He lives to capitalise on the smallest mistakes of any opponent, easier to kick an man when he's down.

why are man of religion always so dirty

that why we love it

RAPHA until i am dead
RAPHA
RAPHA

this guy is talking it

This !

R A P H A
A
P
H
A

I think one thing that makes rapha so imba is he peaks at the right time nearly always. Pressure makes him play even better, example the clutch rocket in elder while jumping over the lava pit, so much confidence.

Nice 1500 elo analysis. Not quite right tho, sorry.

Rapha is quick to capitalize on mistakes of the opponent and rushes relentlessly then. But when his opponents doesnt overextend and doesnt give him that easy entry (often seen in matches vs DaHang), he's not gonna make the first move.

An agressive player makes the plays by himself. Rapha however rarely ever makes a play, he finds the flaw in the play of his opponent and counters it.

And btw, Rapha LOVES +back. See Strenx/90% Rail rage

I maintain my "nice 1500 elo analysis". (Btw, I don't know if I'm taking it the wrong way but thats pretty condescending I feel :/ - and cmon man I'm closer to 1600-1700 most of the time :p)

rapha is not only reaction and not making the first move. He forces situations a lot, just like an agressive player... the only difference is that he doesn't get cocky with his aim and only takes 80% chances win fights (unlike evil on dm13 Qcon grand final getting too confident about his Lg)

It was supposed to be condescending, because u started ur thread with "Once and for all, please.". Felt like ur pretty full of urself.

Anyway, Ive played u, ur a genuinely nice guy whos up for playing most maps, so dont take it personal. Just dont be so... opinionated

I'll just edit the original post, so no misunderstanding

I agree it appeared pretty cocky

Tell him to fuck off Grota :D

: D

ahah you gotta love ESR

Fight me irl bro. You ain't tough. I'm from the streets kid.

????

but if u want.... sure. do u live in germany?

look zis fukit!

No one is trying to claim he is aggressive though. You basically made the same point of him being positional. He plays the position game and caters it to his opponent. Maybe it just appears like +back against someone who is relentlessly aggressive, when it is really being smart and knowing it's free damage and allows him to dictate the pace and flow of the game?

Those 2 games vs evil were amazing, Rapha just knows what to do ALL the time!

that's because he's five steps ahead

he really felt that way this quake con. That double back rocket jump on Dahang on Elder was awesome

Remember how much people made fun of him when he said that?

we all are my friend, we all are

More evidence that aim is overrated. Rapha rarely shows the surgeon precision some other players have. You don't need ~50% accuracy to be the best quake player in the world.

His fantastic RL aim and its heavy abuse doesnt count? Aim isnt just lg whoring.

It does count but what needs to be taken into consideration is that most of the time rocket accuracy is a misconception. Reason being that enemy movement is tied to it. The enemy controls what you hit. Their control increases with distance exponentially. There are certain situations, like when an enemy is ascending or descending, this is when rocket accuracy is more of a concept, but beyond a certain point you really cannot know for sure where the enemy will be. This is sometimes confused with luck but it's really more like reading the future. There is only one possible explanation...

Rapha is supernatural.

His rockets are shit compared to mine.

It's more like deducing multiple possibilities based on the info available rather than reading the future.
Angles and shit.

Nah pretty sure it's psychic power.

hash oil

I'm cool with either supernatural psychic, and or hash oil :)

I don't know if aim is overrated, but Rapha's aim seems to be quite underrated.

But we all know what would happen on a map like Thunderstruck. The close proximity would negate most of Shane's skill. I don't say that because I don't like him or I want to knock him down a peg. Just giving my honest opinion.

Thunderstruck 1v1 is a relatively limited set of combat situations....duel is its own universe of situations related to item pickups, positioning etc across a range of maps. Even lightly comparing the two is pretty silly.

I totally agree. In this situation I'm referring to actual Thunderstruck duel though not the typical CA 1v1. Once Rapha loses control against a top aimer he'd have a pretty hard time getting it back. I'd love to be wrong, though. Are there any demos of Rapha playing TS in any mode? My posts on this subject are not necessarily rooted in hard evidence only analysis of his style and performances.

inb4 QC'16 duel mappool: Thunderstruck

Aim isnt just lg whoring.

he seemed to me like he outaimed all his opponents in this quakecon

...and in previous ones too

he is not an aim player, but his aim is awesome and better than everyone in the moments that count

I agree, but while we're on this topic, one thing that annoys me is when people say that rapha has poor aim, and does well entirely based on his mental game. That seems to be a common misconception, but anybody who has actually played against rapha can confirm that his aim is quite good. Obviously it isn't up to tox or strenx levels, and it's not the aspect of his game that he focuses on, but his aim is far from poor.

