ESL Classics: Rapha vs. Cooller

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The grand final of the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in QUAKE LIVE between Shane "rapha" Hendrixson and Anton "Cooller" Singov. Analysed and explained by rapha.

[@chesstoad]

"A game like this wouldn't be as good as it was if it wasn't for the opponent that was across from me. So, these games doesn't mean anything unless the other opponent is as good as you or better." What a class act

[@bwkneetow334]

Chess Toad wtf u r saying nerd

[@webgpu]

Girl, he was talking to adults. That's why you didn't get it.

[@judge462]

Has a name like "Girl with a robotic a hand". Calls people nerds because he is too dumb to watch a video to the end.

[@tazzz001]

this.

[@BigDaddyGee85]

sure its respectfull...but what he means is that simular to Chess, if you play a pretty underskilled Opponent, there is just no Competition. That means there is almost Zero luck involved, just tactics, movement, timing and aiming.

[@MichaelPateras]

"These games wouldn't be as good if it wasn't for the opponent across from me". Classy guy. Wins handily, but he's still gracious enough to compliment his opponent. That's the demeanor of a true champion.

[@WaffleRofl]

+Mike Pateras Cooller is a legend in quake, and I have no doubt rapha came up watching cooller's games and learning a lot from them. I bet it was a surreal experience for him to break into the pro quake scene and eventually beat one of the players he looked up to.

[@Kperson123]

+WaffleRofl Also zero4 the American q3 great was rapha's biggest role model. Zero4 ended up mentoring rapha around 2008 and helped him a lot with his game.

[@Koruvax]

@@WaffleRofl Anton Singov, but chose name will always over given name.

[@carloschau9310]

Rapha's commentary is so cool and fluid, you can just listen to him all day :)

[@carloschau9310]

Unfortunately not, I wished there was

[@kevindreese5283]

Yeah check out his and dahangs stream they've both been streaming alot more since QC came out. They cover alot of useful information while playing. And it's always a treat to listen to their comms when rapha n dahang 2v2

[@BruhPK]

I swear, Quake is like Chess. You gotta be smart and out-think your opponent and hearing it from a player who is explaining it in the moment just makes you just marvel at his ability to think so quick and react to certain situations to make the better play. Absolutely amazing!

[@SuckItLily]

I knew this video would still be here in 2017 and that my opponent wouldn't be able to stop me from watching it again. And that's exactly what happened.

[@manafro2714]

i don't get this, could you please explain?

[@davidk7439]

@@manafro2714 It's a phrase rapha repeats a lot in this video, since it was basically his game plan. Rapha mentions at the beginning that his opponent can take control of resources very quickly, and just suffocate you if any sort of power. So, he ensures that he's at places before his opponents, and pays special attention to timings when items spawn (Specifically Red armor and mega health), and throws his opponent off of their personal timings whenever he could.

[@manafro2714]

@@davidk7439 Hello! :) Thanks for the response. So this phrase, then, is: "And that's exactly what happened. " Yes, now I can put it into context. I agree with you on what you wrote! Thanks for taking the time to write this response. Have a nice day! :)

[@ADiceySituation]

I think it was Cooller who once said "Normally, this would work. But this is Rapha." These two seem to have a lot of respect toward one another.

[@BOZ_11]

Rapha said the same thing on campgrounds about Cooller, he was shocked how fast cooller made it to the upper yellow and shrugged: "but it's cooller"

[@theonlybass8947]

quake will forever be the greatest contest of both mental and physical prowess in the fps genre.

[@StopBuggingMeGoogleIHateYou]

Physical?

[@abandonedprogram9391]

not really

[@5days61]

@@StopBuggingMeGoogleIHateYou he means a combination of both mechanical aiming skills and mental game sense

[@kirsty_yamaha]

@@StopBuggingMeGoogleIHateYou yes, like dexterity

[@OG_johnsmith]

Man, this game was legendary. Greatest fps game of all time. I will never forget the fun I had while playing it

[@colloredbrothers]

I had no idea the tactics in this game were so deep.

