crow's IEM EU Finals Round Up - 1

As the dust settles on four days solid of sensational Quake, we look back at the highs, the lows, the upsets and the controversies in our final round up of the IEM European Championship. Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky emerged as the continent's champion after three months of online play and four days of intense LAN action, but what are are the consequences ahead of March's global finals? Who will Shane "rapha" Hendrixson be worried about, who's improving and who's dropping off the radar? Find out here as we dish out the awards to the best and the worst of an intense weekend.

Tournament MVP: Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky

If he wasn't the most impressive player at every stage of the weekend's action, he certainly stepped up to the plate when it counted. Now aged 19 and without a major title to his name in 2009, Cypher has spent the last twelve months in rapha's shadow and will be glad to hit the headlines for the right reasons once more. A poor showing at Dreamhack left the youngster, in his own words, wondering if he could ever win again but the Belarusian made the perfect reply in Cologne, getting the better of av3k in the most important QuakeLive match of 2010 so far.

While sometimes lacking the flashiness of his teammate, Cypher is a lethal opponent and is obviously both respected and feared in equal measures by those around him. He proved why this weekend in a series of stunning performances, with his dazzling rockets again the highlight. Comprehensive defeats of both calipt and strenx showed a consistency emerging in his game that few at the event were able to match. It's obvious that Cooller and av3k will also fancy their chances at the global finals, but right now Europe's number one seed is Cypher and it'll be hard to see past the Belarusian when picking out those most likely to claim a podium finish.



Biggest Upset: Kevin "strenx" Baeza

fnatic's controversial star finally made his mark on competitive Quake this weekend with a performance that sent shockwaves throughout the scene. Z4muZ, stermy and nearly even Cooller suffered under the full force of the French player's talent in Cologne and the scary thing is that the young star is only likely to get better in the months to come.

strenx's failures offline have often seen him labelled as either an "online hero" or simply "all aim, no brain" and after a humiliation on the interview couch with Cooller it looked like more of the same was on the way. Three maps later and the French player's reputation was turned on its head. A dominating victory over the previously impressive stermy earned strenx a spot at the global finals and, against all expectations, a place in the top four. The youngster's outlook may have remained pessimistic but it was clear that that his hugely impressive aim might not be his only asset from now on. strenx will remain a far cry from the list of favourites in March, but if he can keep improving he might just cause the bigger names some problems if they're not careful.

The Talking Point: The T7 Replay

The fallout from the infamous T7 replay between Cooller and av3k has threatened at times to overshadow the stunning conclusion that followed and not without good reason. Accusations have been flung back and forth since the incident itself but recent comments have left many fans placing the blame squarely on ESL's otherwise excellent admin team. Cooller gave his friend a sporting offer of a replay after the previous restart had given av3k a significantly worse starting spawn and, in the heat of the moment, he accepted. Both players were obviously in a highly emotional state, as is to expected from the high pressure circumstances, and the voice of reason needed to come from the admins.

Giving the players what they want is a noble goal but going so far as to break the rules for friends is a step too far. What about the spectators, shouldn't they have been given what they want? What if the players had wanted to replay the map a third time, would this request have been pandered to as well? Both players clearly regret their decisions in that moment and to blame either is unfair. I am loathe to point the finger at ESL after all they've done for the game but they need to take the time between now and the global finals and, even if they don't admit it externally, they have to make sure this doesn't happen again.