DreamHack Stockholm 2015 recap

Photo taken from: 1337mag.com

Offline qualifier for the next major has come to an end and thus the list of the attendees of DH Cluj-Napoca is completed.

Group A (Sept. 22nd)

Cloud9 vs. Team ROCCAT (former MIXCAT)

Team Immunity vs. Team Dignitas

The first games to be played were considered to be fairly one-sided, as the analysts assumed straight 2-0 wins for both Cloud9 and Dignitas with possible upsets, which almost happened.

Cloud9 came close to losing the first map against ROCCAT, managing to close out the map 16-14 after being behind on the scoreline. Finally they showed dominance on the second map, de_cache, with a 16-8 win.

The first map of Immunity vs. Dignitas went in the latter’s favor with a 16-5 scoreline. Not much of an upset there, however on the second map, de_inferno, the Australians managed to secure the first few rounds, as well as to win other key rounds to always deny their enemies’ momentums, though eventually losing 16-12.

Cloud9 managed to regain their strength and form in the winners match against Dignitas, securing the first map with a 16-12 scoreline on Inferno, and – only dropping 6 rounds - dominated on Cache. This means that Cloud9 is on to the major. Dignitas was sent into the consolidation finals where they were set to battle it out on Sept. 26th on the main stage.  

In the losers’ match, Immunity managed to put themselves on top of Team ROCCAT, leading to the Finnish team's exit from the tournament while the Australians had one more chance going into the consolidation final.

Group B (Sept. 23rd)

FlipSid3 Tactics vs. Copenhagen Wolves

Counter Logic Gaming vs. Lounge Gaming

Group D was a real stunner. Especially F3 versus WOLVES promised to be a very interesting match with more or less equally strong teams. The first map was clearly dominated by the Ukrainians, literally crushing the Wolves with a 16-1 win. But Copenhagen Wolves showed their ability to not be affected by such a loss and to move on, bringing it to an 11-4 halftime on Mirage. Unfortunately the same can be said for FlipSid3, who then made a huge comeback and won by 16-11.

CLG actually dropped the first map, Dust2 against Lounge, but then managed to win Overpass and Mirage with 11 and 10 round losses each.

As FlipSid3 and Counter Logic Gaming advanced to the winners’ match, so did Lounge and WOLVES get the chance to fight it out for access to the consolidation final. The first match was a straight 2-0 for CLG, though the Ukrainians of F3 put up quite a fight with 14 rounds on Cache and 12 on Train in their favor. Nonetheless, CLG has advanced to Cluj-Napoca and F3 had to meet with the Wolves agai, who had previously managed to defeat Lounge in a 2-1 fashion.

Group C (Sept. 24th)

mousesports vs. Winterfox

Renegades vs. Team Liquid

Again the group was considered to produce predictable results, as mouz and Liquid were expected to win their respective matches. They did, but not without Winterfox and Renegades putting up quite a fight. On their first map, WFX even took mouz to overtime, which the Germans won with 19-17. On Cobble it did not get that dangerous for mousesports, but still the multinational lineup that is Winterfox managed to win 11 rounds.

Renegades did even more, taking the first map 16-14 off Liquid, only to then lose the remaining two.

Mousesports versus Team Liquid carried a rather one-sided connotation, as mouz won 2-0 on Cache and Cobblestone more or less convincingly.

Winterfox vs. Renegades went to the Aussies’ favor, which unfortunately meant that Winterfox would get no ticket to Cluj-Napoca.

Group D (Sept. 25th)

Titan vs. Skyred

Vexed Gaming vs. HellRaisers

Again, the analysts predicted pretty one-sided matches and were right, as Titan won over Skyred with 16-7 two times and HellRaisers defeated Vexed 16-11 and 16-7.

Titan then managed to directly advance to Cluj by taking over HR in a 2-1 match, in which HellRaisers dominated on the first map. On Dust2, the second map, no team was really able to establish a momentum and Titan won it closely with a 16-13 score line. The last map to be played, Cobblestone, presented a really strong Titan that – with some minor interruptions – managed to rush through to the major.

Skyred then dropped out of the tournament by losing 2-0 against Vexed in the losers’ match.

The consolidation finals (Sept. 26th)

Team Dignitas vs. Team Immunity

FlipSide3 Tactics vs. Copenhagen Wolves

Team Liquid vs. Renegades

HellRaisers vs. Vexed Gaming

All these four matches were scheduled to happen on the last day of DreamHack Stockholm in order to be shown to a live audience.

The first match was expected to be closed out by a dominant Team Dignitas, instead the viewers experienced a skilled and highly motivated Team Immunity that managed to take the second map off of Dignitas.  Nonetheless the Danes succeeded and thus received their place in the next major.

Copenhagen Wolves then received their chance to get revenge onto FlipSide3, but actually did not manage to do so. Both Mirage and Overpass were taken over by F3 with 16-10 and 16-13 score boards, thus letting the Ukrainians advance to Cluj.

Liquid versus Renegades again offered a rematch, unfortunately the North Americans were able to finally show their full dominance, closing Cache and Cobblestone out with only 7 and 4 round losses respectively.

The last game raised huge expectations as HellRaisers were expected to win. This brought up the question whether Vexed would be able to upset the game in some way, and they did. With a 16-11 score line they quite convincingly took over Cobblestone. Dust2 offered HR the opportunity to return, as Vexed were not able to really break through their defense. Overpass was the decider map and as such presented a rather one-sided first half. HellRaisers brought it to a 11-4 halftime, but suddenly Vexed really showed their huge skill on the CT-side eventually bringing the enormous upset, kicking HellRaisers out of Stockholm with a 16-13 win.

To conclude and summarize, these are the teams that will advance to the DreamHack Cluj-Napoca group stage:

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