[@JaddStar]

kallbiirah I had no idea either. I just thought Quake was some old, fun shooter.

[@11Gl4d0s]

in every game on proffesional level ,))

[@snarf1851]

Aleksandar Glisic You'd be surprised LOL is actually pretty damn deep.

[@snarf1851]

Aleksandar Glisic I mean at a pro level but even at diamond its more than just what meets the eye all competitive games are.

[@tinyp7506]

+Royal Safewood Quake duel has way more depth than mobas, its not as complex though. I don't play RTS so can't say anything, all I know is mobas are easy copmared to quake. It becomes apparent when you realize that a player can 30-0 someone in duel who has better aim than him

[@Nspired0]

"These games don't mean anything if your opponent isn't as good as you are or better" That right there was the topping on this amazing commentary by an amazing quaker

[@Dufffaaa93]

Damn, what he said at the end... I have nothing but a respect for this guy. This video made me respect e sport players.

[@TheTalkingMoose1]

Was about to close the tab but saw this comment. What a guy. Massive Respect.

[@DairyKing404]

A true competitor.

[@DiogoVincenzi]

This is a fantastic insight into how a real FPS is played. Brilliant!

[@sirbuster223]

ESL classics needs to come back - it was a great to hear the mind of rapha and deconstruct a very tense match like this.

[@apersonaplace]

Rapha is such an amazing commentator. I'd love to see him as a caster.

[@SolidRoot]

He's said multiple times he'd like to do it, so more than likely it will happen. And I agree - he would be great at it.

[@roxGCstyle]

Quake champions is my first quake game and i'm not even a fps player, what i loved about quake the most was the movements mechanics, it is so fast and satisfying. And of course i really appreciated the insight i got from this video of quake core gameplay.

[@375band]

"And right here, I have no idea how he got to that position so quickly!" - I rofled here! Indeed, that was kind of a magic movement from Coollerz. Rapha - you are so great person!

[@g3synth205]

Timestamp for anybody else wondering - 11:09 (sets up the sequence)

[@375band]

@@g3synth205 Rapha touched the wall on the movement back to yellow - that's why Coollerz managed to reach and hit

[@Dustr232]

i miss w3/q3/scbw/cs1.6 esport times. best esport games ever

[@SageManeja]

+Dustr232 TF2 is the only game somewhat similar to quake with an active competitive scene.. makes me so sad to turn on quake live to only see instagib servers and a few normal servers with handful of players

[@moondawgify]

+Sage Maneja Atleast TF2 is getting competitive mm early 2016, it may not be quake but it's just as fun and almost as challenging.

[@llucllumador380]

grubby!!

[@Szgerle]

" TF2 is getting competitive " LMAO funniest thing I have read in a while

[@internetuser9342]

Cs:Go is still nice. The pro scene is very well developed and entertaining

[@bobfet1]

great video, really shows what a high level these guys are playing at

[@Elvathar]

When you listen/watch this you start to understand just how hard it is to be that good at quake!

[@mrkeefor]

Some say Quake is only run and gun and no tactics. I think this video proves otherwise.

[@BroInJapan]

they must be non-quake players or only ever played CA. :)

[@nasanchez964]

James P Or just dumb.

[@powderhungry6611]

Actually guys, just listen to the first few minutes of the match, Rapha explains what he has to do. It isn't necessary to hit a bunch of rails, nor is it run and gun. The key is getting to 100 armor or better (because overstack kicks in afterwards), and just keep the timings and be ready for the opportunity and precise moment to start spamming and interluding your opponent's movement. The key to this is that Cooller was 'playing safe on the items', keeping himself 5-10 seconds of time for rotating from red armor--> mega health --> yellow armor. He did this by delaying the pickup, and you do this to avoid synchronizing item respawns. Maintaining good position and spamming is the only way to slow the opponent down from rotating. It only took Rapha 2\5 seconds of spam to steal the Red Armor.

