Meet the teams: eXTREMESLAND Asia Open Preview

SemperFi will represent Australia at the upcoming ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND CS Asia Open 2024.

The LAN event will be held in Shanghai, China, taking place from Jan. 14 to 19—just one month after the conclusion of the Shanghai Major.

Sixteen teams will compete in four groups of four in a double-elimination format. The top two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs where teams will be seeded into a single-elimination bracket on their way to the trophy.

The event will feature teams from ten different regions across Asia including Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines alongside your major players in the region. This year, eXTREMESLAND has raised the bar by adding eight more teams compared to last year's event and have doubled the prize pool.

The tournament's big hitters feature the likes of Rare Atom, TYLOO, and ATOX all vying for the big $40,000 top prize and the all-important Valve Regional Standings (VRS) points. 

China - Rare Atom, TYLOO, Fated Rise, Nalakuvara

The home crowd have a lot to look forward to spectating this event with China being the most represented region here at eXTREMESLAND. Rare Atom are the best team coming out of China based on recent form, coming first place in the recent Perfect World Shanghai Major Asia RMR. 

With the team’s average age tipping toward 27, it is led by seasoned Malaysian AWPer Andrew “kaze” Khong—a three-time Major attendee—who will aim to once again stun the world with his incredible AWP plays. 

TYLOO is a dark horse at this event. The team recently replaced Lizhi “Starry” Ye and brought back rifler talent Yi “JamYoung” Yang, who has been briefly competing over in VALORANT. JamYoung and AWPer Dongkai “Jee” Ji make up the star power for the TYLOO roster and are some of the best talents coming out of China.

Another player to look out for would be AWPer Liu “lan” Qi from Fated Rise with an impressive 1.23 rating in the last three months, especially in clutching with the AWP. Could this be the next z4kr? 

I expect at least two of the Chinese teams to at least make the top eight and Rare Atom will be disappointed if they are not lifting this year's eXTREMESLAND trophy.

Thailand - Real Original Gaming

Real Original Gaming are the sole team to qualify through the Thai qualifier, securing their spot by defeating LM68 in the LAN grand final held at WASD Cafe in Bangkok. Real Original Gaming (rOG) were previously playing under the NKT banner, but have been completely dominated in all their recent meaningful matches since being picked up by rOG. 

While I don't expect them to make a deep run in this event, Kritthee "Geniuss" Sawatmuang stands out as the most consistent rifler on the squad.

Mongolia - IHC Esports, ATOX, Chinggis Warriors

The Mongolian CS2 scene have been going through a rostermania themselves with a lot of teams shuffling different pieces. Last year's victors, The MongolZ, will not be attending this event, leaving room to show off the blossoming talent that lies in the region. 

IHC Esports has been a victim of being the unfortunate team where everybody takes their players. There is nobody in the roster that qualified IHC for eXTREMESLAND  as they’ve all gone their separate ways. 

I do not expect this team to go anywhere in this tournament, especially with an entire team being turned over from the qualifier to the main event. YAmi will be the key player to watch with a 1.13 rating in the last month.

Atox should be looking at a top two finish at least. Dobu and Zesta are the players to watch in this team. The team lost former The MongolZ AWPer Tuvshintugs “Annihilation” Nyamdorj back in early October last year, leaving a real weakness in the AWP role that is still felt on this lineup today.   

Chinggis Warriors is another team that has been hit by the Mongolian roster shuffle. After losing basically most of their roster, Chinggis is lacking its previous killer edge where it could cause massive upsets against much stronger opposition. Unudelger “Controlez” Baasanjargal should be their main player to watch with a 1.15 rating. 

I think Chinggis will be able to roll a few of the weaker teams but when push comes to shove, they’ll break.

Australia - SemperFi

Most of you reading will already know about the SemperFi project, but how good are they going to be on LAN? The team has been back and forth from Europe to Australia, scrimming against some of the best teams in the world. 

