A player that needs no introduction, rapha is the player to beat right now in QuakeLive and a clear favourite going into IEM Dubai. One year ago to the day, the 20 year old from Rockford, Illinois pulled off a surprise victory at ESWC Athens in what was to prove a sign of things to come for the rising star. Twelve months on and he's added Quakecon 2009 and IEM Cologne to his list of major tournament wins, beating Europe's two most consistent QuakeLive players, Spart1e and noctis, in the process.
For those who might suspect he's been resting on his laurals these past weeks, rapha's intensive bootcamp in Europe proves that he isn't prepared to give up his number one spot without a fight. Daily practice on European servers against the likes of noctis, Cooller and more will have rapha in the form of his life traveling to Dubai and there will be no excuses should he return to the United States with anything but the top prize.
Magnus "fox" Olsson(mousesports) "Always the bridesmaid, never the bride". A joke often levelled at fox due to his tendency to fall at the last hurdle in major tournaments and one that's likely to leave a bitter taste in the mouth of the Swedish star. A former FPO and SK player, fox now wears the red of mousesports and is looking to prove to his new sponsors he's every bit deserving of the lucrative contract he's signed with them.
Known to practice under a variety of aliases, fox's form going into this event is somewhat of an unknown but fans of the Swede will be hoping he's on his toes from the kick off. Tough group matches against rapha and Jibo could leave him out in the cold early on and he'll know that his solid but unspectacular performances at Quakecon and IEM Cologne will have to be improved upon. fox does have the potential to go all the way though, and there won't be a player at this event that will underestimate him.
Zhibo "Jibo" Fan (Razer)
Swapped into Group A after fox's mousesports move, Jibo may feel hard done by to find himself facing two of the game's biggest names on his QuakeLive debut but it would be a mistake to rule him out just yet. The Chinese player has been around longer than most and will be considered a tricky proposition by all three of his group opponents. His first match, against fox, looks most likely to determine his fate.
Jibo's defensive style may not be quite suited to QuakeLive but, with eight years of Quake experience to his name, he is going to be a very tough opponent on the older maps (DM6, DM13 and ZTN) in particular. A two-time CPL winner in Quake 3 in 2006, Jibo doesn't have to look too far back to relive his past triumphs. The only question now is whether he's able to reproduce that level of performance and, of course, will he be ready on time to do it come Saturday.
Pierre-Emeric "l1nkje" Portier (fnatic)
More famous for his team gametype credentials, l1nkje looks set to struggle in what was dubbed the "group of death" in Dubai. A 13th to 16th place at Quakecon could be what's coming his way again but the French player might just fancy his chances of an upset. Both fox and Jibo will be wary of the threat l1nkje poses, especially in the best of three format before the playoffs.
The games will be streamed live on TEK9 vie ESL-TV.
Sorry im such a nooby so could you send me a link cheers corbi
when the stream is up you'll see it here on tek9....i guess
Yep!
Just keep an eye on TEK9. Corbie will be brining top-quality coverage as soon as it happens. All available streams will be on TEK-9 front page somewhere or another.
Shane "rapha" Hendrixson (SK-Gaming)
Magnus "fox" Olsson (mousesports)
Zhibo "Jibo" Fan (Razer)
Pierre-Emeric "l1nkje" Portier (fnatic)
edited 2009-10-16 08:58:36
gonna be just sick :)
ESL-TV
ESL-TV
nais
prizepurse compared to Quakecon or ESWC Grand Finals is.... WTF? THIS IIIIIIIIIIIS DUBAAAAAAAAI :D
go Alexey!
The games will be streamed live on TEK9 vie ESL-TV.
The games will be streamed live on TEK9 vie ESL-TV.
Sorry im such a nooby so could you send me a link cheers corbi
The games will be streamed live on TEK9 vie ESL-TV.
Sorry im such a nooby so could you send me a link cheers corbi
when the stream is up you'll see it here on tek9....i guess
edited 2009-10-16 18:16:23
prizepurse compared to Quakecon or ESWC Grand Finals is.... WTF? THIS IIIIIIIIIIIS DUBAAAAAAAAI :D
go Alexey!
Why the fuck aren't you representing yet? :(
The games will be streamed live on TEK9 vie ESL-TV.
Sorry im such a nooby so could you send me a link cheers corbi
when the stream is up you'll see it here on tek9....i guess
Yep!
Just keep an eye on TEK9. Corbie will be brining top-quality coverage as soon as it happens. All available streams will be on TEK-9 front page somewhere or another.
not great but its not shit considering its 1on1, 3 grand for yourself is no slap in the face.
not great but its not shit considering its 1on1, 3 grand for yourself is no slap in the face.
he just means that its low comparing to the prizepurse quake used to have.
luckier than me mate..i won't be able to see the quarters semis or the final :'(((
fucking classes
luckier than me mate..i won't be able to see the quarters semis or the final :'(((
fucking classes
Sorry to hear that man. They better come up with VODs.
But anyway it's about to go down! Everyone, hit the stream tv.esl.eu/de/esltv_stream/stream/55-flv-free
edited 2009-10-17 16:37:43