Alternate and even oXmoze, who they have a bad record against.

Alternate

Bastian "b4d" Gaffron

Direnc "seraph" Öz

Jan "mooN" Stolle

Manuel "approx" Zeitz

Roman "Roman R." Reinhardt

Alternate finished top of their group when the online part of the championship finalized. Since then, the team has completed two roster changes. First of all, the team picked up former mystical Lambda talent Direnc "seraph" Öz to fill the void of Roman "roman" Ausserdorfer. Second, the team scored Bastian "b4d" Gaffron from n!faculty, letting go of Benjamin "paN" von Mulert. Looking at how the team did at the finals last year, the team has some job to do.

At the finals, they managed to finished in the top spot of the group, above teams such as SK and MYM (now AGAiN). This allowed the direct access to the playoffs, where the team went all the way to the final. Defeating teams such as AGAiN and fnatic in the playoffs, Alternate really had their time, but was it all due to one shining start? Letting go of Roman "roman" Ausserdorfer must have been a huge blow for Alternate, but they have to recover and get back on track. With a third place finish in the group, they still stand chances of making it to the playoffs, which seems doable for the Germans.

KerchNET

Arsenij "Esenin" Trynozhenko

Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko

Ioan "Edward" Sukharev

Sergey "starix" Ischuk

Yegor "markeloff" Markelov

The dark horse of Group B. The Ukrainians proved at Arbalet Cup Europe, that they have certain strength of overcoming teams who expected nothing from them. It's a deadly strike and a clear advantage for KerchNET. The team can focus on their own play, which will be vital for the team, as once the deck falls, there is a long way for recovery for the players. The team surprisingly made it to top spot of the group in the online part of the championship, following the defeat of mousesports, which was played at Global Challenge in Dubai.

Against the mighty giants the team will most likely have a hard time, but being the dark horse, anything can happen. It is however expected that the Ukrainians will end up somewhere in the middle, which might on a very good day, allow them access to the relegation stage.

oXmoze

Benjamin "drizzer" Charnet

Bridet "RiGo-" Mathieu

Mathieu "MaT-" Leber

Mickael "mSx" Cassisi

Rémi "loduN" Colas

The team once known as emuLate have also gone through some chances, but it is now some months ago. The team was to play the relegation stage, where the team got paired with WCG champions from AGAiN. The team shocked the scene by securing a 2-0 win, allowing them to travel to Brühl this weekend. Their record at finals, looking at how they did last year, they do have room for some serious improvement.

At the finals last year, the team in their first match managed to defeat mousesports, which made the community expect them to continue the stream in the next matches. The team did however not succeed and lost following four matches and had to cope with sixth place in the group, finishing very last. It has been some time, since the last time we saw this team on LAN. It makes the expectations a bit low and referring to the bottom spot from last year, they are expected to deliver a similar result.

n!faculty

Benjamin "paN" von Mulert

Christoph "chrizzo" Krämer

Franz "gore" Burghardt

Max "ODIE" Knappe

Vinh "ninja" Bui

n!faculty made their way to the European Championship Finals by receiving a default win in the relegation match against Power Gaming. Power Gaming did win to begin with, but due to net_graph setting on the Finnish members, the match had to be replayed. As we later learned, Power Gaming did not want to play the re-match. The team travel to Brühl with two new faces. Former Alternate member Benjamin "paN" von Mulert and Vinh "ninja" Bui from mystical Lambda will help the team at the finals, but were announced very late prior to the finals.

Whether the team has had enough time to play with the two new players, will be the first thing to look for when the team enter the tournament Thursday afternoon. Last year they managed a fair finish, placing fourth just outside the relegation stage. They are expected to do similarly this year, but if the two new can change games for the team, the team might have chances of reaching the relegation stage.

HLTV.org's final placing prediction:

1. fnatic
2. mTw
3. Alternate
4. KerchNET
5. n!faculty
6. oXmoze

SteelSeries competition

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

The winner will be drawn between all correct answers, once Extreme Masters IV European Championship has ended.

Bet on Group B with XLBet

The world largest e-sport bookmaker is once again ready to serve you with the odds for the European Championship Finals. Group B bets are available right now, check them out below.