Both players made it known as soon as they arrived on stage that they were hoping to put on a show, and the Serious Gaming pair did just that over five spectacular maps.

The duo have met each other at the last two big Quake Live tournaments, IEM's European and World finals, and almost everybody expected the two to meet again in Sweden. They had a victory apiece - both ending 3-2 - and the winner of this encounter would take a psychological lead as well as the title of DreamHack champion.

Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski 3-2 Alexei 'Cypher' Yanushevsky (dm13: 5-9, ztn: 8-6, t7: 12-8, t9: 3-24, dm6: 7-4)

av3k chose dm13 as the first map and set straight to work by taking an early lead. Initially looking comfortable he set about his game but was jumped upon by Cypher twice in quick succession, erasing the two frag deficit. On the back of the quick two kills Cypher bullied av3k around the map and made it his, storming ahead 7-4. In the last few moments of the game av3k tried to claw his way back into the map but Cypher held his ground and played smart to keep his lead and pick up the first point.

av3k opened up nicely again on ztn, scoring three frags with no reply. Almost two minutes passed before another battle occurred, and it was Cypher who dictated the crucial moment and picked up his first frag. Cypher scored another two frags over two mega battles then pulled away to a 5-2 lead. But a resurgent av3k made one frag that changed the pace of the game - as soon as Cypher spawned av3k was making conversion frags which won him the map and tied things up.

Once again av3k opened up strong, this time on t7, and once again Cypher picked the right time to make his attack and closed up the gap to just a single frag. Cypher soon became a victim of conversion frags for the second map running - after bringing the score to 4-3 he died 7 times in a row, effectively losing the map with a couple of minutes remaining.

But t9 saw a completely different Cypher. One map away from defeat, the Belarusian pulled out all the stops to force the game into its fifth and final map. Five minutes had passed and he was 10-0 up, completely dominating av3k with rockets and map control. It all turned into a showcase just after the halfway point, and with two minutes remaining on the clock and the score at 21-1, even Jay and Joe couldn't contain their excitement when av3k picked up a frag. "Comeback!!" they screamed...

The final map was enthralling and brought out the absolute best in the two elite duelers. Cypher was winning the important red armor battles for a good portion of the game, but av3k's other item control was slowly but surely helping him mount a comeback. The Pole was 4-1 down at one point but utilized everything he could get his hands on, which complimented his superior positioning in a string of crucial fights. He took the lead 6-4 and after a couple of tense minutes picked up one more frag to all but secure the victory. Cypher typed "GG" and it was over.

The win is av3k's second DreamHack victory in a row, and a surefire confidence boost heading into ESWC on June 30. Cypher meanwhile misses out on another first place finish but will still be one of the favorites for the majority of this year's tournaments.

DreamHack Summer final standings:
1st Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski 30,000 SEK (~$3,861)
2nd Alexei 'Cypher' Yanushevsky 15,000 SEK (~$1,930)
3rd Kevin 'Strenx' Baeza 5,000 SEK (~$643)

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Photograph copyright of ESL