Corbie's Dreamhack Winter Round Up - Page 1

As the curtain closes on two solid days of top quality QuakeLive action, we look back at the tournament's highs and lows and try to draw some conclusions from the events of the weekend. Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski was the eventual champion but what does this mean given the absence of Shane "rapha" Hendrixson? Who's been improving and who's getting left behind in Europe and North America? Here we look at these questions and more in the Dreamhack Winter final round up.

Tournament MVP: Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski

The obvious choice for MVP this weekend, av3k became the first player other than rapha to take home a major QuakeLive title. A comprehensive victory over Z4muZ in the final was overshadowed in many ways by the manner in which the young Pole dispatched the hugely impressive Cooller in the semis. Defeat on DM6 was followed by a perfect reply on DM13 and a show of strength on ZTN which is likely to have had rapha watching on the edge of his seat from home.

A complete turnaround was needed from av3k following his lacklustre showing at Quakecon and he provided just that, dropping just one map through the whole tournament. Victory over fox in the group stages was a sign of things to come for the Serious-Gaming star, who has propelled himself back into the spotlight ahead of the upcoming Extreme Masters events. We always knew av3k's unique risk-taking style made him a dangerous opponent but what a difference a few weeks practice has made. No longer in teammate Cypher's shadow, av3k is right back on track with another well-deserved trophy to add to his collection.



Biggest Upset: Alexander "Z4muZ" Ihrfors

Another second seed who exceeded all expectations at Dreamhack, Z4muZ rolled back the years with a vintage performance including wins over DaHanG, dkt and stermy. Critics will argue that Cooller might have deserved his spot in the final but Z4muZ could do nothing about that and certainly won't have felt he was given a significantly easier bracket to get there.

Recent online form suggested Z4muZ wasn't at Dreamhack to make up the numbers but even his most ardent supporters will have been surprised by this performance. Often criticised for his unadventurous playstyle, the former SK and mousesports star has worked hard and deservedly finished well here. Strong aim and impeccable map control were the keys to Z4muZ's success and few opponents are likely to be looking forward to going up against the veteran Quaker in the coming months.

Biggest Disappointment: Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky

The real reason for Z4muZ's apparently 'easy' route to the final was Cypher's loss to stermy and, while all credit must go to the Italian, it was a result that sees the Belarusian take a big step backwards after his strong showing in Dubai. Picked out as the tournament favourite before this event, Cypher travelled to Dreamhack in search of a win that would cement his place as rapha's main challenger but instead left with an embarrassing fifth to eighth place finish.

Quite why his challenge derailed is unclear. Many will point to an unlucky start on DM6 versus stermy but it was a match-up on paper that shouldn't have even gone to a third map. Despite his top four finish, stermy didn't exactly look unbeatable at Dreamhack and Cypher will have a lot to think about before the IEM European Championship kicks off. The Serious-Gaming management will write his performance this weekend off as an anomaly and anyone hoping to see rapha lose any time soon will have to hope that's just what it was.