IEM American Championship Finals preview - Group A

Shane "rapha" Hendrixson

QuakeLive's biggest star and hot tournament favourite, rapha travels to Edmonton knowing that anything less than first place will be a disappointment. The 20 year old opted to skip Dreamhack Winter but has not slacked off ahead of the biggest North American tournament since Quakecon. Group D pits the SK star against arguably his biggest American rival, Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty, as well as Andrew "gellehsak" Ryder and Justin "sparks" Sparks. The latter pair are unlikely to cause rapha much trouble but an early match-up with DaHanG should give some indication of whether these North American finals are going to stay on script or not.

Undefeated in qualifying, rapha overcame a tricky group which included two other big rivals traveling to Edmonton, Chance "Chance" Lacina and new compLexity signing, Sander "vo0" Kaasjager. Both were dispatched and, although vo0 did manage to pick up one map, anyone looking to predict an upset for rapha has scant evidence to work with. Nobody on the continent has managed to expose a weakness in his cool and calculated playstyle thus far and it would likely take a serious improvement from the likes of DaHaNG or dkt to manage it this weekend.

Prediction: First place, nothing less

Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty

EG's headline dueller hasn't faced rapha in a tournament setting since Quakecon but group A has thrown the pair together right from the start here this weekend. DaHanG's recent international outings have shown he can compete with the best players around but consecutive fifth to eighth place finishes suggest he still lacks the killer instinct required to close out big games. He'll be hoping to turn this around in Edmonton and at the very least will expect to comfortably grab a spot at the global finals.

Progressing from a group that saw both Brad "swooped" Olles and Jonathan "judge_" Leathery drop out doesn't give too much indication of DaHanG's form coming into this event and the only positive to take from Dreamhack was another win over struggling fnatic star Sebastian "Spart1e" Siira. DaHanG will hope to have sufficiently improved on maps like DM6 and DM13 to pose a real threat to the more experienced rapha but can take heart from the praise he seems to consistently draw from his fellow North Americans. Teammate Andrew "gellehsak" Ryder claimed in a recent interview that DaHanG will "eventually be the player to beat on the continent." This weekend should give us some idea just how far away that day is.

Prediction: Should beat dkt to the final, a predictable second place lies in wait

Andrew "gellehsek" Ryder

Other than bigging up DaHanG, gellehsak has been quietly working away since Quakecon in an attempt to compete with the best the United States can throw at him. Playing on home soil should provide a boost but making it out of this group looks likely to be a bridge too far for EG's Canadian representative. Overcoming DaHanG or, even more unlikely, rapha would see gellehsak hit the headlines for the most spectacular upset in some time. In the words of the player himself, he expects "to finish no lower than third in the group," but "won't be upset" if he goes no further.

Victories over Kevin "kgb" Holowchik and Ben "pl4guev Tremblay saw gellehsak off to a good start in qualifying but a straight maps defeat to Brian "dkt" Flander soon ended his hopes of topping the group. An eleven to ten thriller on T9 proved the Canadian was no pushover but dkt responded well on ZTN to eliminate any hope of an upset. The relegation playoff drew gellehsak versus Justin "sparks" Sparks who was easily dealt with but, like he said himself, group A in the finals looks likely to be the end of the road.

Prediction: No chance versus the big two, will take third in the group

Justin "sparks" Sparks

For anyone who's been following the IEM North American regular season it might be a surprise to see sparks' name turn up here in the finals. Defeats to Thomas "griffin" Wall and Kyle "relic" Mims in the group stages saw 25 year old Canadian finish third in his qualifying group and a relegation playoff drubbing from gellehsak looked to have ended his participation. Luck turned out to be on his side though when kgb dropped out and both carnage and relic couldn't arrange passports in time, it was sparks who stepped forward to fill the vacancy.

This fairytale is very likely to end right here though. Having already lost to gellehsak leaves sparks looking quite out of depth in this star-studded group and the very best he can hope for is to sneak into third place. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Prediction: Dead last unfortunately