Article by: Chris "confire" Luong and Andrew "Conflict" Nguyen

This is the ninth and FINAL part of X3O's Winter Classic 2008's "Who is Who", if you missed ANY of 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)
Part 7 (Varsity, Gordon Bombay, Hypnosis)
Part 8 (PMS.Divas, SEP, cpd)

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!

eMazing Gaming - formerly known as zEx (as of 1/15/09):

• Kevin "aZn" Wang
• Aran "i0nZ" Curbelo
• Anthony "m4gic" Coriale
• Charles "cbz" Pyo
• Josh "dEE" Wong

This is the latest team under the infamous zEx banner and prior to that, they were part of the Guardians organization. This is nearly the exact same team (with the exception of Wong [dEE]) that was part of a three way tie in group play with then- X3O (3/5 is current Gravitas) and then- Paragon of Virtue (4/5 is current X3O) at the WCG 2008 USA Finals as well as a 5-6th placing at the ESL Continental Finals Americas. It seems fairly obvious that this team is unable to get that 5th player to fit in with them as Wang (aZn), Curbelo (i0nZ), Coriale (m4gic) and Pyo (cbz) have been together for quite a long time and although never being able to win a major LAN event, they have proved they have the talent to do it with above average LAN placings along with a CEVO-Main title last season.

Their most recent activity was partaking in the CEVO Placement Tournament where they got through fairly easily with notable victories over compLexity/JMC, Paragon of Virtue and makeSHIFT (formerly Enhanced). With their solid performance online, it will be interesting to see if they can bring that same type of play to X3O at the Winter Classic.

Nonetheless with three other professional teams (X3O, Gravitas and Frag Dominant) at the event, they will have to prove they are a top American team with this five and deserving of their sponsorship by eMazing Gaming - especially with the state of today's economy.

By Our Powers Combined! (as of 1/15/09):

• Giovanni "rizzy" Martina
• Jonathan "jon" Coleman
• John "Lean" Quisenberry
• Fred "fs" Solebo
• Leo "applecakes" Roca

This team was formerly known as Final Vision, has been known for attending many LANs held in the East Coast. Unfortunately, they were never able to capture a piece of the prize pot, always shy of third place. It seems appropriate to call them "choke artists" whenever it comes to the matches that matters the most. With Roca (applecakes) being their newest addition, the rest of the team has been playing for quite some time now which is an easy advantage over some other teams attending the Winter Classic. The core players on this team have played CEVO-Main in the past. However, they decided to focus more on upcoming LAN tournaments and in turn are taking a break from the online scene. With that said, expect this team to go far in group stage and possibly bracket play. On a side note, the team would like to make a request that Nick (Nick Fitzsimmons - manager at X3O Gaming Center and Team X3O, for those who don't know) wear short shorts on a day of the tournament. Let's see those short shorts!

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