The semi finals of the competition are very hard to predict, especially that the teams are tested against each other on the length of only one map. If you add to it the random nature of modern Counter-Strike, then picking a winner out of those four teams is a difficult task.

Mousesports have had a great tournament so far but consistency is not what this team is really known for. They can beat any team on any given Sunday but they can also lose - you just never know with those guys.

Their opponents are Fnatic, a team which seems to hand out victories to opponents much more often than in the previous two years. But the Swedes can be compared to a wounded wild animal - they are more dangerous this way.

The other semi final will be played between Mortal TeamWork and Roccat and is also not an easy one to predict. Both teams have been playing an equally impressive tournament so far. Even though the results of the Finnish team seem to be more convincing, one can never tell what is going to happen on one map in CS.

There is no doubt about it, though, that Sunday's spectacle is going to be special. After all, we have had great spectacles and great drama, we have had favourites knocked out and teams pulling out improbable comebacks. The Masters of Paris will definitely a tournament to be remembered.

But what will it be remembered for?

Most of the time it is difficult to predict that without having seen the final. But whatever happens in the Masters semi finals and final, it will be difficult to overshadow the tragedy that of Meet Your Makers.

The winners of last year's ESWC lost the right to defend the title after they had gone over from PGS to MYM and then gave up their right to qualify for the 2008 ESWC Grand Final when they chose to go to Kode5 in Moscow instead of the preliminary.

Their only chance to qualify was to go to the ESWC Masters and place top three among the teams that haven't qualified. They treated their appearance in Paris very seriously, trained hard and seemed to be in shape after winning the DreamHack tournament recently. To their despair, the Poles lost two matches today and got eliminated not only from the event in Paris but the one in San Jose as well.

Their plight is the success of other teams. The ESWC Grand Final will always be this much earier without MYM and not many players will complain about that.

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