The Arbalet Cup Dallas event begins this Friday July 16th just outside of Dallas, Texas following the ESEA LAN Finals. It has been widely reported that there are six confirmed European teams, with the rest of the teams hailing from North-America.

Given the timing of the Arbalet Cup tournament in conjunction with the ESEA LAN Finals, the vast majority of the American participants in this tournament will be playing in both events. This means we will get to see premiere American ESEA-Invite teams Evil Geniuses , compLexity and Loaded in action but the vast majority of the Arbalet bracket will be filled with mediocre ESEA-Main rosters.

The big question is can any of these up and coming American teams pull off an upset against the likes of SK Gaming, Na`Vi or Mouz? Many would say not a chance - but regardless of what you think, I think everyone will agree that it's nice to see some international competition back on North-American soil.


Professional Teams (ESEA-Invite)

Evil Geniuses (ESEA-I) - fRoD, Storm, n0thing, lurppis, goodfornothing

Team EG is one of the few rosters on this list that needs no introduction. They are a top 2 team in America, alongside compLexity, and finished 3rd in the regular season of ESEA-I with a 13-3 record (behind Finesse and Area 51).

Not much else needs to be said about EG, they have the most LAN experience out of any American team in attendance, and they have the best shot at toppling a European giant at the event. EG have won season 2, season 3 and season 5 of ESEA-Invite with season 1 not having an invite division and stumbling in season 4 placing 3rd behind coL and Loaded.

Finesse Gaming (ESEA-I) - bsw, dizzaman, seangares, semphis, truls

If any team is going to cause a huge upset at the Arbalet Cup, I think it will be Finesse. The guys are having a rough time cementing themselves as a top tier team because every other week they seem to switch organizations, but the rosters remain relatively static and it is widely known they are extremely dedicated to practicing.

Finesse had the best record in the ESEA-I regular season (14-2), beating both coL and EG along the way. They have a dangerous AWPer in sgares and are one of the more experienced teams in terms of domestic LAN experience. Look for Finesse to make a splash at Arbalet.

compLexity (ESEA-I) - Xp3, dboorN, evolution, hero, thomz

compLexity is the other American name that currently holds respect in the international CS community (along with EG). They finished 4th in the ESEA-Invite (12-4) regular season and recently had a fairly strong performance at the ESWC, placing 5-8th.

coL's last ESEA-I season was their worst yet where they placed 4th in ESEA S5 behind EG, Immortal-7 and Loaded. Other than that they have placed 2nd in every season with the exception of season 4 when they managed to beat EG and take home gold.

Loaded (ESEA-I) - steno, hostile, pauLy, adrenaline, djibouti

Loaded is the only other CS team besides EG and coL that really has any sound financial backing behind them. They finished 5th in the ESEA-I regular season (10-6) and most recently, 2nd at the WCG Quiver Shoot-Out behind EG.

The roster consists of experienced LAN players steno and hostile and the remaining players have had their taste of offline competition as well. Many would consider Loaded one of the 'big 3' in North-America now a days, and in order for them to prove they're here to stay, they are going to need impressive finishes at the ESEA LAN Finals and in the Arbalet Cup.

Area51 ca (ESEA-I) - Grt, Scorpian, Medic, Lalonde, n0swal

Area 51 is the only Canadian team in attendance and because of that, they will win this tournament. Ha - I wish. Area 51 had an extremely successful ESEA-I regular season finishing ahead of both EG and coL with a 13-3 record.

The team, formerly known as ECO, is lead by veteran Grt and is filled out by a number of relatively successful Canadian players who have represented themselves domestically. Similar to Finesse, be sure to watch this team to see if their regular season ESEA success continues in Dallas.

Underestimated (ESEA-I) - iNERTiA, zid, mason, rambo, spyro

UE has what many would consider two former top American players in Team 3D's Rambo and JMC's zid, but it appears they haven't really been able to get their 1.6 game back since their return from the CGS. They finished with a 9-7 record in ESEA-I and did not do so well at the recent Pre-ESEA/Arbalet LG tournament.

With that being said though, on paper, all of these players have a huge amount of LAN experience, and international LAN experience at that. I don't think the chemistry is there or that the team is taking CS that seriously at this point - but this roster is stacked.


Amateur Teams (ESEA-Main)

Team34 (CEVO-M) - nolimit, thetoy, tigerz, twizzy, jago

Team34 is a name that has been lingering around the amateur leagues for awhile but they have never really been able to make the transition to the upper echelon of online play. They did win the 12th season of CEVO-M recently, but are not participating in ESEA.