I partly disagree - maybe he doesn't abuse aim as much as for example evil, based on his more positional way of playing, but rapha has extremely good and consistent aim!

Basically all top players have extemely good aim with all weapons, no way you can be one of the best in the world without this feature. In the final of qcon Rapha just showed how to take away Evils LG advantage with abusing defensive rockets and rails as well as taking early positions!

Thus you're are partly right, one can fight great aim by taking a more "tactical" approach to a game, however if Rapha's aim wasn't top level, no way he could 5-0 evil!

To you and vibration

I never intended to insinuate that Rapha has poor aim. I said that aim, in general, is overrated. If Rapha did not have the brain behind his game he would not be as successful. I think his aim is good but not great. In a shoebox map like Thunderstruck I don't see him doing well against toxjc, evil, cypher, strenx or stermy. Because the more that the contest is about aim the more his performance will decrease. He rarely exhibits the surgical precision that some other players have and that's fine. Clearly you do not have to have top aim to be the best Quake player in the world and I honestly think that's very cool.

so weird whenever an american player wins anything there are always a heap of super loyal patriots talking about their superhuman abilities

I'm the 4th American commenter out of 32 comments, one of them being sarcastic and me showing no praise.

Don't get butt-hurt that your guys went to the grind all year and got shut out 3-0

palatka only played LOLCA cause lolmadcuzbad qr. not even a registered Quaker tbh

no i didnt i got 1800 duel

also lol just saw this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLHgzGfUcAAsEtr.jpg

sub 2k is ayyy lmao

1800 EU = ~2500 US. just look at zyrnix and gerppa mopping the amateur tournament in the previous quakecon. also lol as if i give a shit about elo, i fucking hated played duel

Wow, you're basically better than rapha!

hey, at least i didnt peak at 1500, was it?

Yeah. I'm not delusional about my duel skill.

oh boy u actually think i was serious when i said 1800 eu is the equivalent of 2500 us ::::::DDDD

Did anybody even worthwhile sign up for that amateur tournament? 1800 is 1800 dawg

sif ive any idea

Lol good bants m8 8/8 etc

4 us users are like half the userbase lol

So that means that an even greater percentage of US posters are refraining from posting, and a greater percentage of EU posters are making stinks.

half of the userbase within usa, not worldwide lol

shut up

I'm just kidding Rapha is not psychic he's clearly of alien origin.

from the man himself:

https://youtu.be/Dab49GvSBoA?t=109

I love this guy

quite the difference between rapha's interview and fatal1ty's.

For me, there is no +back player, there is an agreesive and a less agressive ones, both can be agressive and both can be " defensive ", it all depends on the situation.

If you cant catch a player and get a frag and blame it for " +back " then the problem is YOU cause you couldnt find a way to catch him and take your frag.

'there is no +back player'

That reminds me, where has pavel been?

Or alphaomega and if22

You are a defensive fan however.

You have to choose situations when to be aggressive and when not.

INCOMPLETE!!! BAN HIM!!!
How dare you say C O O L L E R ' s word with your own words?

to

You're maybe kind of missing the point. rapha is a win oriented player, and does whatever it needs to secure it. And since he's not a particularly marvelous aimer he wisely avoids "battle it out" situations in the open, in particular during those parts of the game where it's about gaining control.

Instead he continuously tries to apply disproportional damage, which in particular makes prediction so much easier. Namely about where your opponent is going to be, to do what at which point in time. And then, when he feels the time is right, he does go in for the kill. All this has just been masterfully demonstrated I believe.

It's totally futile to try putting him into +forward/+back categories. If +forward gives him the win he'll do that. If not he'll do more of the other. All depending on the opponent, the situation, whatever.

If you can keep the timings in your head, while rockets burst about you,
While you've lost control and don't know what to do,
If you trust, in the clutch , your rail when others doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;   
If you can +back and not be tired +backing,
Or being raged at, but don't deal in rage,
Or being t-bagged, and not give way to t-bagging,
Nor spamming smilies, nor aborting games:

If you can time—and not make timing your master;   
If you can aim—and not make aiming your aim;   
If you can meet rushers and campers with disaster
And treat those impostors just the same;   
If you can bear to see the lead you made
Lost to stupid, lucky, plays
Or see minutes of control broken,
And somehow to build it back again:

If you can take all your elo winnings
And risk it on one callvote cointoss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can choose situations when to be aggressive,
but when not to be aggressive, even if you're done,
To have belief when there's nothing left,
Except the will to hold on:

If you can play CA and keep your virtue,   
Or duel with pro's- nor lose the common touch,
If neither loss nor failure hurt you,
And if many quakers friend you, but none too much;
If you can duel ten minutes,
And stay five steps ahead all along,
Yours is QuakeLive and everything that’s in it,   
And—which is more—zis is rapha, my son!

you should have removed the last 2 lines and make the title as zis is rapha

Bam!!! Nice ;)

so he is not defensive because he also shoots

I don't believe that a defensive player would be able to make a comeback from 1:3 on sinister, versus a fully stacked and in-control evil.

