GotFrag eSports

Welcome to the CPL Quake 3 Championships at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas. This weekend's event will have matches starting on Sunday, December 17th and lasting until the grand finals on Wednesday, December 20th. The best Quake 3 players in the world have descended on the Lone Star State for up to $50,000.

Among the attendees includes the return of American Quake 3 legend Paul "czm" Nelson. Nelson, the former clan Kapitol star, has returned to the tournament scene once again after more than a year and a half of absence. Nelson's last event would be his second place finish at ESWC 2005, the last big international Quake 3 event before this year's World Season.

At that event he was defeated only by Russia's Anton "Cooller" Singov, also returning to the Arena this weekend. Unlike Nelson, Singov has been playing Quake 4 winning two major championships and recently placing 4th at the WSVG finals. Nelson will look for his revenge and both players will have to show how they can perform after a long hiatus, Quake 4 or not.

CPL Singapore and CPL Nordic winner Fan "Jibo" Zhibo will be looking to bring home the first ever major international event FPS DM win for China. Zhibo has lived in Russia for years and has been practicing with his country mates for this weekend's event.

Singov's Mousesports' teammates Alexander "Z4muZ" Ihrfors arrives from Sweden with a third place finish at CPL Nordic while Jason "socrates" Sylka is the second and final player from the WSVG finals event to attend CPL Winter.

America's newest professional 1v1 gaming organization spawned by Brian "destrukt" Flander is in full force with six players in attendance. Flander is accompanied by his Onslaught team of Mark "cl0ck" McGrail, Sean "daler" Price, Chance "chance" Lacina, Austin "etcz" Vandever, Rogelio "clowN" Vela. Each will look to prove that Americans can play just as good Quake as anyone.

Canada's Team EG will be sending their home-country CPM and Painkiller champion Andy "gellehsak" Ryder, as well as their AMERICAN STEEL across the pond Rafik "LoSt-CaUzE" Bryant. Bryant was initially not going to participate in the tournament but has decided otherwise.

Australia's long-time dueler Andrew "Python" Cha Cha will look to prove that they can still play Quake 3 down under. A number of other competitors will join those mentioned to create one of the most anticipated events in some time. Unfortunately, there are also those who could not make it, which do account for quite a few top names.

Among those top names are all of the F-Players, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, Alessandro "Stermy" Avallone, and Magnus "fojji" Olsson. Wendel and Avallone both recently participated at the WSVG finals in New York City and are both presumably not suitably prepared for an event so close, and/or want to take some time off after a long year of Quake 4.

CPL Italy winner Olsson cannot enter the country due to VISA issues stemming all the way back to QuakeCon earlier this year, where he was turned away from the border. Additionally, Olsson's flight was booked out of Italy and made things even more difficult while living in Sweden.

WSVG finals winner and the Quake 4 machine all-year round, Johan "toxic" Quick, will not be attending with the same notions as Wendel and Avallone. He does not feel adequately prepared for the event after playing Quake 4 the whole year.

French Quake 3 star and against All authority representative Mathias "St. Germain" Perriot has dropped due to not feeling prepared for Winter, comparing his practice schedule to that of before CPL Italy where he only placed 9-16th.

America's Jared "cha0ticz" Cugno recently got engaged and is working everyday.

CPL Nordic second place finisher Sebastian "Spart1e" Siir cannot find sponsor support to attend the event, even though he qualified through the CPL Nordic event as Zhibo has already gained his spot through CPL Singapore.

Sponsor issues plagued many players including all of Swedish Quake team FOE which includes Jonas "OoZe" Gustafsson, Andreas "Zonic" Isberg and Daniel "K!cker" Karlsson, as well as former Team 9 player Andreas "rvd" H�lgin. Gustafsson has not found any sponsorship after his split with RAW-gaming months ago.

With British-based gaming organization alltherage collapsing recently, it has ended the hopes of Belgium star Yannick "impulse" Bovy of coming to the US and competing with the best.

Excello's Evan "Nomadic" Bradshaw does not wish to play Quake 3 under CPMA, citing it has a different feel than OSP.

American Quake player Walter "walter" Outlaw, a man who's been of many discussions on internet forums and quake websites about suspected cheating, has informed that he will not be attending. Outlaw lists that he would attend but cannot take off work in time. Outlaw has still never been to any LAN events.

Hoorai representative and recent Quake 4 dueler as of late Igor "Hunter" Sambolskiy had preperation problems as well and did not feel comfortable playing the event. More players may end up dropping with more details to come shortly.

Seventeen participants of the event have been interviewed on their practice schedule beforehand, their thoughts on their chances, and their thoughts of the entire year and their future for next year. The list of interviewed players is as follows:

United States