Continental Finals Europe preview

The end of the Extreme Masters III season concludes this week when the Continental Finals Europe and Global Finals will take place at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany.

The third season of Extreme Masters has brought us around the global. It all kicked off in Leipzig, followed by Los Angeles, Montreal, Dubai, Philadelphia, Chengdu, Seoul and not it is time to finish it all off with one hell of a show, at the CeBIT IT trade fair in Hannover, Germany.

Starting with the Continental Finals Europe, twelve teams will compete for seven spots to the Global Finals, but also big cash prizes. A total of $50.000 will be up for grabs, $25.000 of the going to the winning team.

The Continental Finals got struck by a series of lineup changes just weeks until the start whistle should sound. Most interesting would be fnatic changing Oscar "Archi" Torgersen with Rasmus "Gux" Ståhl. This stated an avalanche for Blank, as they had to find a replacement very fast, in order to participate. Abdismad "SpawN" Mohamed stepped in to help the guys out. This should not be the last for Blank, as Mattias "Snajdan" Andersen reported to be sick, just yesterday, which once again put Blank in a tough position. Replacement was found in Emil "striker" Westerberg, but it is a quite amputated Blank squad we will be seeing this week.

What goes for the French team Millenium, they reported of being without their captain Steeve "Ozstrik3r" Flavigni, due to a new job, he would not be able to participate. Aurélien "dafunk" Guinard has however been pulled in to help out. Last but not least, the German n!faculty squad will have to Jérôme "shiddy" Tóth on Wednesday, as he will be taking one of his exams. Should the team advance from the group stage, then Tim "silver" Hochgrebe will be at service.

This leave group A quite less exciting than at first. Only team without a change in 2009 would be the Danes from mTw, who still, without doubt, are the top contender to win the group. It will be a close race for the remaining teams, possible much exciting to watch, who will make it and who won’t make the cut.

Group B will be where it all happens tomorrow. It is a dynamite group, with many possible teams to advance, also teams capable of pulling one hell of an upset. MYM, mousesports and SK Gaming are the top contenders to advance, but emuLate, Alternate and recently added Crack Clan will be doing their best to it up.

The surrounds will once again be the CeBIT IT trade fair, in the city of Hannover. The tournament will start off in a group stage with two groups, with each six teams. There are a total of seven spots to the Global Finals up for grabs, meaning teams will have to be on top their game if they want to advance. First and second placing teams will advance directly to the Global Finals, while third and fourth placed teams will enter the relegation stage to distribute the remaining three spots. The Continental Finals Europe will start Tuesday and end Thursday, then the Global Finals will be up ahead from Friday to Sunday, more about that later on.

Prize distribution

1. $25.000
2. $10.000
3. $6.000
4. $4.000
5-6. $2.500

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