SemperFi was unable to qualify for the most recent major in Shanghai, so this will be their true LAN debut. The team beat the likes of Mindfreak and The Art of War to qualify for this year's eXTREMESLAND. 

Look out for Latvian Kristers “keen” Dārznieks, who fills the AWP and IGL role at a very high level and is someone who has a massive impact on the game.

Vietnam - Blaze Warriors

With only a combined four official matches on HLTV for the whole team, this will be the first introduction into Counter-Strike for all but one player from Vietnam’s Blaze Warriors. The squad do seem to be dominating their local scene but I don't expect more than a potential single map win at this year's eXTREMESLAND. 

Truong-Minh “pms” Pham is their most experienced player at the age of 28 and has played on previous Vietnamese teams that have attempted to challenge the wider Asian region. There hasn’t really been a full Vietnamese squad that has been able to challenge the world, let alone the Asian region.

Could we see this team surprise us at eXTREMESLAND? Probably not.

Singapore - dream[S]cape

Dream[S]cape come into this tournament fielding a lineup with some real notable names. It is Anthony “ImpressioN” Lim and Nevin “splashske” that will look to light up the server with their skill and experience after both players have spent time on bigger squads in the Asian region such as NKT and Alter Ego.

Unfortunately, Dream[S]cape have been drafted into group A, arguably the toughest group of the tournament. I don’t expect them to make it out of the group, but I expect a competitive fight from the boys hailing from the sunny city-state of Singapore.

Korea - Miracle Play

South Korean Counter-Strike has been in a dormant state since their success in CS 1.6 and with a handful of Major appearances in CS:GO. Not much is known about this squad, and since Hyun-Pyo “XigN” Lee recently took a break from competition due to starting his military service, South Korean representation has gone missing from world Counter-Strike. Miracle Play will look to brighten the future of CS2 in Korea and we potentially may witness some new talent coming through.

India - Gods Reign

Gods Reign have been grinding the Asian CS2 tournaments and are a true staple in our current scene. The team flew through the Indian qualifiers with their only true competition being True Rippers. Look out for Aakash “Ph1NNN” Bose who has put up an impressive 1.21 rating in the past three months. 

God’s Reign is definitely not a bad team, and the competition in India is getting better, but the squad has really struggled to find success playing outside of India. Will this finally be their time to lift the curse and make a deep run here at eXTREMESLAND 2024?

Philippines - Oni Clan 

Oni Clan have been dominating a rising local CS scene in the Philippines, yet I expect this team to show no good results here. Oni Clan have consecutively lost to the likes of Gods Reign, True Rippers and Alter Ego. 

I don't expect much from the Oni Clan, especially as they will have to fight through tough Group C opposition such as SemperFi, TYLOO and IHC.

Middle East - JiJieHao, XO Esports

Both Middle Eastern teams have some incredible talent for the standard of eXTREMESLAND this year. Coming from two separate qualifiers, both squads have a real good chance to send a lot of teams home. 

JiJieHaoO is well known for constructing rosters that feature players from all over the globe, usually with the goal to make a major and earn sticker money. JiJieHao have really let themselves down recently by failing to qualify through the Middle East RMR for the most recent major, as well as very recently flunking out of the XSE Pro League LAN in China.

Hussein “m1N1” Hijazi as been their longest standing member and highest rated rifler in the past three months. Also look out for Issa “ISSAA” Murad contributing his valuable experience and super aggressive, almost robotic aim. 

The last team on this list is XO Esports, qualifying through the Arabian Qualifier. I am extremely excited to watch this team play, specifically Osama “0SAMAS” Orabi. Hailed as the best player in the MENA region right now, 0SAMAS sports a 100 firepower rating and a 1.30 overall rating in the past three months. 

While he is still young at 22 years old, I think we will be seeing a lot more from this player. He is the potential best player on the server each time he loads in and I hope to see him put on a performance for the ages here at eXTREMESLAND 2024.

The eXTREMESLAND Asia Open 2024 kicks off Jan. 14. For more including the schedule and results of the event, check out the official page here!