[@tinyp7506]

rapha back foot against you for a couple of minutes? you need to be at least 2k elo to do that or get a really really lucky. rapha has better aim than the best ca players (in duel at least) so i assume you are a very very skilled dueller?

[@rivoncz]

Aiming isn't that hard IMO. Timing, anticipating your opponent's moves and thinking what to do next is.

[@dantescanline]

This is really excellent to have the players themselves do an indepth breakdown of the match, with speed control especially. This is really helpful to someone just learning to appreciate this game.

[@scoreone1]

which is exactly what happened

[@hatspencer]

I'm watching this over and over and over and over .... again. Amazing.

[@Tenken89]

Its like a boss fight.

[@Bogus_Pocus-ps9ie]

Thats exactly what its like, except your both the boss.

[@johnchristian5027]

wish they did more of these , this is amazing

[@davesmuckers7408]

Rapha's comment at the end was true, and very classy.

[@goprodog4304]

OMG. Being a hardcore Quake player (but rarely playing 1v1) this would have been a great revelation for me back then. It really is amazing how well Rapha explains this.

[@biubiuty]

i think rapha is the coolest esport dude i've ever seen.

[@eqsaz]

Eh, his opponent is definitely cooler.

[@jhheight]

@@eqsaz nice one

[@manafro2714]

@@eqsaz team fourstar reference as well?

[@disruptor6550]

@@manafro2714 lol

[@Healp145]

@@eqsaz xDDDD

[@Skyther33]

Yeah, I really hope Quake doesn't die out, it's one of my favorite games and has been since the 1990's.

[@jdeleca]

Closing your eyes and just listen to rapha narrate every details it's better than watching it

[@reidmarsh]

enjoyed it, Rapha seems really genuine and nice, he doens't let of much abut himself that i've seen from over footage of him. Nice to see. Please keep more of these coming

[@doop00]

Have not seen this before, great commentary by Rapha.

[@GlassOnion23]

This is probably my favorite gaming-related video here in KZbin. I`ve already watched this four times in the two days since I`ve first seen it, which is amazing considering it`s almost 19 minutes. I never knew Quake III had this much strategic depth to be honest.

[@bobbiblaze]

I am from the Quake 3 Arena times and a i can say is that i miss those times #epicgame

[@Nspired0]

mister rapha I commented on this before but I cant thank you enough for this great analysis, you are a very intelligent player and your insight helped me and many other players alot

[@thatssorandom]

Am i the only one that watched the entire video and has never played Quake?

[@dkozel]

***** no :P

[@74hz15]

+NESman1995 expect that it isnt :D

[@msfattytroll]

+thatssorandom Never played quake but I'll get back to you in 18 minutes if I watch the whole thing

[@jimday666]

+thatssorandom yes

[@fredrickmiller6534]

JD nope. 156 times nope

[@AcademicAlgeria]

Havent played quake(live) for long time and I miss it so much... unfortunately too busy to play at all :(

[@sL4m]

Rapha explained his game perfectly! Nice comments!

[@CRLAMB]

This demonstrates the quick thinking that goes on in these games.. not only are these guys amazing physically with their hand eye coordination and item timing but the strategy is also spectacular. More of these videos please.

[@asdfgosu]

classy guy, thanks alot for video, shame we don't have 1vs1 shooter at this time

[@Nspired0]

You know what, they did a great job with this interview. This is hard to do right but I was listening every second. Rapha is such a great player and every word he says is interesting

[@shinesnz]

ahh good old Joe 'Joe ' Don't call me 'Joe Miller' Joe Miller'' Miller' Miller' and Carmac, them nostalgic feels :

[@disruptor6550]

Lmaoooo

[@BroInJapan]

nice to listen to the insight of high calibre players. This is one of the best ' how to' videos I have seen.

[@llucllumador380]

so 87 people miss-clicked the like button? Because who the fuck finds this video (which implies he is a quake fan) and dislikes it?

[@Venim0]

Is this the only one? By far the most interesting video I've seen put up by the ESL and really one of the most interesting quake videos I've seen ever.

