Promode at St. Petersburg Quake LAN #3
With the Deathmatch.tv Promode LAN set for tomorrow at 06:00 UTC, I thought it would be helpful to go over the tournament, registered players, and discus anticipated results. Firstly big thank you to the Deathmatch.tv for organizing the event, as well the Promoders that will be attending. The entire event will be streamed live on 
Deathmatch.TV, so please make sure you tune to find out what's going on.
The Event
This will be the first Promode LAN since DreamHack Winter 2008 which was won by Quake legend fox, and gives a chance for Promoders show off their skills in a LAN environment. This will be a duel cup that will utilize a double-elimination format, with BO3 upper bracket and lower bracket, with a BO5 grand final. There will be a bunch of money on the line, with a minimum prize pool of 15,000 RUB. With You can find all the tournament details on their
official website.
Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the last CPM LAN was actually DreamHack Summer 2009, which was won by Vo0 over LuGia.
The map pool will be quite familiar as it features some of the most liked and played maps, including:
One interesting thing to note about the pool is that it should allow for an VQ3/QL players feeling brave enough to register to have a competitive chance as they should be familiar with evolution (Toxicity in Quake Live) and cpm22 (aerowalk).
The Players
There are a total of eight players that will be attending including European juggernaut gaiia, a contingency of strong Russian duelers including Leshaka, Recluse, napalot and sarin, Slovak timing wizard Kimi, with .phi and old school player sshl rounding up the tally.
This will be gaiia's tournament to lose as he will come in head and shoulders above the rest of the crop and has an opportunity to cement his legacy as one of the best, if not the best, European dueler in the scene. His combination of smarts, mechanical prowess, and good looks will make him a menace to any of the other players, having only dropped one duel set in 2018. There isn't a map in the pool where gaiia would be at a remarkable disadvantage, however, if he has one too many drinks there might be a chance he's not in top form. Even though he's almost guaranteed to win, he will have some challenges as this is first Promode LAN, and will be in a foreign country on a setup that's potentially different to what he's used to at home. As one of the two lone European players, he will be fighting to bring the crown back to Finland.
Beyond gaiia, there are two very strong Russina players in Leshaka and Recluse who, under the right circumstances, can take maps from gaiia. Both of these players do not have the same level of mechanical excellence or experience, but they are very strong aimers that are comfortable on all the maps. Leshaka was the top Warsow player, and Recluse is not always ready. If they can push gaiia to three maps, that in itself will be a win, but they will have to remain focused and keep the pressure one when they have the advantage and use every trick available when they are out of control. With home-field advantage on their side, they will surely be a little more familiar, and a little more comfortable in the environment. This could prove to be the difference.
The rest of the group features a mix of strong and weak duelers, who I do not anticipate to be able to take the crown but could certainly make a dent in someone else's day. napalot and sarin are no strangers when it comes to CPM dueling, and could be responsible for upsetting some of the stronger Russian duelers but their chances versus gaiia is grim. Expect Kimi to collect all the red armors, and patiently wait for the Quad spawn.
Edit: After posting this piece, I had a couple of people comment that Leshaka has been training hard for this event and is much stronger than people are anticipating.
Links: Playmorepromode.com
Deathmatch.TV, so please make sure you tune to find out what's going on.The Event
This will be the first Promode LAN since DreamHack Winter 2008 which was won by Quake legend fox, and gives a chance for Promoders show off their skills in a LAN environment. This will be a duel cup that will utilize a double-elimination format, with BO3 upper bracket and lower bracket, with a BO5 grand final. There will be a bunch of money on the line, with a minimum prize pool of 15,000 RUB. With You can find all the tournament details on their
official website.Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the last CPM LAN was actually DreamHack Summer 2009, which was won by Vo0 over LuGia.
The map pool will be quite familiar as it features some of the most liked and played maps, including:
- cpm3a
- cpm15
- cpm22
- cpm24
- evolution
One interesting thing to note about the pool is that it should allow for an VQ3/QL players feeling brave enough to register to have a competitive chance as they should be familiar with evolution (Toxicity in Quake Live) and cpm22 (aerowalk).
The Players
There are a total of eight players that will be attending including European juggernaut gaiia, a contingency of strong Russian duelers including Leshaka, Recluse, napalot and sarin, Slovak timing wizard Kimi, with .phi and old school player sshl rounding up the tally.
This will be gaiia's tournament to lose as he will come in head and shoulders above the rest of the crop and has an opportunity to cement his legacy as one of the best, if not the best, European dueler in the scene. His combination of smarts, mechanical prowess, and good looks will make him a menace to any of the other players, having only dropped one duel set in 2018. There isn't a map in the pool where gaiia would be at a remarkable disadvantage, however, if he has one too many drinks there might be a chance he's not in top form. Even though he's almost guaranteed to win, he will have some challenges as this is first Promode LAN, and will be in a foreign country on a setup that's potentially different to what he's used to at home. As one of the two lone European players, he will be fighting to bring the crown back to Finland.
Beyond gaiia, there are two very strong Russina players in Leshaka and Recluse who, under the right circumstances, can take maps from gaiia. Both of these players do not have the same level of mechanical excellence or experience, but they are very strong aimers that are comfortable on all the maps. Leshaka was the top Warsow player, and Recluse is not always ready. If they can push gaiia to three maps, that in itself will be a win, but they will have to remain focused and keep the pressure one when they have the advantage and use every trick available when they are out of control. With home-field advantage on their side, they will surely be a little more familiar, and a little more comfortable in the environment. This could prove to be the difference.
The rest of the group features a mix of strong and weak duelers, who I do not anticipate to be able to take the crown but could certainly make a dent in someone else's day. napalot and sarin are no strangers when it comes to CPM dueling, and could be responsible for upsetting some of the stronger Russian duelers but their chances versus gaiia is grim. Expect Kimi to collect all the red armors, and patiently wait for the Quad spawn.
Edit: After posting this piece, I had a couple of people comment that Leshaka has been training hard for this event and is much stronger than people are anticipating.
Links:
Playmorepromode.com