Most of the smart money will of course be on Toxic claiming his 7th straight tournament in Quake 4 and his 10th since its release in late 2005. Should he achieve it, he will of course be imortalised forever, not just because he claimed 7 titles in a row, a feat not achieved by anyone else in the short history of gaming, but because he won the World Cyber Games of 2006.

There are 7 other men who stand in his way and despite the fact that his closest rival this year (cooller) is not in attendance, he cant afford too many slip ups against the other players in this tournament. This will be no “toxic shootout” where the losers get a “I fragged Toxic once” T-Shirt, oh no, this is the real deal. Of his closest challengers, there is Stermy, twice the runner up to Toxic in major events this year and of course the exciting 15 year old from Poland, av3k.

In Stermy, the Italians have their best chance of home grown talent taking home the top prize and it would not surprise me in the least if home advantage does actually give him that little something extra in his matches. Winz showed just how much home support can make a difference with his displays at the ESWC this year and I would expect no different for Stermy.

Av3k is a little different however, once again having to conquer his feer of flying to arrive in a foreign country where he competes against the world’s best. His best attribute (outside the game) is that he just doesn’t care about other players histories and whilst he will of course respect their achievements, he has no time to think about who he is playing, whether it be Toxic or Fatal1ty, its all the same to him. Could he go all the way? I think he could, but perhaps its still just a little early for him.

Of the rest, you cannot discount any of them. Ztrider, if he is in the mood (which he surely must be) could bring his natural talent to bear the fruits at WCG. Likewise, the new found love of Quake 4 and his home in Europe can only be a plus for Socrates_. Don’t discount Fox either, plenty of late replacements have pulled off tournament victories in the past and how sweet it would be for him, with doubts surrounding his form over the last few months, despite being very close to Stermy at WSVG UK for example.

Cypher is the wildcard in the pack for me. He could be amazing again, as at ESWC, however, we just simply don’t know how much time he has had to practice and even if he has, it cant substitute good tournament matches, something that even av3k has managed in the last 2 months. He could win the tournament and likewise, he could lose all 3 group games, his finishing place is that varied.

Last but not least we have the man who is universally known as THE gamer in the world, hell even Steve-O knows who he is. Fatal1ty will be among the low seeds at WCG, mainly due to his lack of interest in Quake 4 tournaments until the summer, but in such a short space of time he has improved beyond an average (top) player and has become someone, who maybe the others don’t fear right now, but are certainly taking him far more seriously than before.

All in all I am looking forward to some famous matches amongst these fantastic players and regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the seeds or the groups, these players are all capable of beating each other on their day. Who’s day will WCG be?

Prediction :

1st Stermy
2nd Toxic
3rd Cypher