19-years old Clawz beats former legends to the Quake World Championship title

No one would’ve expected that in a tournament full of veterans and former champions it would be a young newcomer from Belarus who will take the title home, but that’s exactly what happened.

Nikita “Clawz” Marchinsky is now the crowned champion of his first Quake World Championship, defeating Sander “Vo0” Kaasjager in the final with a 3-0 victory. While Clawz’s skills in Quake are no surprise, he entered this event unnoticed due to the raw star power of the opposing competitors. Former Quake champions, such as Anton “Cooller” Singov, Shane “rapha” Hendrixson, and Johan “toxjq” Quick, were among the favorites.

Clawz didn’t give much thought to that, topping his group with an unbeaten record, including an early win over Vo0 before their second meeting in the final. After making a run to the semifinals, many fans thought he would be stopped in his tracks in a meeting with Natus Vincere’s Cooller. The Russian veteran did take the first game in the series and seemed to advance, but Clawz showed outstanding poise for a competitor new to the big stage of a major live event. Clawz won the second and third games consecutively and proceeded to defeat Vo0 in the finals with his excellent play where the former champion never broke through with a win, giving Clawz the championship victory in three straight games.

“Clawz” is now $300k richer as he takes the grand prize home. He’s now definitely one to watch at upcoming Quake championships.

Watch the full match below: