Corbie's Dreamhack Winter Round Up - Page 2

Stock Rising:

Anton "Cooller" Singov

Despite earning a top three finish for the first time in QuakeLive this weekend, Cooller will have been cursing his luck after failing to win a tournament that looked to be his for the taking. Not for the first time, av3k proved the Russian's undoing but there remains a lot of positives for Cooller to take from the weekend's events.

Another victory over DaHanG will have satisfied Cooller's well-known desire to show up the Americans and a sublime win over fox on T9 and ZTN will have had his fans and critics alike in awe. All that remains is to claim a major title but failure at Dreamhack will merely have increased the odds that it'll be rapha he'll have to overcome to achieve that goal. Thrashing stermy in the third place playoff will have gone some way to improving his mood and, when he has time to reflect, he can look back at this weekend as a further step on his return to top form.



Alessandro "stermy" Avallone

While stermy, in fourth place, looked some distance from the podium trio on Friday, he'll be content to have at least avoided the fate of Spart1e, fox and others who look very much on the wane as of late. Victory over Cypher was a massive achievement for the Italian and there are a range of positives to be taken from that alone. A finish in the top four will have exceeded many pre-tournament predictions and will have AMD happy to continue bankrolling the former FPO star.

stermy's strengths are well-documented but were augmented this weekend by a mental reserve not often associated with the Italian. Coming back from one map down versus tournament favourite Cypher required character and, even if he was helped by a good start on DM6, stermy managed to triumph in a situation he probably wouldn't have in Dubai. This is as clear a sign as any of improvement and will give him hope in the race to catch up with Cooller and av3k.

Stock Falling:

Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira

A familiar face in this section, Spart1e will once again have had his fnatic managers bemoaning his rotten run of form since starting so well in QuakeLive. The Swede has lost to DaHanG two tournaments in succession now and looked further than ever from beating him here. This record is particularly worrying when you consider that DaHanG was the very opponent that Spart1e overcame by two maps to nil in the lower bracket at Quakecon on his way to a second place finish back in August.

Where to go from here? Spart1e admitted he was unprepared in Dubai and that might have again been his weakness here. The likes of Cooller, Z4muZ and stermy all placed well on the back of strong preparation and if Spart1e isn't willing to do the same he won't be back to winning ways any time soon. It's back to basics for the Swede now, improvement will be expected come the IEM European Championships.

The Final Say...

If we've learnt anything from Dreamhack it's that Europe now has three players capable of taking on rapha come his next outing. Cooller, av3k and Cypher all look capable of matching the American on their day and if Europe still lacks the quality, maybe they now have the quantity to overcome the SK star.

Fears remain that the likes of fox, Spart1e and maybe even noctis have missed their chance but, in a resurgent av3k, Europe has a player with the flair and raw talent to overturn its losing streak. Victory at Dreamhack will have to be followed up with more hard grind from the Pole and a return to his previous lethargy will consign this win to a mere footnote. Europe expects more though, and soon will have its answer.

(Front page image courtesy of Henrik Johansson. Photos courtesy of razerzone.com.)