Both had a shot to dethrone the top two teams during this tournament and stop the match many felt was enviable once SK.swe faltered early in the tournament: wNv versus Complexity. Neither was able to step up to the challenge falling 0-2 each. They face one another Tuesday, May 2 at 1pm Chinese time (1am EST and 7am CST) on Nuke, Dust2 and Train for the 3rd Place Game and $4,000 difference in prizes (3rd: $8K – 4th: $4K).

Both teams come into the match with a 2-2 record for the event having won two games in group play. The comparison doesn't end there as the teams' best players also didn't show, playing poorly against their semi-final opponents.

Hacker.PK's star GeunChul "solo" Kang posted an FPR 25% below his tournament average, 0.630 FPR against wNv while 0.850 FPR for the tournament. His -10 +/- in the second map versus the Chinese was the first time he didn't have more frags then deaths in the entire tournament for a single map. His play is critical to Hacker.PK because they are only fifth best in FPR for the eight teams attending the event at 3.305 FPR.

Catch, on the other hand, has been slightly better as a team posting a 3.359 FPR for all five members, good enough for third among teams at the event. Still Sondre “REAL” Sanevik who leads the team in stats, didn't play well against Complexity. His 0.661 FPR was 12% lower then his 0.747 FPR average for the entire event. It's likely that the team that sees better play for their star players should be expected to come out on top.

However, let's not forget the maps. The opening map should favor the Norwegians as Hacker.PK has only played Nuke once in the tournament losing to Virtus.Pro 13-16. Catch on the other hand is 1-1 on Nuke beating SK.swe 16-9 and losing to wNv 12-16.

Also an interesting situation has developed on the second map. Normally, the Koreans have dominated on Dust2, but recently their mystique on that map has eroded. They have lost their last two Dust2 matches to Complexity and wNv, respectively. Catch on the other hand is 2-0 on Dust2 beating wNv 16-10 and 4Kings 19-16 in overtime.

The final map should favor the Koreans if it is reached. Hacker.PK is 2-1 on Train beating Complexity 16-14 and NoA 16-5 with their only loss to wNv 1-16. Catch has only played Train once in the tournament and that was in the semi-finals taking Complexity to overtime before losing 16-19.

With an additional $4,000 available to the winner, both teams should come in ready to play. Hacker.PK and Catch will have to receive better play from their star players in the tournament, Kang and Sanevik, respectively, if they expect to claim it.

Notes

Hacker.PK has won the same number of rounds it has lost in the tournament 123-123...Kang leads all players with eight 4F (Four Frag Rounds) three more than the next closest player in the tournament, has put up 129 frags on the offensive side (thirty more than the next player), and only 80 frags on the defensive side...Preben “OOPS” Josdal is tied for the lead in assists for the tournament with 45...Catch's five players combined have the exact same number of frags as deaths with 796 to 796.

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