In all of the previous years the reigning champion has returned to compete, this year, however, we have no reigning champion as Creolophus did not take part in the Norwegian WCG Qualifiers. We also have no silver medalist as Xiaofeng “Sky” Li, who also has two gold medals to his name, stumbled in the qualifiers against infi and TeD in the best of one format during WCG China.

Since the last WCG we have seen the Chinese pool of players expand, which has led to three WCG virgins qualifying to represent China in this year's grand final; infi, TeD and Like, all of whom play for World Elite. This year the products of the continual polarization towards the Chinese market have the opportunity to prove themselves on the WCG Stage.

In recent years it was Night Elf that was considered "imba", but following the 1.22 patch and the rise of new players the horde will be the race to watch at WCG 2008. Also considering the map pool holds Gnoll Wood and Secret Valley, players like FoCuS, WhO and Like look set to leave their mark during this year's installment.

The last time we had an epic WCG final was in 2004 when two orcs clashed in the finals, could the recent orc domination be the recipe for another intense grand final match that the WCG has been void of in recent years?

Despite being labeled "imba" themselves, South Korea is yet to win gold at the WCG in Warcraft III. Almost every title imaginable in Warcraft has been won, at one point or another, by a South Korean, yet WCG gold is yet to grace the nation. In seven years South Korea has won seven gold medals at the WCG in Starcraft, yet in Warcraft they continue to fall short. Could this finally be the year South Korea takes home the gold?

This year's World Cyber Games is especially exciting given all of the up-and-coming talent in attendance. In recent months Warcraft has seen a significant increase in contenders, somewhat familiar faces have broken rank and shuffled up the proverbial food chain while relatively unknown players have shed the shackles of obscurity, bursting onto the scene and breathing new life into competition.

The World Cyber Games has for years now offered amateurs the opportunity to mingle with the community's elite, all competing under their nations' flag. Championship careers have commenced and concluded on the WCG's stage, in front of crowds of committed fans eager to witness their generation's sportsmen become champions of their craft.

With so many participants capable of taking the championship title it's difficult to predict who will make top three, let alone win. Here's a look at a fraction of the talent attending this years World Cyber Games.

Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen, MeetYourMakers

No matter what the event, Manuel 'Grubby' Schenkhuizen is always a contender for the title. It may have been touch-and-go at the beginning of the year for the 2004 WCG champion, but a second place finish at WAR3League and a third place finish at WEM have put him right back on track. Grubby’s still waiting on his first intercontinental win of the year and appears to be getting closer and closer as the weeks go by.

Grubby’s Orc match up is solid right now, he has what is undoubtedly the strongest mirror match at the WCG this year. Both Du Seop 'WhO' Chang and Grubby are among the top contenders for the title and being that of the five times these two have bumped heads Grubby has walked away victorious four times, things certainly look good for the Dutchman.

Grubby’s WCG nemesis, Xiaofeng 'Sky' Li, won’t be making an appearance this year, however, Xuwen 'infi' Wang could well fill that role given his stellar performance at WEM last weekend.

Xuwen “infi” Wang, World Elite

After his powerful performance at WEM last weekend infi is certainly looking like one of the favourites at the WCG. With wins over Yoan 'ToD' Merlo, Zhuo 'TeD' Zeng, June 'Lyn' Park and Jae Ho 'Moon' Jang all at one event it really isn’t difficult at all to make a case for infi walking away with a gold medal. It’s not often we see infi at a big international LAN event, but when we do (NSL, KODE5, WEM) it usually means trouble for fellow attendees.

Infi’s performance at the ESWC qualifiers was starkly different to the infi at WEM, losing matches to Lyc, TH000, xiaOt and teammate TeD, so he’s not indestructible, or at least, he wasn’t three months ago. Infi’s solid performance at WEM indicates he’ll show up ready at the WCG.

Pedro “LucifroN7” Durán, WICKED

We saw Pedro 'LucifroN' Moreno Durán improve by a leap and a bound between the BlizzCon qualifiers and the finals, it’s really quite exciting to anticipate how he’ll perform at the WCG. European fans are rallying around their new hope and with good reason, fans respond to potential and LucifroN7 has it in spades.

LucifroN7 is one of those aforementioned rank breakers, shifting from NGL TWO competitor to European BlizzCon representative without missing a beat. A strong performance at BlizzCon has fans buzzing about the young orc player, though WCG will be the true test of his abilities.

If he can make it there, he can make it anywhere.

Yoan “ToD” Merlo, Gravitas Gaming

ToD, like Grubby, is always considered a favourite to win. Like his former teammate ToD also hit a rough patch in 2008 though seems to be on the road to recovery.

Comparative to his 2007 performance (gold at Extreme Masters, BWI, IEF) ToD has been performing sub-par for most of the year. He saw good results in the beginning of the year (Extreme Masters, SEC), but a large gap thereafter until the ESWC events, where he scored third place in both Athens and Paris.

ToD’s performance has definitely been sporadic throughout the year, possibly owing to his temperament. The Frenchman has a tendency to dismiss his chances of winning on occasion, which could be considered the hallmark of a realist, though could also be construed as a defeatist attitude. Either or, it probably doesn’t help his chances.

The 2008 World Cyber Games looks to be one of intense excitement and opportunity for our aspiring stars, telling signs of a thriving community.

Will LucifroN7 take another giant leap forward in his competitive career, will ToD or Grubby finally take their first big win of 2008, can HoT make his triumphant return, will the fifth race add another title to his name, can Happy fulfill his potential, will WhO surprise us again, will infi continue to dominate, will Bonecracker entertain us again, can XlorD survive his orc dominated group, will RotterdaM finally win something?

The World Cyber games has been a staple of competitive gaming for years, representing the very essence of e-sport, opportunity. It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from, anyone can compete and that's what makes it so important.

This week another sportsman of our generation will be crowned, the World Champion of Cyber Games.

The first part of this preview is available here.

This article was written by Sam "shagrath" McCafferty & Lawrence "Malystryx" Phillips.