EG|DaHanG: I'm number one in NA - 1

It's been a good end to 2009 for Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty. The former Quake 2 TDM star has had his ups and downs but a win at the IEM American Championships propelled the 21 year old back into the global limelight with a bang. Shane "rapha" Hendrixson had fallen and the player ready to step into his shoes was wearing the blue and white of EG...

- I felt a sense of relief... I knew I was capable of [winning] and if I had fallen short I would have likely thought I underperformed. The way I won, having been down 2-0 in maps and trailing in the third also made it more special.

The player himself was quietly confident from the moment he set foot in Edmonton - and a win in the group stages over the SK supremo certainly helped - but, like he says, things were never going to be that simple.

- After I lost the first two maps, I knew he meant business. I spoke a little to some EG guys behind me and basically forced myself to stay focused and motivated. The fact that T9 was coming up and the fact that I had been extremely successful in tournaments on the past on it helped my state of mind as well. So even though rapha's map wins were so convincing and I needed to win 3-0 from that point on, I still felt I could take this map. Then the T9 map win gave me a little confidence going forward.

Fogarty keep his cool to force the game to a thrilling DM6 tiebreaker where a 9-6 victory gave him the title he so desired. The win saw him claim $3,500 and a global finals berth as well as, more importantly perhaps, a chance to reopen the debate on his SK opponent's dominance of QuakeLive both in North America and internationally.

The end of an era?

The EG player is loath to jump to conclusions but is eventually persuaded to share his opinion.

- I, with caution, consider myself number one in North America since I just won the last event. I don't deny rapha may have a better case in this because he won four in a row with deeper fields of talent and that's much harder than what I accomplished. I think honestly we are very close in skill though and a good case can be made for either of us.

Critics were quick to point to rapha's shaky form throughout the weekend but Fogarty dismisses this line of argument, insisting it was an on-form rapha he faced in the finals.

- In group play, yes he seemed weaker than I anticipated. Against Chance in the semi finals, I don't think he was really on his game either. In the finals though, I don't think he was underperforming. I can't speak for him, but from my point of view, he was definitely on his game. He hit every shot in every big situation on my map pick, T7. Then he played DM13 flawlessly and I didn't really know what to do to counter his great play. An experienced pro like rapha isn't going to just lose his sense of awareness and aim mid-series.

The unspoken conclusion from this is that if rapha wasn't underperforming then the win was simply down to Fogarty's improvement. A poor performance at Dreamhack as recent as November saw the American finish in a familiar fifth to eighth place so what's changed since then?

- I think the new patch helped with my LG damage, but rapha's rockets were still pretty devastating. I felt my gameplay was a little too transparent in the recent LAN events prior to the North American finals so I tried to mix up my style a little bit. There was a good mix of practicing all the maps, but spectating some to not get too stressed or robotic. I was very eager to make sure I was poised to win the event, because I hate excuses and looking back on what could or should have been. In my mind I was likely the most motivated player at the finals, so that helped too.

Despite being famous for his gung-ho aggressive style for some time now, Fogarty admits he had to remind himself at times to tone it down and play it sneaky or defensive when the situation demanded it - bad news for fans of the super aggressive style but perhaps a sign of growing maturity.