At last at last, WCG at last! Everyones favourite once a year tournament featuring only 10 teams ran at arguably the BEST lan cafe in all of Australia is finally here, not so much for me as I didn't have anything to do with the final up until 2 days ago.

When you arrive, you'll be greeted by that warm popcorn and pee smell that only Beyond Internet Cafe can provide, accompanied by several friendly faces, unless of course you're apoc in which case THANKS FOR PICKING ME UP FROM THE AIRPORT.

Before I continue with WCG-related matters, lets relay my day so far. My morning started off great. At 3:30am I realised I did not have a suitcase, infear of looking like a complete tool with 3 shirts and a pair of pants hanging out of a plastic bag, I called Tony whilst in the shower, now my phone wont stop pressing 0 and 8. He arrived in his brand new Audi TT which was sweeeeet to say the least, handed me a backpack and we were off to the airport. Flight was ok, some dude spilled coffee all over me when we landed, so now it looks like I took a runny shit all down the side of my pants.

After waiting almost half an hour at the terminals, I saw a bus and no apoc, so I jumped on the bus and it took me 4 laps of it going back and forth between the domestic and international terminals to realise...thats all it does. Found the train station by accident and paid a ridiculous amount for it, jumped on what can only be described as a toilet on rails and 24 minutes later I arrived at Town Hall station. I walked up some stairs and saw a guy wearing a singlet sitting on the steps eating some KFC, needless to say i laughed. A few minutes later I arrived at Beyond, where I was greeted with the aformentioned smell and a big smile.

Ok enough of my day, onto the predictions.

Group A

Some say this is the easiest group to progress through, whilst others completely disagree, in this writers opinion it's the latter option. With 3 teams that can potentially take out the whole thing, this appears to be the group to watch.

Having recently won the ECN final in QLD, Immunity are in what appears to be golden form, only losing 1 map with their current lineup to QLD team Boston Deagle, who are also making an appearance at this nationals. Immunity will be looking to become back-to-back national champions this year, a feat which each player in the lineup has done before so it will be familiar territory for them come finals time. With their ingame leader and team motivator Gareth "gazR" Lynn in dire straits health-wise, will the team find enough fire to be able to take out the tough competition this weekend? Gazr was heard to remark "I'll still win."

Speaking of ECN, local Sydney team Vikings managed to pull off several upsets to finish an impressive 3rd overall, taking out favourites v300 and top contenders AfterShock.

Regulaters lucked out this time, having not attended the qualifiers yet being fortunate enough to recieve one of the wildcard invites, are most likely looking to have a good time and nothing more, but the last team with that agenda was Vikings, who as I already mentioned came 3rd at the last major tournament. Upset on the cards? Doubtful, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Last but not least, another team looking to just have some fun. You might recognize these players if you were around circa 2004-2005 as they were frequent national competitors with respectable placings. While they did attend the last WCG qualifier, their result was less than spectacular, having only beaten eSporter and just losing to Crazy.au, both of whom are present at this competition. 

Predictions

1. Immunity
2. Vikings

Group B

Its finally here, the day you've all been waiting for, in the Red corner, weighing in at an insane 117.8 average DPR, he is known around 3132 as THE ring-leader ........DEEEEEEEEEEESTINY...or RushN...or KgN...whatever. And in the blue corner, weighing in at a slightly less impressive 114 average DPR, the man, the myth...the guy who didnt pick me up from the airport....APOOOOOOOOOCalypse.

For several seasons now, both Mark and Mike have fought it out for rank 1 in iPGN, with the #1 spot changing more often than dreamR gets kicked from his own team. Both players are considered to be 2 of the best players in Australian counter-strike today, bolstering a supporting cast who are deservingly considered some of the best players in Australia too.

Teddyt, everyones favourite battler deserves a shout out here, not because he got caught cheating and redeemed himself with many top placings at nationals, not because he is now officially taller than Darren 'NRD' Nyugen, but because last night we shared a bed, and it was magical. Ill never forget you Theodore.

The experience of Archaic and the fresh young talent of KBS should see them through without losing a map, bar to each other, that being said, theres a darkhorse team in this competition, who on a good day, could topple even the mightiest of teams.

Boston Deagle, the only team truely representing QLD, have been the talk of the town these last few days, not because they managed to do the seemingly impossible, that being managing to be the only team to take down the current Immunity lineup, but because of the controversy surrounding their travel plans to the final. To read more about it go here.

Crazy.au, not to be confused with Crazy.dk, Crazy.eu or Crazy.cn, are actually from Australia, can you believe it? The team has placed consistantly well in recent times, with a decent showing at the ECN qualifiers, and most recently the WCG qualifiers where they had very close matches with both Vikings and 96 who are again present at this national final.

And finally, we come to eSporter from NSW. What can be said apart from the obvious, they attend every comp, support the Sydney scene, and gives Cobbie something to do this weekend that he will surely bring up for years to come. This team is just here for experience, outlook? A win is doubtful but you never know especially in this day and age, but their constant support of Sydney and keeness earnt them the last wildcard invite.

Predictions:

1. KBS
2. Archaic 

Who do you think will win?

Name the two teams from each group that you think will progress into the playoffs for your chance to win a PureTrak Talent Mousepad from ESMarket.com.au!

Entries will close before the games begin on Saturday.