<img src="/images/wcg2006/wcg_esr_q4_preview4B_ph4nto.png">

Q4 GGL World Ranking : 29
Q4 Prize Money : minimal

Results

2005 ZA LAN2K : 1st
2006 ESWC ZA : 1st
2006 ESWC Finals : 13th-16th

If World Championships were given out to nice people, Stephen would be at the front of the queue. Not that he wants things given to him, but it would be nice to see him get a break in gaming sooner rather than later.

There is no issue with his talent or application, its more to do with location. It costs a small fortune to get from South Africa to anywhere that holds a competitive high profile gaming tournament. As such, it has become almost impossible for him to attend anything that is not already funded by the tournament itself. You could argue that his clan Quadrant 6 should get a decent sponsor, but its not that simple in South Africa right now and whilst this column is not going to attempt to delve in to the complicated situation, lets just say, it’s a shame it stops such a talented player from competing on the big stage.

He does not have a great deal of form to consider, like many of the other players in this list, but lets take a look at what he has achieved in Q4 so far. First place in the LAN2K tournament (which saw Garpy attend) and first place at the ESWC Nationals are both great results and prove, to anyone who didn’t think so already, that he is the top dueller in South Africa right now. His only other major tournament this year came at the ESWC Grand Finals in Paris and whilst most wrote him off as a first round casualty, he applied himself well, coped with being placed on the stage and pitted against a Frenchman in front of his home crowd. He finished second in his group, ahead of former CPMA star Matr0x too, with only OoZe beating him, and only then after 3 maps.

His run ended in the second round with defeats to Cooller, d1ablo and Forever, a tough group. He has showed though, that he can compete and that despite his limited practice ability and relatively small South African scene, he has the ability and raw talent to play big events.

In a strange way, he is like Cypher and av3k in that he has a tremendous following that would love to see him play more tournaments, but is restricted and whilst that isn’t by age (like the other two), it is certainly just as annoying.

Being brutally honest, he wouldn’t be picked to play at WCG on his results, but factor in his ambition and his play style as well as some considerable support from the community and he could just sneak in, but that’s for you guys to decide.