[@naneri]

Concerning the rail hit near the yellow armow about which he said "I have no idea how he got there so early", how did he really get there so fast?

[@mdfwndmx3146]

its been years and i still dont think anyone knows... cooller is a wizard

[@heyyyyyynow]

Matt Wallbridge Isn't there footage from his computer? Why would they only broadcast one of them?

[@DubiousDrewski]

Kanat Tabaldiev Isn't it possible to use the rocket-jump technique sideways to push yourself against a wall for a burst of speed at the cost of some health? Maybe he did that.

[@naneri]

DubiousDrewski it is, but it seemed pointless to do that just to get under the yellow armour to maybe hit Rapha once with a rail. (he could not be sure that he will hit him for 100%). Though it is 100% Cooler style

[@colloredbrothers]

+Kanat Tabaldiev You can use the rocket launcher against a wall to make yourself go faster thats how he did it. He must have probably thought about doing it the insant Rapha left that battle, quick thinking.

[@DUFMAN123]

Don't know all that much about Quake, but man this is fascinating! Great insight!

[@jaypond4368]

This shit is awesome. I WISH there were more games like this. Games that take the super high skill caps of Arena FPS, but with a few uneaque additions to it. The sad thing is nobody plays these games when a new one comes out..

[@spiritjestertimecube8819]

why would they? quake 3 and quake live are already out, the best arena fps have already been made, why would we want a knockoff quake? if they made a modern quake i bet it would suck and not be worth playing, quake champions lmao

[@WuTangThang]

It's amazing how much they put into these games. It's downright intense.

[@Ringer1982]

October 2018 - same story

[@luiohh]

Fantastic video, Rapha is very articulate and explains very well what is going on. Hope to see more of these done with Rapha!

[@magicolo]

I can't play better.

[@maryjane5236]

MAGICOLO Y8 Games dude quake is his life

[@CS5n531]

Such an amazing series, would love much much more of this

[@OfficalMcM]

that was extreme

[@grant8490]

I've been playing fps since quake 3 arena. So by no means an, "old school gamer", but I have been around the FPS scene long enough to know that this was insanely educational. I have a new respect for these guys.

[@Im49th]

This is amazing.

[@daddy3195]

These champions are exactly that... champions at their game. I mean to know a game this well is insane! My hats off to you all that are playing at this level. The first time I found out what the next level was like was a CPL qualifier for CS, we took 3rd place not knowing what real competition is like. Very nicely done guys.

[@Felipezz92]

joe "joe miller" miller is fucking everywhere

[@VUandChips]

I'm a counter strike source player who has just started playing quake live. The last time I played a deathmatch game was quake 2. This video is amazing! A real eye opener to how complex and tactical this frantic game can be.

[@MikeyGaming]

wow!

[@nakulsharma409]

one of my favorite games, just bought the game today for the first time

[@sKarmA115]

quake live has improved my aim so much since I've been playing it. I used to play counterstrike quite frequently and stopped for a while (k/d ratio was absolute shit,9-1 or sometimes even in the negatives). I started playing quake day and night and got pretty damn good at aiming, fast movement, circle and rocket jumping. I recently went back to CS for the lols and was amazed at my k/d ratio (18-3 my first game). I will be playing quake from now on lol, CS is a fucking joke

[@WRaja]

Awesome show .. hope you cover more classics in future .. quake live all da way !!!

[@mglchan]

Rapha sounds like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas

[@tehsma]

Karen! That was OUR MEGA! WE'RE DEAD.

[@irlrp]

Their level of play and constant analysis is astonishing

[@ookgluk32]

anyone watching in 2020?

[@Markac95]

sorry for another reply, in case you haven't figured out yet, that connection interrupted is just on the demo player, connection interrupted didn't pop out during the real time match (to simple things up)

[@floorpuncher3280]

Eminem's pretty good at Quake.

[@disruptor6550]

Slim Shane-y

[@DelishusBlackMan]

I am such a huge fucking fan of Rapha and Quake i would hope ESL starts this up again. When they talk about shit its so cool to hear especially cuz quake is so fastpaced.

