Shane 'rapha' Hendrixson 3:0 Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski (t7: 10-0, dm6: 35-0, dm13: 27-1)

One of the best looking online Quake Live cups to date and the second in a row following the Silent Gamers cup, the GDATA #14 cup attracted a decent sized buzz as it served as a mini-preview of sorts of the EM4 World Finals. Up to the final the games were well received, with a handful of great matches, and a shoutout has to go to the sites who took time out to stream the cup.

It was clear however that av3k wasn't putting his full attention on the grand final. Whether he was hiding something spectacular for the EM4 World Finals or simply wasn't bothered, his unsportsmanlike conduct left a lot of spectators disappointed.

He was playing strangely; standing still and attacking with a machine gun, failing to time items and jumping into situations he had no chance of winning.

nVc, the caster for lvl^, decided to shut up shop near the end of the final map. He left a comment on TEK9: "Yeah it's a shame, despite myself getting progressively drunk as the finals went on, I'm sure DaHanG would've aided in providing a great final on lvl^ - selfless."

DaHanG, who was co-casting the final with nVc, left halfway through the second map as a result of av3k's attitude.

rapha's outbursts in the text chat said what many were thinking: "Can you stop wasting my time and just spectate," he said after racking up 15 frags in three minutes. "Can you please just give me the money now" came at the end of the second map, backed up by an absurd 35-0 scoreline, to the delight of the stream's IRC channel. It was a waste of time for both viewers and rapha, who clearly wanted to get some more practice in before one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

Regardless of poor pings, hiding super-secret strategies or other interferences, as a professional gamer your role is to not only play but also to act professional. Why give up after just one map of a final?



Prior to the anti-climatic final rapha took down winDeath, stickan, k1llsen and tox1c with no relative trouble, but then came up against Cooller in the semi-final for his first real test.

The first map, dm13, timed out with two minutes left and the scores tied at 2-2, which resulted in a replay that turned out just as close, with rapha winning 1-0. t9 saw a more thorough showing from the two players; Cooller clawed his way back into the game after falling behind and came out on top 7-4. The final map ztn didn't see a single frag for the regulated 10 minutes, and with 10 seconds left in overtime rapha hit an air-rocket to win the series 2-1.

Shane took away €100 for his victory as well as a psychological boost heading into the EM4 World Finals that kicks off on Tuesday. Hit our coverage page to check out all of the fixtures.

Final standings:

1st: Shane 'rapha' Hendrixson - €100
2nd: Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski
3rd / 4th: Anton 'Cooller' Singov / Tim 'DaHanG' Fogarty

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GDATA #14 cup brackets