This time Doc. DotA picked the five teams of Group A as the subjects of his analysis. Two teams are high flyers, also shown through their seedings of 'high' and 'top' seeds. Our resident doctor also had a close look at the two challengers and how they might steal a set of tickets from the high flyers.

Hint: Tournament coverage and schedule



Evil Geniuses

These guys come from America, and as we all know Americans have supreme self-confidence. They had a exciting performance in Sweden, when they finished the DreamHack Summer 2008 as runner up behind the SK-Gaming DotA division, beating MeetYourMakers and mousesports on their way through the lower bracket.

EG is a relatively new team but every single player has his own long lasting past in competitive DotA.

Team Evil Geniuses roster:

David 'King' Liu
Matthew 'DOGKaiser' Knizacky
Hassan 'Remstar' Bahr
Pu 'Whisper' Liu
Andre 'Andre' Semmler

Damnedking, DOGKaiser, Remstar and Whisper already know each other from eMazing Gaming, and this may the biggest plus. A huge experience of playing offline events.

eMazing Gaming, most of this roster's former team was also organizing America's biggest DotA LAN until now – the famous ‘Fire in Ice’.

A negative factor may be that they do not know the European teams from tournaments and leagues like the others do. Team EG signed up for the DotA Masters #9, but they did not show up for their games.

So overall Doc. DotA thinks that they are a team not to underestimate, if they pick a good day in the group stage they have a great chance to make into the playoffs. If they can keep their fingers off the tasty French wine, there is a heavy chance to see them again in San Jose.



MeetYourMakers

The organization of MYM is a long time supporter of competitive DotA, setting up the Prime Defending for the tenth time now as well as the Prime Nations for the second time. They also started the first season of the Prime Defending League a few weeks ago.

They would not have pushed DotA so much if they did not have one of the world's best teams. MYM.DotA proved that they are always ready for competition, earning several prizes in the past. The best thing about this team is the fact that their lineup is very stable and these guys have known each other for years now.

They were one of the best teams in v6.48b, with some problems to fit into the new versions game play lately. However Maelk promised us to train hard for the ESWC, so Doc. DotA is sure that they will come even stronger and more motivated from their bootcamp.

Team MeetYourMakers roster:

Jacob 'Maelk' Toft-Andersen
Kai 'H4nn1-' Hanibückers
Brian 'MaNia-' Strandby
Levent 'LevenT' Isyapar
Martin ‘Pusher-Street’ Mogensen

80% of their most stable players with Pusher-Street being the only new face in this lineup. In order to follow the rules of ESWC, MYM had to add a third player of one nationality, and as Slahser can't go they added Pusher-Street. With Maelk, Mania- and Pusher-Street they now compete as a Danish team, even if both Levent- and h4nn1 are Germans.

In summary MYM is definitely a high flyer for the title. They have the experience of champions but their confidence must have certaintly taken a knock after their performances in v6.52 were not so satisfying as in the past.

They will make it into the play offs for sure, and Doc. DotA has made some special analysis that proves they will also be seen in the final.

Doc. DotA just found out that their American player Clinton 'Fear' Loomis will also be in Paris, but he won't be eligible to play the tournament. Maybe we will see him as cheerleader or just to raise the morale of his team mates.



Plus46 Gaming

The second Danish team in this group is one which consists entirely of Danes, and as there is no national qualifier for Denmark they will fight hard to win the tickets for San Jose.

Doc. DotA had a short telephone conference with Thomas 'StoDDeReN' Gregersen, and in a second of distraction he said that he wants to bribe Doc. DotA!

Doc. DotA as medical and pyschological support of SK.DotA became invited to spend the prize money Plus46 may win with those guys in a pub in Paris, if he would be able to demoralize their opponents and SK.DotA in a potential clash so Plus46 can win the title.

Scandal! Drama! But Doc. DotA is sorry that he cannot show any proof for this - every information leaked from confidential conferences may be punished. A great gift may change this, you know how to contact Doc. DotA if you want more information, don't you?

Plus46 roster:

Martin 'AngeLofgoD' Olsen
Rasmus 'Misery-' Berg
Alexander 'Smiske' Troensegaard
Thomas 'StoDDeReN' Gregersen
Mikkel 'miGGel' Berg

A brief analysis shows up that Plus46 can be a force in Paris. They finished the last Prime Defending in the top four, and they earned a draw versus the on form SK.DotA team this week.

Plus46 is a team that can shock their opponents with great picks and a heavy pressure on all lanes through the whole game.

That is if they are able to stand the new circumstances of playing in front of an audience. If they can focus on their skills and do not get distracted in any way they will guarantee us some exciting matches that will open the results. They will have their chances to beat the Evil Geniuses and MeetYourMakers, the only question left will be if they can convert them into victories.

Saturday will show us!



Serious Gaming

One of the local French teams. Part of the competitive DotA scene for quite some time now.

Formed of the remains of Dimension4 and some more high skilled French players they were called RedBear before they became Serious Gaming.

Serious Gaming roster:

Clément 'SoycD' Rodmacq
Loic 'Kiram' Renoullin
Marko 'Silentcat' Kovacevic
Olivier 'i)arka' Barriere
Thomas 'Jester - LTM' Wolff

They are very active, playing most of the tournaments and leagues, but the big breakthrough with wins against the top dogs is still missing.

They already played some offline events, so they might have a little advantage with the crowd. They are also playing at home, in their capital – and maybe they will be the surprise of the event.

However, Doc. DotA is sure that they won’t make it into the playoffs. With MeetYourMakers and Evil Geniuses in their group they got two tough opponents. They performed without the needed penetrating power for months now, and it is essential in order to beat top four teams of their group.

Their only chance is to play the role of the underdog so well that their enemies play over confidently so SRS can benefit from their mistakes. Overall my analysis says that the French fans should not bet on their mates this time.



Reborn

Humpf … Doc. DotA has no analysis for these guys from Iran.

Nobody knows them, they are the grey ghost of this event. Maybe they are the secret weapon of their local scene, but all facts point that they will show a poor performance compared to the other attendees.

Reborn roster:

Official ESWC roster

…not even the ESWC page knows who will play for the Iranian team