ECL Black Ops.360 Preview

1st - Power Gaming
Nick 'XLNC' Ward
Callum 'Swanny' Swann
Samuel 'Pacino' Walley
Maxime 'Maxxie' Ebran

There is no doubt in my mind that Power have the ability to make a
massive impact at this ECL, considering the vast amount of skill the
teams possesses. XLNC is obviously an ECL winner with Fnatic last time
out and he will be wanting to hold onto his ECL crown. The only problem
for this team would be that they haven't spent as long together as some
of their closest rivals have, so it will be up to the quartet to rally
together over the next few days and gain a greater understanding of
eachothers games.

XLNC commented on his thoughts for ECL:

'Well after our result at the weekend, we couldn't be
anymore confident going into this event. The 3 teams (not including us)
who turned up at the Gadget show I considered to be our main opposition
at ECL2, and to have beaten all 3 of them, the only other team I regard
as a contender for the top spot would be mX - whom I mainly regard as a
connection-reliant team. They could well turn out to prove me wrong
though, but I can't see it. You obviously have your dark horses with the
likes of DPTB, UTD's team, infinitus etc all in attendance and
depending on who performs on the day, there probably is around 6 teams
that could potentially win it.

The ECL Pro Series last weekend was only really a warm up event, and if
we can't replicate our performance at ECL2 it'll have put our win at the
GSL to waste.'

2nd - FnaticMSI
Andrew 'Dopedgoat' Fisher
Tomas 'Gunshi' Jones
Tobi 'Tobi' Foster
Scott 'Mak' Brass


Despite having a rather rough time of it since the release Black Ops, I
feel like you can never count them out. They have spent a considerable
amount of time together and this will certainly work in their favour
over the weekend. Three of the four were a part of the ECL1 winning team
and there is no doubt that holding onto their title is motivation
enough to perform to the best of their ability over the weekend. If they
overcome their first couple of games with ease, expect to see them in
the finals.

Mak spoke to Decerto about how he feels going into ECL:

'Fnatic without myself competed at the recent ECL pro
series and took 2nd, so we have to take some confidence from that, if we
are to succeed. Hopefully now with the whole team together and a bit of
confidence we can take home first, even with our poor results on Black
Ops I think that I speak for everyone in my team when I say anything
other than first or second and we would be dissapointed, as arrogant as
that may sound. No one goes to an event (especially the previous cod
champions of that event) and aims to place anywhere but first, we will
have some stiff competition from royalty and Power, who I see as our
biggest threat but hopefully over the weekend, we can prove why it is we
were given an opportunity to join one of the biggest teams in the world
in the first place.

The event itself looks immense and I genuinely cant wait to see what the
futures like for EU gaming with the ECL staff at the helm, they've done
a great job so far and I hope it continues for years to come.'

3rd - Royalty Gaming
Tom 'Tommey' Trewren
Zak 'Riddlez' Tallis
Elis 'Blackk' Strouthos
Sam 'Bissell' Bissell

Royalty have been a consistently strong team for a long time now. It is
because of this that they have managed to achieve a strong chemistry
between the four talented gamers which has become a very dangerous
force. Royalty will be wanting to improve on their finish at Reflex,
something they should be able to execute if they start the event playing
at their most ruthless.

Tommey told us his thoughts regarding ECL:

'After our games at the ECL Pro Series, we feel we can play
much better then we did, We've learnt a few things as a team and what
we need to work on, So hopefully we can sort that out before we leave
this weekend.

We're aiming for a top 3 finish, anything out of that will be
disappointing, as long as we win our group comfortably and pick up a bit
of momentum I can't see us not making it.'

4th - SK Gaming
Germaine 'qRNKz' Holand
Kevin 'RaideN' Kreuzberg
Max 'Tapout' Anders
Michael 'QuiCky' Bühler

Despite winning one of the first Black Ops tournaments, SK Gaming have
since returned to the periphery of the scene. They are almost without a
doubt the best team from Germany and given their achievements, there is
no reason why they cannot earn themselves a solid finish at this event.
Tapout's last trip to a UK LAN event ended in his team earning a
respectable 5th/6th place at EGL; it will be up to this team to equal
this or perhaps even better it



5th - mythiX.Winamax
Corentin 'Gotaga' Houssein
Jordy 'Krnage' Mercier
Maxime 'Agonie' Di Falco
Loann 'Lowan' Graniczny

Probably the best French outfit at the moment, mythiX will also be
capable of causing many an upset. While many slate them for a passive
playstyle, it seems to be working for them online and are prepared to
take the criticism if it means winning. When things begin to go against
them, they seem to remain calm and look to get things back on track.
This team will finish within the top eight, whereabouts in the top eight
is down to how well other teams adapt to their style.



6th - Infected
Dan 'Danimal' Haw
Alex 'Pascoe' Pascoe
Devante 'Ryder' Heesom-Foster
Jemelle 'Wonder' Rowe

Infected are a bit of an enigma when it comes to LAN events, however
they certainly pack the power to be able to upset the so called big guns
in Blackpool. While Danimal and Pascoe have attended ECL and XL5
respectively, both Ryder and Wonder have no LAN experience. I feel that
Infected could be a massive hit or a massive flop, dependent on how
Ryder and Wonder adapt to a LAN environment.




7th - Imperial
Richie 'RichE' Atkins
Shane 'Shane' Mckerral
Kieran 'Sheep' O'Connor
Adam 'Macca' McNeil

Imperial have had a bit of a rough time with roster changes lately, with
Pacino moving on to Power, UTD moving on to eMpathy and then one of the
replacements, Jolly, not enjoying his time with the new lineup.
However, RichE and Shane have both managed to form adequate replacements
in Sheep and Macca. While I don't think they are capable of winning the
tournament, they certainly can influence who eventually takes the
prizes.




8th - eMpathy
Shane 'UTD' Grindey
Rob 'WarDy' Ward
Jonas 'oxygen' Ferry
Julien 'zLwR' Louis

eMpathy are a strange one. They could fail hopelessly, but at the same
time they could create problems for every team they encounter. WarDy was
widely considered to be one of the best players on Call of Duty 4, and
he will be key into how this Anglo-french side will perform next
weekend.




Overall, it is set to be a fascinating weekend of Black Ops. There are
many teams participating that can and probably will cause upsets to the
teams that have long reigned as the top teams in Call of Duty. You will
be able to catch all of the coverage, including news, results and
interviews right here on Decerto. We will also be updating our twitter,
which you can follow here.

Decerto & Envied would like to wish all the teams participating the best of luck.


Source: Decerto.net