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With the mountains of Colorado behind us, we look forward to the Finnish arena in Helsinki, where eight teams will battle it out at the ASUS ROG Winter tournament. Hot off the heels of their MLG performance, Ninjas in Pyjamas will be looking for another chance at claiming a tournament win, but they will be met with heavy resistance. Since their untimely withdrawal from Dreamhack Winter due to the VAC ban of KQLY, Titan have ruminated over the past months and re-emerged in the new year with an old face, Cédric "RpK" Guipouy. While their results online have been promising, there is nothing like a LAN environment to truly test your team’s mettle.
On the other side of the coin, we have Virtus.pro, a team that missed out on MLG after losing to Dignitas (now TeamSoloMid) in the qualifiers. Their first LAN of the year, VP are primed to launch back into the season with a time-tested line-up and challenge NiP and Titan for the top spot. In the same group we have HellRaisers, whose line-up has seen a bit of a shuffle with Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev coming back into the fold, as well as ex-dAT Egor "flamie" Vasilyev joining the squad. While losing both markeloff and s1mple is a blow to their team, the rising star flamie and an on-form Dosia can bring this team out of their group.
<div class="bold">Out of Hibernation</div>
<div class="team"> Virtus.pro, HellRaisers, PENTA, volgare</div>
Winter has arrived, and the Virtus plow has followed suit, with the Polish team attending their first LAN in Helsinki. Their first opponent will be the Hungarian volgare, who managed to beat then unu.AiN (now Copenhagen Wolves) to qualify. While not exactly a walkover, VP have gotten the easiest first match they could've hoped for. This should give them a quick leg up in the groups as their next two opponents will have a harder fought battle.
HellRaisers face PENTA in the second match of the day, with the upstart team continuing to challenge mousesports for the top spot in Germany. After the splintering of Planetkey Dynamics, they have managed to pick up two new additions, Johannes "nex" Maget and Hendrik "strux1" Goetzendorff, two great players who have brought PENTA to new heights. Going in as an underdog against HellRaisers, if the Ukrainian team is on point, PENTA will have to pull out some magic if they hope to advance to the winner’s match. However, should they get lucky and face a HellRaisers who can’t land their shots, then the door is wide open for the Germans to storm through to the playoffs.
<div class="bold">A Titan Rises Again</div>
<div class="team"> Ninjas in Pyjamas, Titan, 3DMAX, mousesports</div>
Up first for Group B is Ninjas in Pyjamas versus mousesports. With the German team struggling to find its footing both domestically and internationally, they seem to only have success in the online realm. Unfortunately for them, this event isn’t being played from the comfort of their homes, and (name) gob b’s squad will have to step up to the plate if they want to have any hope of making it out of their group. Up against the Swedish giants, mouz will need ChrisJ to go above and beyond his abilities if they want to have any hope of starting off this tournament on a win.
The last opening match is Titan versus 3DMAX, with the French team coming in with a lot to prove. Titan should be ready to crush 3DMAX handily and look towards the winner’s match with the Ninjas. On the other hand, the Finnish team could upset Titan in a best of one, having defeated Epsilon in a best of three just a few days prior. An early lead and a couple of pistol rounds would set Titan off on the wrong foot and possibly topple the giant. Otherwise, look for an explosive winner’s match as NiP will be primed to face Titan, where the real test for the French team awaits.
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Writers: Wunder, Snipealot
Editor: Souma
Graphics: InsidiA, Amazingxkcd
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