The Masters of Athens is the second masters event hosted by the ESWC, the first being Masters of Paris, one of the more exciting events in 2008.

Jae Ho 'Moon' Jang met Xiaofeng 'Sky' Li in the finals where the Korean night elf secured first place. Though the star attraction was surely Du Seop 'WhO' Chang, who exploded into the public eye after finishing fourth.

2008 has been quite a year for up-and-coming talent, starting with WhO at the Masters of Paris, later going on to win the ESWC grand finals, where Martin 'Bonecracker' Hušák first caught the public's attention.

From there it was on to the BlizzCon, where Pedro 'LucifroN' Moreno Durán secured his status as one of the more promising amateurs to emerge recently.

2008 has been, above all else, an exciting year for Warcraft III. Who knows what promising young talent might emerge next, or which of the veterans might take their first international win of the year?

This weekend the Warcraft community gifts Greece with an international competition. Will Greece return the favour and present the community with a new champion?

Group A - WhO, Check, yAwS and ElementWaRRioR

Group A, much like B and C look to be slam dunks for the two top seeds. WhO versus Check is liable to be quite an exciting match with WhO coming off a great performance at the ESWC, while Check recently won Bnet season six, eliminating FoCuS, SocceR, ReMinD and Lyn to earn the top seed.

WhO's performance versus night elf has been back and forward recently, with losses to SocceR, ReMinD and one verus SoJu, it's tough to predict just how he'll perform.

We won't know if he's worked the kinks out of his night elf match up until we see him in Athens.





Group B - Moon, ToD, SpiCy and Vankor

Group B seems quite straightforward as well, with the only uncertainties being which of ToD or Moon will finish first and which of SpiCy or Vankor will finish third.

Of the two, Moon has certainly had the better results in recent months, though his latest results are admittedly a little sketchy.

Moon lost both of his matches in the Bnet qualifiers, his WC3L results have been a little under par, losing to both WinNers and Check. Moon is still riding high on his Worldwide Invitational and Masters of Paris wins, though his performance has definitely dipped since then.

ToD's results have also gone into a tailspin over the course of these last few months. His performance at the European BlizzCon qualifiers was considerably weaker than what most have come to expect from the Frenchman. It's unclear as to whether or not he's managed to finesse his way out of the funk he seems to be trapped in, though I'm sure we'll find out this weekend.





Group C - Grubby, ReMinD, hG, iblazatar

The Group C participants don't look as if they'll cause Grubby or ReMinD much trouble, with the exception of one another. Grubby's orc match up is definitely solid at the moment, though his night elf game has often been a trouble spot. Grubby is still waiting for his first big intercontinental win of 2008, he's sure to show up swinging at Athens.

ReMinD likewise is still waiting for a big win in 2008. His orc game of recent weeks has been working out well for him, beating Grubby two to nil earlier in the WC3L season as well as recent wins over WhO and FoCuS.

It's always a tough match to call between these two. With so many powerful night elves participating, it's imperative that Grubby has his night elf match down to a science. This group stage match should be a good indicator as to how Grubby will fare throughout the rest of the competition.





Group D - Lyn, SaSe, HoT and SeGaL

Group D is without question the most interesting of the four groups. HoT has certainly lost a lot of steam since his heyday, while SaSe's most consistent trait is his struggle with inconsistency.

Lyn's performance has been solid recently, his night elf match is especially strong at the moment. It's probably safe to say Lyn has a lock on this group. The conundrum is between HoT and SaSe, which of the two will qualify?

HoT has what is arguably the stronger mirror match, tossing SaSe's trouble with inconsistency in on top of that makes it look like HoT is a dead cert to take this match, but SaSe tends to be a bit of a wild card.

While HoT is able to utilize his practice to gain results, SaSe having practiced in no way guarantees his performance. We could see three very tense, exciting matches or we may see HoT steamroll SaSe. We just won't know until the weekend rolls around.