[@18francesco18]

wait this was from 2010? I thought it was from the 90s for some reason lol, the studios and how they look looked so 90s lol

[@qishmish]

and how they keep gfx on lowest minimum (do u really need to? with modern pcs and connection is lan, not web)

[@TheMrDemonized]

"do u really need to?" its easier to distinguish enemy model from background textures if you set everything on low

[@smrkan]

thanks carmac, great vid. keep up the good work for quake. quake=greatest game ever

[@megaslayercho]

Everytime some casuals start talking about how games like BF and CS are so tactic00l and hard,I just point them to this video :)

[@DawiiiDD]

comparing cs and bf...damn the bait in this comment... Fuck off. Quake one of the moste competetive games out there tho.

[@megaslayercho]

DawiiiDD Right back at you good sir.

[@megaslayercho]

More dept is cs than in QL ROFL You must really suck at QL if you think that.

[@megaslayercho]

Played them all on competitive level actually,it's how I can make the objective comparison,SC is extremely skillbased as well(maybe even more so than quake),but dota 2 and CS dont require nearly as much player skill as Sc/quake(on personal level,that means stuff like aiming/dogging/decision making and in the case of sc/dota ,APM). Dota for example requires less APM at pro level,than the average silver player in sc2 has. And CS is fucking laughable when compared to quake,the ammount of decisions per second you need to make in quake and the level of aim and doge skill you need to aquire is dramaticaly higher when compared to CS. This video does a good job demonstating the immense dept of something like quake,they litteraly need to slow down the video in order to catch up explaining all the decisions the player is making up on the fly. I DARE you to show me a similar video of CS/Dota,where the ammount of dept and quick decision making is so great,they need to slow the pace of the game down in order to explain it. Dont get me wrong though,CS and dota have a decent ammount of dept on a TEAM level,as those games are all about the team work,but on a personal level,they are not nearly as taxing as quake and SC. This means pretty much all the dept in those games comes from how well you work with your team,timing pushes,syncing nades,organizing a gank,doing rotations,beeing aware of your team m8t's positions and so on. But again,on a PERSONAL level(aka the skill and decision making you need in order to be good and stand up to other pros),they are very lacking in comparison to quake and sc. Another sign that sc/quake are much more skillbased than Cs/dota is how well do player skill translate into other games. I am yet to see a player who is good at quake,having a hard time at another fps,withing just a few days of learning the basic mechanics,any good quake player will be WAY above average in any game like cs/cod/bf etc. Same goes for a good sc player transitioning to a moba game,his minimap awareness,reaction time and ability to pay attention to multiple stuff is going to be WAY higher than that of the avg moba player from the very start. Meanwhile I have seen so many n00bs make it into DMG rank in CS,people who if you put them in any game that is faster than say battlefield,cant hit shit and are totaly helpless (I am certainly not saying all CS players are like that,I am just saying I have seen players with terrible aim and reaction time making it to the highest ranks in cs). As for moba games....there is next to no skill transitioning what so ever,take a good lol player and put him in dota and he is a total n00b,it's all about knowing what all the heroes/items do and when to engage/run,which is a game specific skill,which doesnt translate into other games what so ever. I can go really indept analizing the different mechanics those games use,because I have the precpective of someone who is actually very familiar with how those games play on a high skill level,but you are not interested in that are you(doubt you will even read my full reply before you burst into rage),you are just an uneducated fanboy deffending his favorite franchises,I find people who come for a back ground in gaming based purely on low skill modern military shooters,to be completely unable to grasp the concept of a fast truely skill based FPS.

[@KARTIKEYA007]

"Reason why 20-25% accuracy on Rail is considered very good in top level" Proof right here that this guy has never played quake xD

[@pogz]

Never realized how technical quake was, great commentary

[@StealthElectronVIP]

11:20 : WTF? How did he pull that rail off???

