Written by Mark “wombat” Larsen

Saturday matches have begun and there have been some great matches taking place in round 3 of the upper bracket. There have also been some upsets taking place down in the lower bracket, creating some unexpected match-ups. This post will be updated throughout the day with the latest happenings, so be sure to check back here often to receive the latest news from the tournament.

#27 Benjamin “zyz” Bohrmann over #3 Stephan “SteLam” Lammert

I don’t think there’s any 2 players out there that are as evenly skilled as these players are. 3 matches played, all of which were neck-and-neck throughout the whole games, with zyz finally pulling out the win. The first 2 maps were Sacred, and the first game went into double overtime. Before the overtimes started in this match, zyz had the opportunity to win it. With a 2 point lead with under a minute left, he chose to keep playing aggressive instead of trying to hide or run away. Perhaps showing respect for his teammate or maybe the pressure got to him, whatever it was it cost him this game. What’s also interesting to note is that neither SteLam nor zyz got a kill only 1 or 2 seconds before the match would have ended. The second map played out almost exactly the same as the first map, with control constantly being exchanged. The stake gun was rarely used, so every battle resulted in a well earned frag. On the tie breaker map, Psycho, SteLam started off with control and it appeared that he would build up a huge lead early on. However a fight at the spawning of the second megahealth gave zyz the advantage, as SteLam was propped up into the air making for an easy kill. The whole game went back and forth time and time again. These matches didn’t really showcase any insane shots or introduce any interesting tactics that had not already been senn. The thing that sets these 2 players apart from a lot of the others in the tournament is that they know how to dominate the map once they have control, and they also have the ability to retake control at any time. Zyz is facing off against Fatal1ty next, and despite what I said about him last night, I think zyz may steal a map from him or atleast put up a good fight.

#2 Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel over #26 Johan “Sakh” Hessedahl

This series proved to be a lot less eventful than many had expected. While sakh showed some great aim and control early on in the first map on fallen2, it didn’t last for long. Sakh’s early lead was abruptly stopped during a fight over the megahealth. Sakh had the upper ground, and had Fatal1ty trapped below him. I can guarantee everyone watching the game expected sakh to take the easy kill, but an absolutely insane stake shot from Fatal1ty gave him the kill and control over the map. From here on out, there was nothing sakh could do. He was getting dominated by Fatal1ty’s shaft aim, and also by his rockets that rarely missed its target. The second map was on Sacred, and was the first time I witnessed Fatal1ty playing on this map at this event. As expected, his play was very impressive and was in control the whole match. One thing to note about Fatal1ty’s play so far is that in his matches thus far, all of them have started off relatively close at the beginning. Once he gains control of the map though, he begins to rack up the kills rapidly. There’s nothing more to say about his play here, except that the match against zyz should be another awesome match.

I would also like to point out that the tournament is running very smoothly, and the CPL mod has worked flawlessly. MikeMo, Foster, and Wires have all done an amazing job at keeping things running on time and keeping the tournament area clear of random people. With the PK tournament area being the smallest and with constant Doom 3 competitors walking past to get to their tournament area, there has been no troubles yet.


Below are the top 8 finishers, the names in bold are those who have qualified for the all expenses trip to the first CPL World Tour stop held in Turkey.

1. Vo0
2. zyz
3. Fatal1ty
4. Stermy
5. gellehsak
6. zen
7. daler
8. LeXeR