Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky claimed top spot at the IEM EU finals with a last-second rocket as the Dubai silver medalist took down teammate Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski in a five map thriller. The win saw the Belarusian pick up $3,500 as well and a confidence boosting first major title since 2008. The Serious-Gaming youngster admitted that a poor showing at Dreamhack had left him "thinking [he] can never achieve anything big" but he bounced back in style today with an impressive performance.
"Cypher" started the stronger of the two with a comfortable victory on ZTN but it wasn't to last long with "av3k" playing hard and fast on T7 and T9 to claim the lead. DM6 was next and once again "av3k's" aggressive style saw him wrest back control and chase down a seven frag defecit but this time he was to miss out on a win as the buzzer went with "Cypher" one up and the pair mid-fight. Both started strong on DM13, the deciding map, with "av3k" pushing his opponent hard and ESL TV's "2GD" worried the Belarusian was playing too passive to come out on top. As the clock ticked down it was "Cypher" hitting his shots though, and with seconds left and "av3k" on the chase it was a trademark rocket to the face that concluded an epic tie.
The win sees "Cypher" installed as Europe's number one seed ahead of the global finals in March but confirms Europe's depth of talent ahead of the game's biggest tournament so far. The likes of Anton "Cooller" Singov and Magnus "fox" Olsson will be hungry to make up for missed opportunities this weekend and maybe even Kevin "strenx" Baeza will be looking to build on his progress here. For now though, "Cypher" can enjoy his time off after a well deserved win.
IEM EU Final Standings
Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky ($3,500)
Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski
($1,500)
Anton "Cooller" Singov
($1,000)4th 
Kevin "strenx" Baeza
($700)5th
Magnus
"fox" Olsson
($450)6th
Alessandro
"stermy" Avallone
($350)7th
Benjamin
"calipt" Jakob
($300)8th
Marcel
"k1llsen" Paul
($200)RelatedPlayoff Bracket
t7 was coollers win, too bad he wanted replay.. respect tho
Cooler said he played defensively but the fact that it was so close the last 2 maps show he wasn't on form.
Cypher deserved the win
Anyway great event by ESL once again and can't wait for the Global Finals!
GG's.
overall sick tournement