Rapha is a complete player with a big tendency towards being defensive and +back. Doesnt mean hes unable to go agressive when this situations demands it

I don't see how not being an idiot can be considered +back. It's really a bit offputting how some people seem to think that all quake was about was knocking each others teeth in.

It's in fact a huge credit to the game that somebody like him can succeed. Somebody with a plan and a concept, and readiness to literally work his ass off to bring a game back. If there ever had been any doubt, we at least now know for sure that quake does not suck.

Theres a difference between strategy and just plain camping/running... If u see agressive players as idiots, then that tells a lot about ur own shortcomings as a quaker

Sorry, but players depending on domination - a fairly common feature among aggressive players - are usually not particularly bright and mentally rather weak. Again, look at rapha.

All he does is just play for the win, without depending on any intimidation antics. No need for him to run anybody down. Make as many frags as you need and the opponent sweat for any single one you give away. That's the recipe, and it's been executed to perfection just recently. Beautifully in fact, a pleasure to watch and some of the best, highly efficient quake I've ever seen I believe.

proper 1400 elo analysis :D

So you're saying camping and running are not strategies? How is that possible?

Well I give you that, they are strategies. Just not very elaborate ones

Guy has to defend his own play style in interviews....

++ Back

How rapha is not defensive player?!? Heavily Positional play means he is being defensive in his safe position...offensive player can hit out of position unlike rapha...rapha's strength comes directly from his running away defensive play....

You guys crack me up. Rapha wins because he he's mastered the art of "not being seen". Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltmMJntSfQI

Nice writeup

What's so + back about the MH kill in the last couple mins on DM 13 in the final to go up 2-0?

If he were ALL plus back, he would have tried to hide the rest of the game (Like cooller) and protect his 1-0 lead.

Nothing Plus back about the next map when around half way through when Rapha was losing by a few frags he attempted to steal the MH, but failed and Evil got him down to like 20hp but then Evil was too busy shitting his pants running away to finish the kill. Then rapha hit a rail through the window to RA, went through the teleport and killed Evil 15 seconds later with clutch PG, rail and LG and went on to win the game.

Yup, and a great win over evil IMO.

He had some aimbeasting moments this year

I will retract some of what I said about rapha's aim in this thread. I played 5 Clan Arena matches with him last night and I believe he has made remarkable improvements since we last played together (2-3 years). He showed good leadership and bested my damage more than once. There were a few stragglers on the server who perhaps made the matches unfair but he played well regardless.

.

.

Nice :)

Nobody good plays CA anymore, most of those guys are noobs. Everyone good at CA left to CS.

It's true, these matches were on a public server without ELO restriction. The tone was not very serious. Anyway it was cool of rapha to play a few matches with us. I'm inclined to agree with you about the "good" players but I can't say for sure because there are so many aliases on every server. The ELO shuffle feature is nice but when aliases are present it's pointless. You have some history with rapha don't you? You two played each other in a faceit tournament? He declined to battle you in CA 1v1. What are your thoughts on that?

Yeah it's quite a good story.

I met him irl and called him a ratface and proceeded to push him in the dumpster with the help of my homeboy lowti3rgod. Rapha was not willing to let this go, so he whispered in my ear "I will beat you at your own game in 1v1 CA".

Then he collaborated with FACEIT and at the last second changed our 1v1 CA match to a 1v1 duel match. I on the other hand am not a afraid of any challenge. As a true CA warrior I never timed any item and simply used my superior CA positioning and outplayed him in every single aspect. The FACEIT team couldn't believe what they were watching so they had setup an alternate server along with fake accounts where I had supposedly lost in that one.

lol

by the way make more youtube videos please :)

solo queue global elite adventures coming one day

Are you sure you arent German?

You certainly jiggled and wiggled your way out of that one.

rapha's very aggressive on the items. depends on how ur using that word. qcon finals were gay as hell tho. +back camp for 30 mins

But can he smoke x-box from t spawn?

Rapha is a tactical player.

rapha beat poptrunk 10-7 on thunderstruck

Demo?

Yes demo plz lol

after beating him 10-7 on thunderstruck he beat him 10-4 on drunken mummy

who is poptrunk ?

The unstoppable force on thunderstruck. You wouldn't stand a chance.

Poptrunk isn't even that good lol. He just camps, his aim is pretty mediocre. I remember the first time my friend espylacopa played him, espy won his first try and he was rusty as hell.