CPL World Tour comes to a nailbiting finish
by Jennie Lees 
{ Nov 23rd 2005 at 4:00PM }
For the players, and for many spectators, it was a tense final.
Two powerful athletes fought it out head-to-head, with onlookers around the world glued to their screens in silent
anticipation. But this was no regular sports tournament's climax; it was the final of the
Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), the culmination of a year's worth
of qualifiers worldwide, and the game everyone was watching was
Painkiller.
After losing early on in the last round of qualifiers, Johnathan
"Fatal1ty" Wendel made a comeback and faced off against
Sander "fnatic.Vo0" Kaasjager for the final. Having won 5 out of the 9 worldwide CPL events, Vo0
was seeded first and many expected him to come out victorious—however, Fatal1ty pulled out all the stops and beat Vo0
in four straight games for a fantastic win, pocketing the $150,000 top prize. The final was
broadcast via MTV—and may be replayable—adding to the
sports-like atmosphere, with gamers on IRC and voice channels worldwide screaming in unison at a suicide or a sneaky
escape.
Gaming as a viable spectator sport? Whatever next.
[Ed: Unfamiliar with British phrasing? "Whatever next" is a simple abbreviation of the
more unwieldy "Whatever will those crazy cool cats think of next?" — watch this space for more in the "British English
101" series!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
PiNPOiNT @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Here is a website devoted to British Slang, for future reference...
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
jc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
"Two powerful athletes fought it out head-to-head"
That line really made me laugh... athletes... hahaha.
Congrats to Fatal1ty.
your enemies friends @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
fatality needs to die. he's too rich.
jl @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Thanks for the link, PiNPOiNT, though it doesn't define "Whatever next" :-)
Sagan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Why was there no news on any of the big pages BEFORE the event took place??? I would have watched it. Just a simple message like "CPL finals tomorrow at 6pm. Watch at this URL:" would have been fine.
I check pages like Gamespot and IGN almost every day and read at least through the main site, but didn't even know this took place... So the news either was either not important enough for them to highlight, or it wasn't even there... I'm pissed right now...
Well thx for the news either way... Gonna watch the replay now...
cicle @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Isn't it a little bit ironic that Sanders family name is Kaasjager, which is dutch for cheese hunter :)
jl @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Sagan: We covered it yesterday. Not every site thinks pro gaming is worth its attention, although the atmosphere last night was fantastic and well worth staying up late for. Hopefully you'll be able to catch the recap!
funkflizzle @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
All I know is I'd destroy Fatl1ty in Perfect Dark(n64). Man I wish these tournies became popular when I was in H.S. DAMN.
TC @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
Shouldn't there be a question mark at the end of 'Whatever next', even if it is rhetorical? Something to think about whilst on the Gary Glitter ....
jl @ Dec 18th 2005 9:38PM
It's rhetorical, but it can also be used as an expression of disbelief, which is more the "statement" use and thus deserves a full stop.