I hope you guys noticed that my column hasn’t been around recently. Since I got back from holiday I’ve been busy with university work and a bereavement in my girlfriend’s family.

But after a hectic couple of weeks for myself I’m returning just in time for an equally frantic fortnight in World of Warcraft. Extreme Masters’ fourth season kicks off on Wednesday with Blizzcon hot on its heels, starting on Friday. That’s five days straight of compelling arena action with most of the world’s best teams battling it out. And then next weekend there’s MLG carrying on where Blizzcon leaves off but I need something to write about next Tuesday!


Extreme Masters

The first EM tournament may have a slightly weaker field than previous events but the unknown elements add much to the excitement. Although last season’s European champions, iNNERFiRE will surely enter as favourites there are so many uncertain factors that make the tournament difficult to predict.

New teams, transferred players and complete roster overhauls give the Cologne tournament a real ‘new season’ feel in much the same way as football’s summer signings do. Fan favourites, Ensidia have undergone their first change since joining the organisation at the beginning of the year. Thomas 'Flyn' Kogler, formerly of eDawgs, joins the team on mage, replacing 'RedH' . It seems like a reasonable change despite Redhot’s greater LAN experience. Replacing an old friend is never easy but as an up-and-coming talent looking to break into the scene, Flyn is the perfect choice.

against All authority Rat is another EM team that has made a change. This time it’s the priest, as long time member Eugene 'Anelit' Kviatkevitch makes way for another new talent, Ugo 'Thorkin' Paci. The 20 year old Frenchman impressed during Dreamhack and ESL TV’s invitational, despite his previous team’s mediocre performances. With his new team mates he has a much better chance of taking the next step towards glory and prize money.

Of course, as a member of SK staff I hope that SK Gaming SANSIBAR can pull off some upsets in their first tournament. Little is known about the German squad, giving them the element of surprise. Never the less, experience is definitely against them and with Innerfire in their group it will be a tough task for them to make decent headway. The Bulgarians could conceivably go undefeated in the group stage, giving them an important confidence boost as they go into the knockout stage. It would take a brave man to bet against them this weekend.

Blizzcon

The second tournament this week is probably the biggest of the year for both fans and players alike. It’s been that way in previous years but this year has one of the best team lineups yet. A perfectly even mix of regions means that some teams missed out, but the ones that made it will all add something to the tournament. There will be no boring games at Blizzcon.

Just look at the first round and you see four unmissable matches. I may be biased, but the pick of the first round games is clearly the EU-US clash. SK Gaming USA will have its back-to-back record severely tested early on as they go up against Woah , home to last year’s Blizzcon winner, Patrick 'Inflame' Costales. This is a game fit for any final but for it to come up in the very first round just shows how strong the field is this year.

Elsewhere we have the surprise winners of the European qualifier, x6tence taking on one of the most exciting teams in the world, Button Bashers . The Koreans only finished second in their qualifier but are still an immense threat to every team at the event. Then we get to see whether that second place was because of Ship it ’s skill or a case of BB getting WOTLK’d back in season five. The cleave setup that Ship it qualified with has been significantly weakened since then and it will be an uphill struggle if they don’t have a second comp.

As for the Taiwanese teams, they represent the dark horses of the tournament. Both All Pass and DKP will be tested in the first round but they represent a mostly unknown quantity to their first opponents. The few VODs released from the Taiwan qualifier showed that the tournament was very cleave-heavy. Whether they have had the practice against RMP and WLD set-ups will be a big factor in how far these two teams can progress. Still, if there is a weak link in the tournament, DKP has the chance to test it when they take on TSG .

Whichever way this one ends, be sure you don’t miss a single game. This will be one of the defining tournaments in WoW’s brief history.

The Zechs Files returns next Tuesday, I promise! In the mean time you can follow Extreme Masters right here and Blizzcon here.