What a difference a year can make, Alexei 'Cypher' Yanyshevsky knows this better than anyone. He travels to America as the favorite for the biggest Quake event in 2008, I explain how he got there and perhaps why we should all stop being Cypher fanboys - he's overrated!

When Gotfrag published its Quake 4 world rankings more than a year ago, the 18-year-old Belorussian placed ninth, contextually, he would've been lucky to make the top ten had Johnathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel not been omitted.

The boy prematurely catapulted himself to fame with an Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) second place finish in 2006, losing to Michael 'winz' Bignet in the final. He failed to shine further and fell back into mediocrity for the rest of the 'first season', he was merely there to make up the numbers - 5th at Quakecon 2006, 5-8th at World Cyber Games 2006 and 5-6th at Multiplay's i30 followed.

It wasn't until the 'second season' of World Series of Video Games (WSVG) when Cypher seriously started to live up to his early potential. Quake 4 started to decline competitively as the number of top tier European and North American players dwindled, but Cypher persisted and moved up the pecking order. He was, as he had always been, overshadowed, though. Alex 'Ztrider' Ingarv had always be the star player in fnatic, and in season two it was Maciek 'av3k' Krzykowski not Cypher, who was to challenge and finally break the unrelenting dominance of Johan 'toxjq' Quick, albeit temporarily.

His only other final in Quake 4 came exactly a year after his first, at WSVG Dallas, where he lost to toxic, unsurprisingly. Along with Magnus 'fox' Olsson, the pair decided to attend WSVG, whereas av3k, Anton 'Cooller' Singov and winz went to ESWC, as the two events conflicted. He would never win an international Quake 4 event: 3rd at WSVG Louisville, 5/6th at WSVG Toronto and 3rd at 'i32, better but not by much. Quake 4 died a solemn but inevitable and almost welcomed death, and Cypher fell into obscurity, bullying his playground – the Asus Open – in the meanwhile.

Why then has little Alexi Yanushevsky grown up and become “unstoppable”? He hasn't, that's the strange thing. It's all in the head and if hyperbole is a drug then the ESReality community is surely coked up to its eyeballs; congratulating him on his win at ESWC because of av3k's non-attendance, calls to have him nerfed, the “ephelps” of Quake...

First place finishes at the ESWC Masters and QuakeCon 2008 are impressive, what's even more impressive is the fact he's yet to drop a map. But, and it's an almighty but, he's not a great. He's no John 'ZeRo4' Hill, Cooller or toxic. The 'Masters were a "glorified qualifier", tentative competition at best. QuakeCon only had a handful of decent players. People are giving him way too much respect, and he's yet to meet the player who is most equipped to take him down – Zhibo 'RazerJ' Fan.

Simply put, Cypher has not changed, it's the community and his opponents. Standards have dropped and people are more easily impressed. He has improved undoubtedly but he's yet to win the big international title which guarantees himself true respect and longevity, and this when the curse of Cypher may come back to haunt him.

People misinterpret why he's good, it's not his lightning gun or rail', it's actually his movement and 'intelligence'. Now, I don't want you to misinterpret what I suggest is intelligence. Cypher is intelligent because he chooses when to fight and confront his opponent, he uses his movement to reposition himself around the map quickly and assert his superiority. The pair complement each other perfectly, and combined with his aim make him an impressive player.

But, someone like RazerJ, if he plays well, would cut through Cypher's game with ease. His timing is godly, he can and will pick up almost all of the health and armour, if he doesn't he will challenge you for everyone, and if he's has time, most certainly force his way back into the game regardless of which weapons he has.

On certain maps RazerJ can completely shut Cypher down, ztn being a perfect example. He knows he has to stop Cypher moving round so freely, by spamming with the grenade launcher even when he's not fighting for items, you're putting him under constant pressure and forcing him to move in certain ways. The GameGune final was a perfect example of how RazerJ can influence his opponent and get back into matches, even on dm6 when he's not in control. av3k and Cypher are very similar and what works for one can work for the other.

Cypher's a favorite who has won one international title, ever. I feel if he loses one map it will hit him hard, he doesn't have the experience and maturity to deal with the pressure, ESWC will either be the making or breaking of Cypher's reign. Whoever plays him in the final would be smart to remind him of his loss two years ago, as well.

If, however, Cypher does manage to secure himself a third consecutive title, then he'll be crowned the King of Quake's new age, the renaissance so to speak. However, a year, as Cypher knows, is a long time. By next season QuakeLive will most likely be the platform of choice, and his kryptonite will be ready, waiting and willing. There's, after all, only one way to deal with “lg whores” and that's by getting them to run into a brick wall – Johan 'toxjq' Quick.