(GotFrag) August 21, 2008 - The ten starters that will take to the pixilated battlefield for SK and Fnatic next week have come a long way; their ESCW 08 campaigns are colored by the player’s individual history, and fueled by their organization’s extreme ambition to win the one title that has eluded both thus far.

When “carn”, “f0rest”, “Tentpole” and “Archi” joined “dsn” to don the black and orange shirts in January 2006, SK’s team had just won the most competitive CPL Winter to date with NiP placing fourth.

It was the worst possible time to challenge the established giants of Swedish Counter-Strike.

“f0rest” and “Tentpole” finished sixth with Begrip at that tournament. “dsn” lead a leaking Fnatic ship into indifferent waters between 13th and 16th place. “walle” and “ins” tried to derail SK in the upper bracket, but was overwhelmed on de_cbble. “SpawN” gave a compelling performance as ever in the grand finale, one that further enhanced his reputation and gave SK the gold. “Allen” and “Archi” are the only two players from today’s line-ups that were not on the scoreboard at that tournament.

SK had struggled since winning everything in 2003, and despite their reaffirmation at winter `05, their talented roster could not produce the consistent results that most fans, sponsors and partners had come to expect. Fnatic, on the other hand, could. In many ways, these two teams represent two generations of Swedish dominance where SK were the initial rulers before the paradigm changed with the formation of the 2006 Fnatic line-up. As SK wallowed in turmoil and mixed results, Fnatic could rack up tournament win after tournament win as the dominant force not only in Swedish CS, but world-wide.

In August 2008, SK seems to have rediscovered the recipe for success after several winning tournaments. This success could lead to an ESWC final where SK faces Fnatic to settle scores that can be traced through years of heated CS: 1.6 competition between the two organizations.

SK’s re-ascension to their throne.

Discussing or comparing SK’s championship line-ups is hard, but it is even more difficult to understand how and why they worked – or not. The immense amount of success they experienced in the earlier years also inspired the fall from grace. It was a huge test to the management skills in the organization.

The best formal decision SK has made since adding “element” in the summer of 2003 to inspire their mythical winning streak, was signing Dennis “walle” Wallenberg to lead the team of strong players capable of outshooting anyone in the young “Allen” and seasoned “Spawn.” Under “walle’s” leadership, with “Robban” and “Tentpole” providing balance to the randomness that can follow in the wake of the fan favorite’s unpredictability, they look like a coherent team. The signing of “walle” seemed to yield instant results as they took second behind Fnatic at Extreme Masters in Los Angeles last fall, but with the turn of the year controversy surrounding the team’s benched sixth player struck. The attractive aiming skills of “Get_Right” landed him a shot in the line-up for Extreme Masters on SK’s home soil in Germany as Abdisamad “Spawn” Mohamed retired.

Two weeks later, “Spawn” was back in the mix as the team decided the young talent was not right, after all. Wallenberg cited chemistry as the main reason for bringing back Mohamed – their fourth place finish at a stacked EM event was not bad and did not warrant the change in its own right.

The chemistry brought SK a third place finish at Kode 5, again behind Fnatic. At Dreamhack Summer they lost another semi-final, this time to their Finnish nemesis Roccat, but took Fnatic’s scalp in a thrilling match that went through several overtimes. During ESWC Masters in Paris, Fnatic reestablished the status quo of the past by knocking SK down from the upper bracket.

Coming into the biggest tournament of the year, the thing to remember about this line-up is that they can definitively beat anyone; they have a coherent mix of game styles with a wealth of experience from big matches to rely on in the dying seconds of a close call - and they have players with the x-factor as well.

If Wallenberg can puppet-master this roster to the ESWC title, his status as SK legend should be sealed forever. Not even the indestructible team from the golden year of 2003 could bring “Bds” and “Theslash” an Electronic Sports World Cup.

Fnatics’ third time charm?

This author once ranked Fnatic above the SK of 2003 due to their uncanny ability to consistently perform in a more competitive environment throughout their two and a half year tenure with almost the same starting five.

However, they say history remembers titles, not names – and despite racking up a number of victories, they have not won a World Cyber Games, an ESWC or even a Kode 5 title, after succumbing to MTW in Moscow earlier in 2008. To their credit, their list of achievements does include a CPL title from the Winter 2006 event.

Unlike SK, who has struggled at ESWC in the past, Fnatic has enjoyed two great runs ending at the feet of the eventual winners each year. They lost the final to a rampant MIBR in `06, and dropped two straight maps to PGS after winning the first in 2007’s semi-final. Oskar “Ins” Holm had been not been able to shake that defeat as he sat in the crowd during the spectacular final last year. His only comment as he watched PGS and NoA was “This hurts.”

Fnatic’s form has been as predictable as ever. It includes victories at E-Stars, Gamegune and Extreme Masters LA in 2007, a victory at Samsung European championship and second places at Kode 5 and ESWC Masters in 2008. They come to ESWC San Jose with their eye on the prize, one that will be the definitive high point of their careers and almost certainly earn them an even more important one, the undisputed top team in the history of the game. Knowing the vanity of professional gamers, that’s one chip they’d love to wear on their shoulder.

To win Fnatic need their top guns to perform to their well known potential, as well as to find the edge to defeat MTW who has had their number in two consecutive finals, in Moscow and Paris.


All roads lead to... Part 1