Believe it or not, the team actually attended the ESWC 2008 in San Jose, California alongside EG, X3O and MoB representing America, where the highlight of the tournament was getting stomped by MYM 16-0 (currently the Polish Frag eXecutors team and eventual ESWC 2008 champions). What could work for this team is that their roster is very long standing, so chemistry should not be a problem for them.

backfire (ESEA-M) - hiko, nEtt1k, cnosyt, IMP, MurtnaT

Backfire was the best team in the ESEA-M regular season finishing with a flawless 16-0 record. Based off this accomplishment, they technically have the best shot at being the ESEA-M dark horse of the event.

Backfire initially made a name for themselves back at the BUY.com LAN in 2007 where they upset a Canadian CheckSix team 16-5 in the opening day of the tournament. This was the same x6 roster that upset Swedish powerhouse NiP at Winter CPL 2006 and placed 9-16th in the tournament.

Yadlla (ESEA-M) - lp, sp, youKNOW, whoiswhois, HandleD

Other than having a weird name, there's not much else I can say about Yadlla (I think it's a play on 'allday' backwards - but anyways). They finished 14-2 in the ESEA-M regular season, and I'm fairly sure none of them have any appreciable LAN experience.

Team To Beat (ESEA-M) - DrJeek, Agent_Scoutz, summit_, lil_professor, tackett, m4v3r1ck

Similar to Yadlla, this team also finished with a 14-2 record in ESEA-M and have yet to really prove themselves as a serious competitor online with a whole slew of decent performances in CEVO-M and ESEA-M. They don't have any 'ex-pro' players lurking on their roster and I wouldn't expect them to turn any heads.

The Dons (ESEA-M) - brohEEM, sLip, SecretAgent, Gill, citoak

The Dons finished strong in the ESEA-M regular season (11-5), somewhat of a disappointment in their eyes considering they have won the league in the past. Their roster doesn't have any stand out LAN players, with the exception of Jose 'SecretAgent' Fernandez who has played in a few Mexican ESWC/WCG/Kode5 qualifiers (and in the CGS for CSS).

TAU (No League) - punkville, trav, coolahaNx, GoSu, zrk

This team is interesting because the only reason they're not competing in the ESEA LAN Finals is because they're banned from ESEA for evading bans. The name 'Texas Area Untouchables' is actually fairly known throughout the community and so are a few of the players.

They most recently competed at the Pre-ESEA/Arbalet LG tournament placing 3rd behind EG and Finesse. Players like punkville and GoSu are dinosaurs in the American CS community and have had their moments of success over the years, but nothing recently. It should be interesting to see how this team performs on the big stage, because a few of their members have stepped up their game and had success on LAN in the past.

Exultance (ESEA-M) - newbits, pauii, beeov, ecsppf, rillazLH

Not much can be said about Exultance. They had a mediocre regular season finishing at 10-6 (a record that 7 other teams ended up having). They finished 4th in season 5 of ESEA-M. Despite seeing the teams name being represented at the recent WCG Quiver Shoot-Out it appeared to be mostly just a mix/pug roster.

Vicious Gaming (ESEA-M) - GrizzLy, phrozen, HOJOH, SICKPREN, peachie37

This team had one of the best ESEA-Main records in the regular season wrapping up the season at 12-4. The roster actually has some mildly recognizable players in GrizzLy and peachie37 whom have played on some hit-and-miss CEVO-P teams and done well in previous ESEA-M seasons. Unlike many of the other ESEA-M rosters, most of these guys have competed on LAN domestically so this is a team that will be ready to compete in an offline environment.

Akta (ESEA-M) - beachnut, swiN, Flicker, patt1s, chrispiiii, cole

A roster with quite a few Canadian players, atka finished in the middle of the rankings in ESEA-M and has been active in the league since the main division was created. By the looks of it, their most LAN experienced player is beachnut who has competed at a few WCG Canada qualifiers but that is about it. Look to see this team hold their own early on in the tournament against some of the other amateur American teams, but I don't see them getting much further than that.

CyberRevolution (ESEA-M) - unity, dmode, struck, equalizer, maiden

CyberRev had a good record in ESEA-M and they were put on the finalized list for teams coming into Arbalet, but I'm not sure if they will end up being there. Their official ESEA roster only has four players, and they have 2/5 signed up on ESEA's tournament page.

ne plus ultra (ESEA-M) - fgdtc, murk3d, hasse, kleppyTOMAHAWK, JMZ

These guys finished just barely above 0.500 in ESEA-M and do not stand out in terms of having any players with LAN experience. Besides a few CAL and CEVO championships in the amateur brackets, npu is likely going to be a team making an early exit at Arbalet.


Open Teams

Below are the remaining teams that are registered for the event but do not participate in the ESEA-Main league. It appears these teams have not even broken into the amateur online scene or they are pug/mixed rosters so it would be pointless to really size them up. Best of luck to Animus, weTake, Max and Admission as they do their best to gain some experience against some top teams at the Arbalet Cup Dallas.

Animus, weTake, Max, Admission (Not participating in online leagues)

(Rosters and league records courtesy of ESEA)