WCG rears its head once more, the tournament which remains the highlight of the year, and the one which normally marks the end of the competitive calendar for the given year just before winter really sets in.

This year has some minor casualties during the process of qualification such as TeD and ReMinD and we are without any Spaniards, Swedes, Norwegians, Finns or Brits this time around as qualifiers were skipped or WCG spots awarded to games less warmly embraced by the hardcore eSports community.

However, as in 2007 we are blessed with a returning inactive pro, with Yoan 'ToD' Merlo bringing back memories of the late Creolophus who went all the way to take gold two years ago. We also have the benefit of the Chinese crowds who are world-renowned for being the most passionate when it comes to eSports to pump up the volume and raise the stakes. Any challenger to a Chinese gold medal, regardless of their home nation will have to beat not only their opponent but shield themselves from the cries and cheers which aim to culminate in his own demise rather than his success.

Going into the tournament a gold medal for China in Warcraft3 is perfectly reasonable considering Fly is in the best form of the participating players right now coming off the back of a 1st place in IEM Chengdu and IEF2009. Sky who beat Fly in the G-League Season VIII last month is also a major contender, given Sky not only has the home advantage but also a crowd behind him who would lick the mouse mat he sweats on.

As far as a gold medal for Korea goes Lyn took 1st at BLizzcon in August but had a bumpy IEM Chengdu, but is always a constant threat and did not take part in WCG last year despite an outstanding performance during the course of the year.

They say a watched pot never boils and the constant expectations to reach top notch every competition and return to his former glory bear down on their shoulders perhaps a little too heavily on the other gold medal hopeful Jae Ho 'Moon' Jang.

Moon took 2nd last year and showed a godlike performance in IEM Chengdu last month, in particular against FoCuS, but still struggles to return to his former dominance. The remaining Korean candidate Du Seop 'WhO' Chang will have no better stage to justify his addition to SK Gaming than WCG, after the format of his first international tournament for SK, IEF2009, saw him exit the tournament in no time at all.

As for the rest of the world, Dmitriy 'Happy' Kostin and Manuel 'Grubby' Schenkhuizen’s current form is dubious, but with only Ciara and an inactive ToD as the other experienced Europeans, they should be the ones to push for a top3 place should Europe find a path through the playoffs.

The Groupstage

The groupstage of WCG remains a no-brainer in terms of predictions with two extremely strong players per group with only a handful of feasible upsets. The most obvious is a rusty Terror in group B who meets the reigning champion Manuel 'Grubby' Schenkhuizen and SK’s Du Seop 'WhO' Chang.

Terror has been out of action for a year,with Dreamhack winter 2008 his last offline competition and although Orc versus Undead is not a match-up that favours the Scourge, it is however a match-up that other players will have been unlikely to practice after TeD did not qualify and Happy who did qualify is experience a dip in form during the second half of the year. The best-of-1 format which already caught Grubby out at ESWC Cheonan, could allow Terror a clear shot to pull off a major upset should he catch the Dutchman or the Korean stumbling.

The other two foreseeable bolts out of the blue are perhaps only noticeable to those who followed the tournament last year. The first is Mexican Raspot in Group E, who is amongst two fellow human players Sky and Yaws who are his obstacles to the playoffs. Raspot last year was the centre of controversy at WCG2008 when he was unknowningly cheated of a spot in the playoffs, which he deserved by right after finishing second in the groupstage.

Due to confusion over the rules when three players tie – in this case Kowi, Nightwolf and Raspot, admin Ownitsch allowed Nightwolf to go through instead of the Mexican, a mistake which was uncovered by us the evening before and then reversed by the admins the following morning only minutes before Nightwolf was set to play his first playoff match. Following the decision and Nightwolf’s rather colourful response to his exit - which was “I don’t give a f*** I’m a poker player” -, the Mexican was eliminated in the first round but even so should definitely not be underestimated this time around.

The other player waiting in the shadows to wipe out an over-confident second-place dreamer is Stud from Pakistan. Stud who was tipped last year to be able to make it out of the groupstage, was pitted against Pinky and S.o.k.o.l, and managed to defeat the latter in the standard groupstage but then lost the three-way tie between the trio for second place. This year a second-place in the groups looks a reasonable aim given he is drawn into a group with Jae Ho 'Moon' Jang and the other second place challenger is ironically S.O.k.O.l once again.

Aside from a possible hiccup or two in the playoffs, the bulk of competition and drama will as usual come in the playoffs, which remains as always best-of-3 and single elimination. With a lot of B-list Warcraft3 celebs missing there is a noticeable gap in the playing field which could mean little resistance for the A-listers, but its WCG after all, anything can happen, let us not forget Luxembourg.