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CGS Announces Counter-Strike: Source Teams at Combine and Draft

With the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) 2008 North America Combine and Draft just days away, the league today announced the identities of the sixteen invited Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S) teams to compete at the Combine. While CS:S will be played in a five-versus-five team format at the Combine, players will be competing to be drafted individually onto one of the league’s six North American teams. The 2008 Combine and Draft will take place March 7-9 at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival’s ScreenBurn Arcade in Austin, Texas.

These CS:S players represent the elite CS:S players in North America. In order to receive an invitation to the Combine and Draft, CS:S teams were required to meet one of four criteria. First, current players from the league’s six North America CS:S teams were granted the opportunity to seek renewal of their contracts with the league. Second, each of the six North America General Managers were permitted to invite one team. Additionally, three teams qualified by placing in the top three of the CGS 2008 North America Online Challenge, which took place last month. Lastly, Team XFX was invited as the result of a competitive challenge in late 2007.

The Counter-Strike: Source teams invited to compete in the 2008 CGS North America Combine and Draft are:

CGS 2007 CS:S Players:

Carolina Core

Matt “masternooK” Torrez – Redondo Beach, CA

Sam “devour” Chamma – Ypsilanti, MI

Chad “daffsta” White – Avon, IN

Cyrus “org” Habibi – San Gabriel, CA

Sonny “s0nNy” Tran – New Orelans, LA

 

Chicago Chimera

Garett “grt” Bambrough – Stouffville, Ontario, CA

Corey “trip” Dodd – Fargo, ND

Matt “Stevenson” Stevenson – West Vancouver, British Columbia, CA

Griffin “shaguar” Benger – Toronto, Ontario, CA

Pasha “Lari” Lari- Richmond, British Columbia, CA



Dallas Venom

Eric “Brawwr” Neer – Tustin, CA

Josh “Dominator” Seivers – Polk City, IA

David “zid” Chin – San Antonio, TX

Derek “Exodus” Heidinger – San Jose, CA

Corey “kaM” Hanes – Corpus Christi, TX



Los Angeles compLexity

Danny “fRoD” Montaner – Plano, TX

Ron “Rambo” Kim – Plano, TX

Matt “Warden” Dickens – Deer Park, TX

Marcus “zet” Sündstrom – Plano, TX

Tyler “Storm” Wood – Plano, TX



New York 3D

Sal “Volcano” Garozzo – Eastchester, NY

Kyle “Ksharp” Miller – Reston, VA

Jimmy “LiN” Lin – Calgary, Alberta, CA

Michael “method” So – La Habra, CA

Andy “reCTOOOR” Rector – Stony Point, NC



San Francisco Optx

Trevor “p0s” Randolph – Columbus, OH

Moe “mOE” Assad – Fresno, CA

Yazan “clowN” Ammari – Granada Hills, CA

Ryan “pham” Pham – Fountain Valley, CA

Laurent “Warmach1ne” Keoula – Kingwood, TX



Teams Invited by CGS General Managers:



Check 6 

Gary “Funshine” Laurita – Lodi, NJ

Stephen “Sasquatch” Csikos – Lake Hiawatha, NJ

Rich “sauce” Cannon – Havertown, PA

Carson “classified” Holt – Watsonville, CA

Albert “hahN” Hahn – Diamond Bar, CA

 

Eximius Sports

Erik “da_bears” Stromberg – Loves Park, IL

Michael “Hare” O`Toole – Grand Rapids, MI

Jonathan “MessiaH” Hammond – Englewood, CO

Edelreich “br1cks” Deloslado – Englewood, CO

David “allbrook” Allbrook Aurora, CO



Guardians

Philippe Olivier “PEX” Crepin – Lery, Quebec, CA

Benedict “STRuK” Kaminski – Calgary, Alberta, CA

Michael “deciple” Baker – Aurora, CO

Justin “heatwave” Mckay – Phoenix, AZ

Andres “misty” Gunaratne, Arcadia, CA



Nexus Gaming

Lloyd “shaffer” Shaffer – Austin, TX

Samuel “CHewbacca” Tesh – Cupertino, CA

Quin “Ambusht” Little – Sanger, CA

Jimmy “Nikon” Pike – Colorado Springs, CO

Bryce “Mantik” Turney – Austin, TX



Pandemic

Jon “juan” Mumm – Hales Corners, WI

Kyle “Mustang” Cummings – Beavercreek, OH

Nick “n0it” Nowakowski – Brookfield, WI

Mike “paradox” Stanowski – Prospect Heights, IL

Grant “Griff” Hall – Milwaukee, WI



x3o

Justin “sunman” Summy – Grantville, PA

Tarik “rockyte” Elkhatib – Burke, VA

Mason “n0s4m” Dickens – Deer Park, TX

Todd “anger” Williams – Beaufort, SC

Ryan “NineSpot” Bell – Bristow, VA



CGS 2008 North America Online Challenge Winners:



Rebels Gaming

Matt “cheekZ” Csikos – Lake Hiawatha, NJ

David “Puddleglum” Reese - Westminster, CO

George “Arc” Althouse - Mullica Hill, NJ

Wes “Dream” Richards – Austin, TX

Jon “jonnYj” Jelley - Lockport, IL



GX

Josh “Bentley” Manning - Grand Island, NE

Eric “StrykeR” Posen – Thousand Oaks, CA

Jarred “Street” Miller – Bend, OR

Luke “Selik” Tittle – Modesto, CA

Cory “Badapples” Branagan – Lynnwood, WA

J1N

Jon “Shredder” Hayes – Toronto, Ontario, CA

Josh “Daemos” Hayes – Toronto, Ontario, CA

Kurt “K187” Langjahr – Philadelphia, PA

Chris “MoFfA64” Moffa – Long Island, NY

Sean “Tuned” Portis – Toronto, Ontario, CA



Team XFX (invited following competitive challenge in late 2007)

Chris “deppy” Depaul – Stow, OH

Joe “dubs” Wishnia – Morristown, NJ

Carlo “aL|ve” Ortega – Carson, CA

Joshua “haqshot^” Lanigan – San Diego, CA

Arvin “tech” Wang – San Francisco, CA

The 2008 North America Combine and Draft will take place March 7-9 at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival’s ScreenBurn Arcade in Austin, Texas. The Draft will be broadcast live on thecgs.com March 9 at 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST.

More information can be found on: thecgs.com.

About Championship Gaming Series

Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, the Championship Gaming Series™ (CGS) is the only worldwide professional video gaming league. Launched in 2007, and a joint venture among BSkyB, DIRECTV and STAR, CGS features teams of the world's best gamers from North America, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. The league distributes entertainment content to more than 350 million viewers worldwide via DIRECTV in North America and Latin America, BSkyB in the UK, and STAR in Asia and Australia. CGS sponsors include Mountain Dew, Creative, Xbox 360 and Dell XPS.