One of the most talked about topics in games like Counter-Strike is the ‘dream team.’ I can’t count how many times I’ve seen threads like that on CS forums. And yet somehow, I can’t recall seeing a single WoW post in the same vein. So, for this week’s column I decided to do just that. I’ll pick a comp and then pick three players to take on the world and then you guys can tell me how wrong I am.

When I first had this idea I wanted to do a warrior/’lock/druid team. The trouble is, the only realistic warlock plays for SK and I wanted to avoid picking SK members, for obvious reasons. Then I had to eliminate warriors altogether because, frankly, it’s very hard to tell warriors apart. There is very little room for expression and creativity in the warrior play style, especially in arenas.

In the end I decided to cop out and go for RMP. It’s sturdy, it’s traditional, and it’s stood the test of time. It might not be very original, and it might have seen better days, but it is the go-to comp for competitive arenas so it’s perfect for my needs.

Rogue: Zom

I know I said I would avoid SK players, but hopefully retired ones don’t count. What can you say about this guy except that he is, in my opinion, the best rogue to have played the game. Rogue is a very, very competitive spot and there are dozens of them that could realistically be picked in an all-star team. But for me, Zom had something extra. Whether it was his weird window-mode play style or his super secret kick macro that he wouldn’t even tell me, something made him better than other rogues.

The fact that he is one of the few genuinely nice people involved with WoW is also a bonus. His attitude to the game was top notch and you rarely, if ever, saw him flaming opponents or making inflammatory videos about other players. But most of all he was just a bloody good rogue.

Mage: Orangemarmalade

Really, could it have been anyone else? This is the guy who gave us World of Warcraft’s first real “holy shit” moment. His moment of magic at last year’s IEM finals has been talked to death by now, but it still stands alone as one of the most exciting pieces of solo play the game has ever seen.

But away from all the flash play and obvious game winning moves, Orangemarmalade is an incredibly consistent performer. He rarely makes a mistake and iceblock timing is among the best in the world. Picking a guy for the mage spot – the class that most pros consider the hardest to play – would seem like a tough task but I can’t honestly see anyone who can touch Korean right now.

Priest: Hydra

This is probably the hardest spot to pick. Although there are very few top level priests, there is precious little to separate the few that do exist. Personally, I consider priest to be close to mage in terms of the skill required and the fact that a healer’s play is so often overlooked only adds to scarcity of choice.

Sadly, I felt like I had to remove Orly from the reckoning after picking Zom for the rogue spot, so that narrowed things down even further. Thorkin was another candidate but, as good as he is, I didn’t feel comfortable picking a priest who never actually won a LAN. So it came down to a toss-up between Hydra and Numberone. Realistically, this slot belongs to both of them. But since I already picked a player from Button Bashers I’ll give this one to my fellow Briton.

Hydra has that most important of priest skills; the ability to time his aggressive play. You could watch 100 Dignitas games and probably never see a team-mate die while he casts Holy Fire into an opponent. He is also the leading candidate for any “how did he survive that?!” awards that might be running – the other important skill for any priest to have.

So that’s my team. Hopefully Zom doesn’t mind coming out of retirement and Orange has been practicing his English. What about you guys? What would you World of Warcraft dream team look like?