ESFI World

Welcome to the first edition of our IEM 5 World Championship preview series that we're calling "3-a-days". Each day, the ESFI World staff will highlight three players or teams for each of the three game competitions taking place at the IEM Finals (March 1st - 5th). We'll see how they got to this point, preview their chances of success and give our picks for each one of their group stage matches. Let's begin with Quake Live!

Alexey 'Cypher' Yanushevsky

Alexey 'Cypher' Yanushevsky is a professional Quake Live player hailing from Belarus. Since breaking through in 2006, he has won countless tournaments, both online and off, highlighted by ESWC, QuakeCon and DreamHack victories.  » Player Profile   » IEM V World Championships coverage

To put it simply, Alexey 'Cypher' Yanushevsky is one of the top three favorites to win the IEM 5 World Championships. Anyone not betting on Cypher to finish in the podium would need to in turn bet against a plethora of supporting evidence that says he won't disappoint. He's followed up his dominant 2008 season by producing yet another year of consistent, high-yield results in 2010. After a somewhat mediocre fourth place finish in the fourth season of the IEM (this coming after placing first in the IEM European Finals), not only has he once again captured his QuakeCon title from 2008, but he has swept the four seasonal ASUS Cups throughout the year, finished second in the BEAT IT! Finals losing only to rapha and capped the year off by becoming the champion of DreamHack Winter. His most lackluster performance probably came at the revived Electronic Sports World Cup in France, managing to place only fifth. We're probably just spoiled by all of the success he's had; we've become accustomed to seeing Yanushevsky place in the top three and nothing less.

Cypher's path to this stage has been usually straightforward. In the European Championship online matches, he swept his group without losing a single map. At the European LAN Finals, he once again showed his prowess as one of the best group stage players in the world when he finished undefeated, securing his spot in the semifinals. There, he would meet a tough challenger in Av3k, and after five maps, Av3k edged his rival out in a rather lackluster fifth map on Hektik.

Drawn into Group B of the IEM 5 World Championships, Cypher seems like a lock to finish in one of the top three slots. All of the contenders, though, will realize the importance of trying to place first: the reward is a BYE in the first round of the playoffs, advancing players straight into the semifinal round.

IEM 5 World Championships - Cypher's group stage predictions

Cypher vs. dandaking	2-0	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Cypher vs. czm	2-0	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Cypher vs. rapha	1-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Cypher vs. cooller	2-1	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Cypher vs. Spart1e	2-0	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)

Cypher should be able to take care of business and finish in either first or second, depending on his result against rapha. I chose him to beat cooller because it seems while Cypher is always stronger in the group stages, cooller improves as the tournament moves into the playoff rounds instead.

Sebastian 'Spart1e' Siira

Sebastian 'Spart1e' Siira is currently Sweden's best Quake Live dueler, followed by the likes of fazz and mAdix. His career highlights include second place finishes at QuakeCon 2009 and ESWC Masters Athens.  » Player Profile   » IEM V World Championships coverage

This is the most important tournament of Sebastian Siira's Quake Live career. His game has been at the level it needs to be since as long as we can all remember, but has failed to execute when it matters most. Some of the blame can be put on his lack of time to practice before tournaments, due to his work or other circumstances, but it can't be used as an excuse for failure time and time again. You can't expect to win against players who are putting in more hours and dedication than you are. And when that kind of doubt is always lingering around you, it leaves some wondering why put the time in in the first place. I think there's that little section in all of our Quake hearts that wants to see Siira finally break through. I'd like to think that he travels to events and competes for more than just the player parties afterwards.

Spart1e's road to the Hannover has been almost less than mediocre. In fact, he was only one match away from not even qualifying for the tournament. After finishing in fourth (out of 6) in his group at the European LAN Finals (losing to strenx, Av3k and k1llsen), he and noctis played a match to see who would move on to the World Championships. There was an additional spot open as Marcel 'k1llsen' Paul had already qualified due to his win at the Global Challenge GamesCom.

IEM 5 World Championships - Spart1e's group stage predictions

Spart1e vs. dandaking	2-1	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Spart1e vs. czm	1-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Spart1e vs. rapha	0-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Spart1e vs. cooller	0-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
Spart1e vs. cypher	0-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)

It seems like Spart1e is destined for yet another tournament exit coming at the hands of a talent-filled group stage. The matchups above point to him going 2-3 with the three favorites (rapha, cooller, cypher) advancing. Something amazing, surprising or  both needs to happen for him to knock one of those three down.

Paul 'czm' Nelson

Together with legendary names like ZeRo4, cooller and toxic, Paul 'czm' Nelson stands amongst the best that Quake 3 had to offer. He now makes his long-awaited comeback into the Quake Live arena.  » Player Profile   » IEM V World Championships coverage

Having some of the the North American Quake scene's biggest, most legendary names come back and compete again invigorated the community tenfold. First came ZeRo4. Now, it's Paul 'czm' Nelson's turn.

In the American Championship online qualifiers, czm finished in second place in his group, beating Canadian contenders sparks and Flysher while losing only to rapha.

Now advanced into the American Championship Finals at the New York ComicCon, he would go on to win $700 after finishing in a respectable fourth place. The most important wins came in the group stage, where he managed to defeat both Chance and dkt. This paired him with rapha in the semifinals which he lost convincingly. Considering his limited amount of play time going into this event, it was clear that it hadn't taken him very long to get back up to speed; although, much was to be improved still.

That was more than four months ago. How much has he improved since then? While we await an interview with Nelson, a source tells us that he has not been practicing as much as he should be. We'll wait and see.

IEM 5 World Championships - czm's group stage predictions

czm vs. dandaking	2-1	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
czm vs. Cypher	0-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
czm vs. rapha	0-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
czm vs. cooller	1-2	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)
czm vs. Spart1e	2-1	Tuesday, March 1st (Time TBA)

Yes, it's going to happen. As Anton 'cooller' Singov said in a recent interview, he really wants to play Nelson again in a large scale Quake Live tournament like this one. Let's hope czm has had enough time to raise his level and renew some memories from the past. It would be nothing short of awesome.

In regards to his result, it's going to be beyond difficult for him to advance out of this group. The strength of cypher, rapha and cooller is enough to push him over the edge, but add Spart1e to the mix and dandaking as a potential dark horse, and it becomes near impossible. If someone can do it though, czm can. Let's hope he's spent the last four months getting to where he needs to be.

ESFI World will be on-site in Hanover, Germany to provide live coverage of the tournament. For continuing coverage, please visit the event page.

Photos: Julia Christophers