Top stars in action at Quakecon 2009

Europe and North America's finest have descended on Dallas, Texas once more for the annual festival of frags that is Quakecon. With $50,000 on the line for duel and CTF tournaments, the stakes are high and nerves are fraught ahead of tonight's opening rounds.

Attention over the weekend will focus on the eleven Europeans who have made the trip, with the likes of Magnus "fox" Olsson, Alexey "Cypher" Yanushevsky and Alessandro "stermy" Avallone all gunning for the top honours. Standing in their way lies a talented field of players including the USA's best hope for a gold medal, Shane "Rapha" Hendrixson of SK-Gaming. Other big duelers in attendance include former ESWC Quake4 champion Maciej "av3k" Krzykowski, ex-TEK9 player Rafik "LoSt-CaUzE" Bryant and new fnatic pickups Sebastian "spart1e" Siira and Pierre-Emeric "link1n" Portier.

With a $20,000 prize pot, the CTF tournament is also shaping up to be a classic and it's here that the Americans will definitely fancy their chances. Although the European teams perhaps have an advantage when it comes to individual talent, fnatic's David "deus" Kinnaird was quick to point out on esreality that EG and eMg will have significantly more experience playing together as a team.

"CTF is a team game" Kinnaird explains, "sure we can out aim anyone... but we need to gel as a team and work with each other". He will line up alongside his new teammates "Stermy", "link1n" and "spart1e" as well as stand-in "fox" for the first time tomorrow and is keen to downplay their chances of an easy route to the finals as has been predicted.

The following unofficial list of notable attendees has been posted on esreality.

Intel QUAKE LIVE Masters Championship

Sebastian "fnatic.spart1e" Siira
Michael "xlo-madix" Hindersson
Pelle "xlo-fazz" Söderman
Magnus "LLL*fox" Olsson
Gareth "dignitas/GaRpY" Marshall
Aaron-Anton "dignitas/HELL" Jones
Pierre-Emeric "fnatic.link1n" Portier
Marcel "k1llsen" Paul
Maciej "srs/rzr/av3k" Krzykowski
Alessandro "fnatic.stermy" Avallone
Alexey "srs/rzr/Cypher" Yanushevsky
Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager
Brian "grav`DKT" Flander
Tim "EG|DaHang" Fogarty
Chance "EG|Chance" Lacina
Shane "SK|rapha" Hendrixson
Rafik "LoSt-CaUzE" Bryant
Daniel "carnage" Sturdivant
Walter "walter" Outlaw
Thomas "EG|Griffin" Wall
Justin "grav`sparks" Sparks

QUAKE LIVE Capture the Flag Championship

fnaticMSI: Stermy, link1n, spart1e, deus, fox
TBA: fazz, madix, GaRpY, HELL, av3k, Cypher
EG: DaHanG, viju, Clamp-ok, id
eMg: knossos, kgb, pyro, icel0re
TBA: DKT, Chance, Griffin, sparks
Loaded: carnage, relic, walter, blt
51: ceppy, shizem, nik0n, Ice
x_X: drad1k, PRESSURE, higgs, cravejosh
tD: sevenfive, whaz, Flysher, allmEntal

Live coverage over the weekend will be coming at you from QuadV and full details can be found below.

Related
QuadV coverage
Quakecon Schedule