Hi guys !

I'm back with the year 2006. Enjoy.

Intro : On the choice of tournaments : I only picked "top" international tournaments. Some medium level tournaments are missing, and I added some pretty weak tournament just for the sake of tradition, like the first GameGune in 2003.

I put the top8 for major tournaments like ESWC, WCG, CPL Summer/Winter and top6 for IEM as the format is weird. Otherwise, it's the top4. It's ordered from the most recent to the oldest tournament of the year.

I'll release one year every 1-2 weeks.

2006


CPL Winter

1. fnatic (dsn, f0rest, Archi, Tentpole, cArn) - $30,000
2. MYM (elemeNt, xione, prb, juve9le, REAL) - $21,000
3. Pentagram (Neo, kuben, Loord, TaZ, LUq) - $14,000
4. aAa (Geno, ferg, bisou, Ozstrik3r, Xp3) - $9,000
5. Hacker.gm (zy, bb, forever, baeseulki, K1ngZ) - $6,000
6. project_kr (termi, solo, bail, hee, Miffy) - $5,000
7. 69°N-32°E (barrack, lurppis, contE, toNppa, ruuit) - $3,000
8. JMC (zid, hanes, exodus, Des1re, eng) - $1,500


WSVG Finals

1. aTTaX (roman, Kapio, Chucky, mooN, CHEF-KOCH) - $50,000
2. 3D (DominatoR, Volcano, Rambo, shaGuar, method) - $25,000
3. fnatic (Archi, Tentpole, f0rest, cArn, dsn) - $10,000
4. Pandemic (s0nNy, Ph33R, Masternook, Grt, DAFF)


CPL Nordic

1. NiP (HeatoN, ins, zet, RobbaN, walle)
2. H2k (whimp, KK, XciteD, Morf4r, zone)
3-4. 69°N-32°E (barrack, lurppis, contE, toNppa, ruuit)
3-4. Fainted (REAL, enoksen, raven, KF3, OmeN)


CPL Italy

1. aAa (bisou, Ozstrik3r, Geno, ferg, Xp3) - $10,000
2. a-Losers (ODIE, roman, crash, night, mueller) - $6,000
3. goodgame (Baldours, MaYeRs, OliGan, dim2k, Curiel) - $4,000
4. TBH (frigh, pride, sven, toLg1, f.mulder) - $2,500


WCG

1. Pentagram (LUq, Neo, TaZ, kuben, Loord) - $60,000
2. NiP (SpawN, ins, zet, RobbaN, walle) - $30,000
3. hoorai (naSu, lurppis, contE, toNppa, ruuit) - $15,000
4. NoA (zonic, mJe, hpx, Paddy, ave) - $6,000
5-8. mousesports (Blizzard, silver, Roman R., neo, fleks)
5-8. Hacker.pk (solo, termi, bail, hee, ryu)
5-8. 3D (DominatoR, Rambo, method, volcano, moto)
5-8. MYM (juve9le, oops, prb, REAL, xione)


WSVG.uk

1. Pentagram (LUq, Neo, TaZ, kuben, Loord) - $12,500
2. hoorai (naSu, lurppis, contE, toNppa, ruuit) - $7,500
3. SK (Snajdan, allen, fisker, vilden, GoodFella) - $5,000
4. seven (deNos, romiM, sPiKe, andrig, Ward)


ENC

1. Sweden (SpawN, ins, zet, Red, f0rest) - $15,000
2. Norway (elemeNt, DaY, prb, REAL, juve9le) - $7,500
3. Germany (fleks, Kapio, Blizzard, Roman R., Hanso) - $5,000
4. Poland (Neo, LUq, TaZ, redruM, ruloN) - $2,500


NGL-One 1

1. NiP (walle, ins, zet, RobbaN, SpawN) - 20 000 €
2. fnatic (cArn, dsn, Tentpole, f0rest, Archi) - 10 000 €
3. x6tence (MusambaN1, DeyF, DrastyK, milicua, FlipiN) - 5 000 €
4. aTTaX (silver, mooN, Tixo, CHEF-KOCH, Kapio)


KODE5

1. NiP (SpawN, ins, zet, RobbaN, walle) - $25,000
2. wNv.gm (sakula, Jungle, alex, Aqi, bigun) - $10,000
3. hoorai (naSu, lurppis, contE, toNppa, ruuit) - $5,000
4. MiBR (pava, nak, fnx, KIKO, bruno)


GameGune

1. x6tence (MusambaN1, FlipiN, DrastyK, milicua, DeyF) - 10 000 €
2. MYM (MegatoN, solido, fnazze, hibb, zad) - 6 000 €
3. TeG (PeRRy, FlopP, Darky, k1d0r, CreatuRe) - 3 000 €
4. hoorai (naSu, lurppis, contE, toNppa, barrack) - 1 000 €


WSVG ISC

1. coL (sunman, Warden, fRoD, tr1p, Storm) - $40,000
2. aTTaX (silver, mooN, Tixo, CHEF-KOCH, Kapio) - $27,000
3. fnatic (cArn, dsn, Tentpole, f0rest, Archi) - $20,000
4. 4Kings (AdY, DaY, natu, Mangiacapra, aKuJii) - $13,500
5. mousesports (Blizzard, Roman R., fleks, elemeNt, ahl) - $9,000
6. g3x (gAuLes, Eduzin, pava, Lance, aliche) - $7,500
7. CheckSix (org, hahN, kEEn, StrikeR, foogs) - $4,500
8. Speedlink (miniw, Rwa, niko, get, fReNz) - $3,000