[@mdfwndmx3146]

its been 6 years and still nobody knows :p

[@bunny.bunbob]

this is not cs countjumping dude

[@KARTIKEYA007]

It's very simple, u just need to be above the shards area to pull that rail off. I'd say that getting from top of the red to yellow takes as much time as getting from the red armor to the shards area. He just strafed faster than raphe as he had a clear path to the shards while raphe had to do a turn

[@WRaja]

I know (from Cooller's demo somewhere) ... after RA Cooller took PG door down to MH and through to LG spot and hit rail from the bottom floor (It really bothered me how did he do it so I put in the effort to find out!)

[@KARTIKEYA007]

yup, that path is extremely fast as it involves no turns from pg to LG

[@Alejandro4891]

It's almost 20 minutes and yet the video flew by. Very entertaining.

[@Gr4yF0x]

Arena fps forever!

[@priveprive]

almost 2022. still watching

[@Scalebearer]

2010, Rapha: discusses his hard match with Cooler. 2020, Rapha: "He is playing like a trash, why should I waste my time on him?"

[@excaliburthesword5]

I've never played Quake anything, but man this was fascinating to watch.

[@FassinTaak]

And that's exaaactly what he did.

[@Lifeinerinn]

I watched the entire ad, then it lagged and wouldn't play once the video started. It did this every time I reloaded.

[@hanyu_dada]

11:25 lol

[@noneyerbidness]

that one blew my mind

[@HahnBB]

Thx. Its nice to see the tactics of the pros !

[@PashaDefragzor]

Quake Live is better than QC ! all the ways possible

[@koffe-]

Yep, Diabotical will be the true Quake Live successor!

[@papayer]

nah.

[@ruddiga50]

Fantastic video, certainly looking forward to more if there is some to come :)

[@OHOTOJIE1]

Real-time chess.

[@disruptor6550]

Amen.

[@CS5n531]

Wow what a great series. I forgot his name, but the guy on the left is great I really enjoy listening to him.

[@Microphunktv-jb3kj]

... and now we got Quake Champions.. wich literally has no meta what so ever, it's like a coin toss who wins the round(bo3,drafting,3chars), seems about just picking the fastest hero, taking the control of the map, and rushing 3 chars down...

[@MercenaryOrangeTV]

Microphunktv QC has a ton of work to be done before I even consider playing it more. Starting with its shit net code...

[@SleepyRickyC92]

they changed the duel format a few months ago so it's now 10 minutes 1 character. Not completely balanced with the character match ups but I think it is a step in the right direction.

[@Snarkily]

What amazing strategy and commentary.

[@kakababaasd123]

istanbul :))

[@Revelatiombe]

cidden İstanbul tshirt'u :D

[@88Cortex]

@MrFedoraJoe absolutely agreed, Rapha is just an overall superb guy! His quake gameplay is also very inspiring to watch. There should be more people like him; have extreme talent and brains, but being polite and gentle at the same time

[@xridethelightningx]

that commentary was ... surprisingly coherent and helpful

[@leerv.]

@17:46 that surprised and eminently satisfied look on Carmac's face at the pure sportsmanship from Shane is worth the admission price.

[@Lang7]

This guy is like the Phil Galfond of Quake. Relaxed, always thinking and completely in control.

[@jtms9]

Football players dont analyze their game this much. This is pristine work!

[@KnorpelDelux]

I love how players on this channel seem not only to play and press buttons but really know what they are doing and talking about. Tactics is something rare on most players brains. Join a public on what ever shooter and you will see what i am talking about.

[@Gr4ndyAndy]

Bring this back please.. you could apply this format to a bunch of games

[@wowbucket]

He didn't want to repeat history then, but he did now. Back to back IEM Global Champion. ^^

[@c0ntrol1L]

ye realy good job from ESL it's very good for newbies that pros explain what they do becouse it's hard to understand demos why the pros did that move. Thanks for the video

[@larsendj]

Very interesting and insightfull. More with other quake legends please.

[@TheKSProduction]

i wish i could devote my life to this. for real. also..this is fantastic commentary. quake is my favorite game