Supposedly this Arbalet Cup was Europe, and supposedly even in Stockholm - however looking at the top teams we can assume that we played somewhere across our eastern border.

No one can deny - the efforts of Murat Zumaszewicz gave the "eastern" Counter-Strike scene a strong kick. Suddenly as mushroom coming out after a shower, teams have started sprouting up that are fighting with Europe's elite - and winning quite often! And I'm not talking about Natus Vincere, which in my opinion is a phenomenal team - maybe as good as (yes, yes) Pentagram G-Shock from 2006. This will all be determined by how markeloff and co. bounce back from their upset. However, the Russian and Ukranian scene has suddenly become a breeding ground for many fresh, and interesting teams.

Today he's the one watched by the famed - GuX, face and SpawN watching markeloff's game. // phot. HLTV.org

The cold hard facts: in the top eight teams of Arbalet Cup Europe there were four teams from across our Eastern border: two each from Ukraine and Russia. And only one German and most importantly - one Swedish team, when the Swedes not long ago were the European "capital" of Counter-Strike. And almost ironically, the biggest disappointment of the tournament was the Swedish powerhouse SK Gaming - in their own internet cafe!

The elimination of SK was the biggest sensation of the first day of the tournament. Unlike Frag eXecutors, RobbaN and co. have been playing on a consistent and high level. However at ACE they didn't advance from a group with teams such as: WMF, EG, and UNiTED - which comparing to Group A, was not the strongest group of the tournament. What more, they finished last place in their group defeating only the Russians (the weakest of the "Eastern" teams in this tournament). A similar thing happened to MYM, who did not win a single match in their group, and just recently they were being compared to the top teams from around the world. I'm not talking about H2k for two reasons: first of all, this team has still not made a name for themselves, and second because of all the Swedish teams who didn't advance - they played the best and missed the second group stage by a hair.

Fight Ukraine! Strike with PiNG was trying to warm-up his players in the "Golden Five" style. // phot. HLTV.org

Our "Golden Five" also won't count their trip to Stockholm to their "good" trips. There isn't much to hide here, our players definitely weren't counting on just a third group phase in a row and nothing more. Their victory against Ravens and the good form of pasha (who recently received the most criticism following the last two tournaments) had us expecting Fx to return to the elite. However forZe had other plans. It is worth adding that on the same map of de_dust2, the Russians defeated Na'Vi at Arbalet Cup CIS, meaning their good form in this map was definitely no fluke.

Generally, at Arbalet Cup Europe we had practically all of Europe's elite, and the teams looking to get there. I already wrote about SK, MYM, and Fx. But also in the big black hole we found... Alternate, Ravens (they were also supposed to be amazing!), and the two American teams - who practically funded themselves a trip to Stockholm and back.

From the "Western teams" only fnatic performed. // phot. HLTV.org

Only one team survived the Western bad luck, and this was fnatic. Another matter is that in the current squad of Sam Matthews, his team members are the ones who decide whether they lose or win - it all depends on their mental game. But already mouz, who played really well in the first day - was barely dealing with matches on the second day most notably seen with their match against mTw. The Danes didn't show anything interesting at Arbalet either. I will even risk saying that Frag eXecutors would be in the same place even, had they been able to just get past the first group phase.

The facts cannot be dismissed: during the whole entire tournament, mTw los to Na'Vi three times in blowout wins. They beat a very weak MYM, crawled through their match against Alternate (what Fx wasn't able to do with forZe), and took advantage of the weaker form of mouz. Their one "stronger" match was the one against fnatic, but so what? It was a loss anyway. Of course, they did win their third place match against PiNG, but the experience and chemistry of the two teams is not even comparable. In my opinion, mTw and Fx have problems on the same level with both teams not being able to find themselves after their roster changes (in mTw - many and repeating). At Arbalet Cup, the Danes just had a little more luck.

The sad faces of the world champions - kuben and Loord, again as spectators. // phot. HLTV.org

However in general terms, neither Europe, the States, or Korea had much to say in this tournament. Geographically everyone was beaten by the teams from Russia and Ukraine. We won't have to wait long before these fresh teams just like Eastern companies, and these teams without the chemistry of the old elite, will be winning the biggest international tournaments left and right - if they don't get conceited. Arbalet Cup Europe was a major disappointment for Western Europe and a great success for the teams from Eastern Europe. The tournament also showed, that at least CS-wise - we belong already in Western Europe.