Article by: Chris "confire" Luong, Brett "Few" Sheffield and Andrew "Conflict" Nguyen

This is the seventh part of X3O's Winter Classic 2008's "Who is Who", if you missed the earlier editions, you can check them out below:

Part 1 (X3O)
Part 2 (Gravitas, LOOK, deadendtheory)
Part 3 (FD, Drift, Southern Aggression)
Part 4 (makeSHIFT, PAY, Initial)
Part 5 (Dynasty, Backdraft, AGENT)
Part 6 (Sure Shot, ATP, TFM)

With a lot of newer, up and coming teams attending, we at X3O-Gaming.com thought that they deserved some spotlight. Normally when someone starts to watch a tournament from the comfort of their home online, they focus on the main three or four teams that they know. X3O-Gaming.com wants to make it easier for you at our Gaming Center's debut event of 2009. We are going to start giving you, the fans an overall summary on the teams that will be attending. We will be adding to this list as time goes on, so stay tuned to learn about all the teams that will be attending the first ever X3O Winter Classic.

Click HERE to view the event page of X3O's Winter Classic 2008. The team list is HERE!

Varsity (as of 1/8/09):

• Rob "geez" Maher
• Chris "pinki" Ormeno
• Zach "hurlz" Hoch
• Jimmy "deefop" Henenlotter
• TBD

Interestingly, this team started off going into the Winter Classic as a pug under the name "goonies". Fortunately, they decided to take this tournament seriously, putting in some more practice and dedication and they replaced the pug with an actual team in Varsity. The team itself started off in CAL-Open two seasons ago. They advanced up to CAL-Intermediate later on and are currently a CAL-Main team who just finished off the season with a fairly decent record 9-7 being able to become positive just as the season ended. With the online scene pretty much being conquered by them, they tried out the LAN scene, attending the CyGamz LAN in October 2008. They were able to place 5th in the tournament, making a statement for them. Unfortunately, attending one LAN will not help them going into the Winter Classic. It will be interesting how they will take on top amateur teams like Dynasty Gaming and Initial, let alone the professional teams ( Gravitas, Frag Dominant and X3O)

Gordon Bombay (as of 1/8/09):

• Corey "corey34" Pollnow
• Paul "tomcho34" Tomcho
• Brad "est" Tse
• Andrew "AtKisaMONSTA" Kim
• TBD

The coaches of the Mighty Ducks are coming to Maryland not for hockey, but for Counter-Strike. And much like the movie, they are considered the underdogs in the tournament along with a few other teams. A team that recently formed, they have been preparing for the Winter Classic, spending most of their time by practicing against top tier teams and focusing on developing flawless strategies to use. Most of these players have previous CAL-Premier experience and they are currently signed up for the upcoming season of CEVO. Though this will be their first time going to a LAN together as a team, their LAN experience is above sub-par, with at least one of them attending to one of the 2008 Dust-Off Qualifiers and other various LAN events such as those held at web2zone (a LAN center in New York) where a couple of the players ended up taking 4th place. However, it is doubtful that we will get to see this team going out and winning big like how the Mighty Ducks did with Gordon Bombay.

Hypnosis (as of 1/8/09):

• Daniel "dano" Goodman
• Mike "vikingdt2" Rachuba
• Tim "NickFury" McNew
• Remy "ciPRO" Belleville
• Allen "Krypto" Tracey

The Winter Classic will be the first LAN event this team will attend as a full team, much like other teams participating in this event. However, they are not to be underestimated as they all have LAN experience with most of them going to at least one of our own X3O/Dust-Off LAN events. They maintain a record of 7-1 in CAL-Open awaiting playoffs to start in the upcoming weeks as well as preparing for ESEA. What is surprising is that they are sponsored by a LAN center, GameNet in Belair, Maryland. With that being said, they have all the resources and the potential to grow and become one of the top teams. Expect this team to make some upsets along the way.

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As always, stay tuned here at X3O-Gaming.com for the latest Team X3O news, coverage and more!