ESWC

1. MiBR (cogu, KIKO, nak, fnx, bruno) - $52,000
2. fnatic (cArn, dsn, Tentpole, f0rest, Archi) - $36,000
3. aTTaX (silver, mooN, Tixo, CHEF-KOCH, Kapio) - $24,000
4. 3D (method, moto, shaGuar, Volcano, Rambo) - $16,000
5-8. compLexity (fRoD, Warden, sunman, Storm, tr1p) - $8,000
5-8. NiP (HeatoN, walle, ins, zet, RobbaN) - $8,000
5-8. Lunatic-Hai (bebe, cliper, loki, mal, enemy) - $8,000
5-8. x6tence (MusambaN1, FlipiN, DrastyK, milicua, DeyF) - $8,000


DreamHack (WSVG.se)

1. NiP (HeatoN, ins, zet, RobbaN, walle) - $12,500
2. fnatic (cArn, dsn, Tentpole, f0rest, Archi) - $7,500
3. CheckSix (Red, kixer, speedi, zaki, striker) - $5,000
4. MiBR (cogu, KIKO, nak, fnx, bruno)


WEG Masters

1. wNv (sakula, alex, mikk, Jungle, tK) - $70,000
2. coL (fRoD, sunman, Warden, tr1p, Storm) - $20,000
3. Hacker.pr (solo, bail, hee, ryu, termi) - $8,000
4. Catch-Gamer (REAL, Naikon, bsl, juve9le, oops) - $4,000


shgOpen

1. NoA (XeqtR, zonic, hpx, xione, prb) - $17,600
2. fnatic (dsn, Archi, Tentpole, cArn, f0rest) - $12,400
3. Serious (lurppis, naSu, toNppa, Kuppi, Shiri) - $8,000
4. idle.ee (lorenzo, m``, rodi, Dodz, PunisheR) - $5,300


Medal Tally

1. Sweden (6 gold-6 silver-4 bronze : total 15)
2. Poland (2-0-1 : 3)
3. Germany (1-2-2 : 5)
4. Norway (1-2-1 : 4)
5. USA (1-2-0 : 3)
6. China (1-1-0 : 2)
7. Spain (1-0-1 : 2)
7. France (1-0-1 : 2)
9. Brazil (1-0-0 : 1)
10. Finland (0-1-3 : 4)
11. Denmark (0-1-0 : 1)
12. South Korea (0-0-1 : 1)
12. Romania (0-0-1 : 1)


Money Ranking (thanks to hono)

1. fnatic : $128,900
2. NiP : $126,500
3. aTTaX : $101,000
4. Pentagram : $86,500
5. wNv : $80,000
6. coL : $68,000
7. MiBR : $52,000
8. 3D : $41,000
9. Serious/hoorai/69°N-32°E : $39,800
10. MYM : $28,800


Facts & thoughts.

- The fnatic's CS team started in 2005, but the tag had to wait 2006 to get really big. dsn picked a new team : cArn, his old pal from Gamers.nu ; f0rest and Tentpole, two young monsters from Begrip ; and Archi, an almost unknown from GoN. The team immediately became one of the most stable on the planet, gathering top3 all year long (5 in total) and finishing with a bang with a victory at CPL Winter.

- The legendary Golden Five was born at the WSVG.uk. Neo and his friends rolled over everyone and then went to WCG. Same story, the Poles swept the tournament, losing only one map in the final against NiP.

- The best year for ALTERNATE aTTaX. One of the best german teams of all time ended 3rd at ESWC, 2nd at ISC and 4th at NGL-One S1. Cherry on the cake : winning WSVG Finals with a mix team. Arguably the biggest upset of all time.

- Annus Horribilis for SK. Not even one win. Overcame by fnatic and NiP, sapped by mutliple lineup changes, the mega-powerhouse is drawning. Best ranking that year ? 3rd at a pretty weak WSVG.uk. Lol.

- The CPL Winter 2006 was the last true CPL. There was a 2007 edition, but it was just a joke with only american teams. For the first time (and obviously the last time), the top8 was filled with 8 different nations : 5 teams for Europe, 2 for Asia and 1 for America. A sign of how strong and spread was the CS scene at that time.

- On the same subject, 8 different countries won a tournament in 2006, spread on 4 continents : Europe, Asia, South America and North America.

- The surprise of the CPL Winter was aAa. That nice 4th place finally broke the curse of French teams doing bad at CPL USA.

- Four major tournaments, four differents winners : MiBR, coL, Pentagram and fnatic. However, the team of the year was NiP. Four wins for the Swedes (CPL Nordic, KODE5, NGL-One S1, WSVG.se) before falling apart during the two last big events (WSVG Finals and CPL Winter).

- 2006 is the first year for a big DreamHack tournament. It was a stop of the WSVG circuit. And a full swedish podium to celebrate that !