Upper Bracket Round 3

Vo0 - Cooller
Vo0 takes on Cooller. Finally, a match that I think everyone has been waiting for. It didn't happen at Winter CPL 2005, and despite not happening on LAN, it is happening. The stage is set for one of the most anticipated matches of Quake 4 to date. On one side, Cooller, a proven LAN player and the current #1 ranked player in the world. On the other side of the stage you have Vo0. He has won more money in a single year, then any player in the history of professional gaming. He's a machine, finishing no lower than 3rd place during the entire year of Painkiller. Also, he finally proved that he has what it takes to compete with the best of the best in Quake 4, as last week he took down fox in a widely unexpected win.

But this week is different. This is the iceman. This is Anton "Cooller than the other side of the pillow" Singov. He shows no fear of his opponents and can make a joke of even the best in the world. Funny, ZeRo4 called him "Lucky" after his loss to Cooller at ESWC. This I can tell you, he is anything but lucky. You can bet that he will not be scared when it comes to playing Vo0. He is both cocky and confident and this plays into his game. Expect both players to come out fighting, gloves off, and ready to get it on in EC XII action!

B1ight's Prediction: Cooller > Vo0 [2:0]
Vo0 last week finally showed me he can play with the likes of cooller, fox, and company when he took down fox in the upper brackets round 2. However this week he runs into none other then Cooller. A player so confident in his ability, he'll tell you about it. Unfortunately for Vo0, I think he's just another speed bump on Cooller's road to the finals. Cooller takes this one in two maps.

deLiGHT's Predition: Cooller > Vo0 [2:1]
If you haven't noticed, I've been praising Vo0 all week. Though, this time I'm going to have to give it to Cooller. Vo0 did a great job of beating fox last week, but against Cooller I can't see him getting more than a map and I wouldn't be surprised if it ended in a close scoring sweep. My instincts are telling me Cooller, but I would really like to see Vo0 win this and solidify himself as a top Q4 competitor.

OoZe - kzyma
This should be a great match up. Kzyma has done the impossible and taken down some of the best players in Europe on his way to the semi finals. OoZe on the other hand is hot. Recently he finished 2nd in the inQuake.de 2005 Fall Finals as well as knocking off Ztrider back in the first round of the playoffs.

kzyma needs to keep the momentum going he built through the first two rounds if he wants to take out OoZe. He has been playing really great as of late. If he gets out in the lead early he has the ability to hold OoZe off. Regardless, both players will be ready for a shot at Cooller or Vo0 in the Finals of the upper bracket to decide who's going to and who's going to the Losers Bracket.

B1ight's Prediction: OoZe > kzyma [2:1]
Coming off another great performance during inQuake.de, OoZe is hot. Look for him to continue this winning streak against kzyma this week as he takes him down in three maps. However I don’t think kzyma is out of this one by any means. If he can keep it close he has a chance of winning. But I’m going to stick with my first instinct.

deLiGHT's Predition: OoZe > kzyma [2:1]
After watching both players I'm pretty confident in my pick this week. The young player kzyma has shown a lot of promise in his previous matches but is plagued by silly mistakes; poor jumps in key moments along with debatably wrong battle engagement choices. His item control can be superb at times, but his mind doesn't seem to be developed enough yet to handle the pressure or play a flawless game. I really want to go with OoZe 2-0 here, but I have to give the underdog some credit here.