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The announcement of the Winter Season is an unexpected surprise across all servers, and clans devoted to eSports are scrambling to finalise their rosters within days. For the first time in the entire game history, Winter Season has dawned upon and we are in for an early treat for eSports goodness. Several clans have emerged as early frontrunners for the top 8 spots. Which clans are we expecting to contest for the top 8?
Top 4 hopefuls
EG- is once again a strong candidate to finish at the top spot in this season. After taking home the champion of Blitz EU Cup by storm, EG-‘s roster has since strengthened by the addition of Whoopzie and object3, both of which are instrumental to LGN’s success during 2020 Autumn Season. They look set to secure a spot in the top 8 comfortably and it seems unlikely that they will struggle during Prove Your Skill tournaments.
RA1D finished 3rd in Blitz EU Cup and 4th in Blitz International Cup, famously beating 7STAR twice during the latter tournament. They are the only top 4 team in 2020 Autumn Season that retain all the team members. Surely, having the same group of players in the team will only further boost your chances in the top 8 and even top 4 as you have months to build your chemistry even more.
AQVA is a newly created clan, led by Zird. This does remind me of the old R-2-K, and in fact quite a lot of members in AQVA were in the old R-2-K before. Zird is a seasoned caller, so his experience is going to shine, together with experienced players such as NoPartyWithoutMe, GaSeO_JON3S, edgar_g_q, GENNERRAL, The_eF etc. Expect some exciting games from this team!
SNTY is also another newly created clan, led by DaSilvinho. He was previously a member of the EG- team, and most notably leading ELEM to a respectable 3rd-placed finish with a limited team during the Summer Season in 2020. This clan is French and contains a lot of experienced players too such as Sp1tFires, Just_Broky, IamZbeub (previously Alafpolak from EG-) and ThePhoen1x_. This team is also tipped to be a strong contender for the top 4 team and I can’t wait to see what they are going to bring to the table!
The usual suspects
-W1N- is steadily becoming a team that consistently appears in the top 8 Professional Tournament. They largely retained their roster and they have a tightly bonded group. Only recently, they participated in the Blitz International Cup. Despite finishing at 8th place, the experience fighting against CIS teams is going to be useful for them and they will be looking to build on to the lessons they learned. They have been keeping a pretty low profile in the CW scene on the EU server in the last few weeks, so we are bound for a surprise from them.
S0ULS have more or less retained their roster coming into the Winter Season, but was rumoured to be met with inconsistent performances during training in the last few week. Whether they can keep the team tightly bonded during the Winter Season is going to be crucial for them to secure a top 8 spot. The inclusion of both _ManFakk and _Mojkar from APA is going to help them, and they will once again prove us wrong with strong performances and rooting themselves firmly in a top 8 position.
APA did not retain much of their players from 2020 Autumn season, but they are actively preparing for the Winter Season. With some transfers from their ally clan FEN1X, APA will be looking to fight for a top 8 spot with a relatively new roster, with _Yennefer still in charge of the CW department.
IMM0R went through a huge rebuilding process between the 2020 Autumn Season and the 2021 Winter Season, but they are actively preparing for the Winter Season. They are trying to piece together once again a team similar to the team in 2020 Autumn, but they will be under a new caller since GaSeO_JON3S left for AQVA. Once again there is huge uncertainty on how well they are going to perform during Winter Season, but they are surely in contention for the top 8.
LOCA also did not retain much of their players. Although they have reacquired Baron from EG-, there is little news that they are preparing for the Winter Season. They still have players however, and shall they decide to form a team once again to fight for top 8, they will have the experience and knowledge to propel them back into top 8, but time is running out for them.
Rising stars
CARNA is back after a long hiatus in 2020, but this is a much different CARNA then we knew back in 2018. The_BLACKSTAR_ is in charge of the clan and they have several high-profile members such as Ventiom who previously competed for LC- in 2020 Autumn, Kirovets_K7A for VE1L, _Frogi and _Ernest for APA, _NoPen_NoLife_ for R3TI etc. It was claimed that they had a great success in their training sessions. Whether they could translate the success to results during Winter Season is vital to their chances in the top 8.
-BPS- CW team is led by Elys1um, who is a caller that is gaining a lot of attention back in 2020. He most famously played for VE1L, helping them to reach top 8 in 2020 Spring and placed them just short of top 8 spot in 2020 Autumn, due to extraordinarily unlucky situation. They also kept their profile relatively low in quick tournaments, but have been actively asking for training with different clans. Winter Season will prove to be the moment to reap the rewards.
Talking about VE1L, they are blessed with Fugit555 being a great supporter to the CW team. Having a different angle to polish a CW team will prove to be a deciding factor whether VE1L is going to make a shot to the top 8. With _Cowardo being the leader of team, his previous experience with both -ESA- and R-2-K will be pivotal.
7URKS is a Turkish clan with relatively new members to the CW scene. However, their training sessions were somewhat successful but was rumoured to be inconsistent too. They have skilful players. They are also least known concerning their ability in tournaments, so Winter Season is the perfect stage for them to show what they are truly made of, and whether they are a top 8 worthy team.
HXY is another relatively new clan led by _Shapy, who is a veteran in CW. He tried to lead NV-E to contest for the top 8 back in 2020 Autumn but was not successful. He is looking to do much better this time. They are still building, but once again the ability of this team is relatively unknown, but we will know very soon in the Winter Season.
Honourable mentions
ABVE, R3TI, FEN1X, REK3M, S-4-W and many more deserve a mention here. FEN1X was high in the ZNTH League before Christmas, while both REK3M and ABVE had some nice performances in quick tournaments, though that is to be said quick tournament performances cannot be taken seriously, but they still have some experienced players in the team. R3TI is a clan that shows up quite often in people’s list in contention for top 8. S-4-W has been training constantly, so we are going to see how all of these clans perform in Winter Season.
Be sure to follow the commentators, particularly me Wildoneshelper, closely on YouTube for potential coverage over the EU server!
If there are any misinformation in this article, feel free to message me for correction and clarification! 
Edited by Wildoneshelper, 19 January 2021 - 09:16 PM.
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