The DreamHack Masters Spring group stages have come to an end, setting the stage for the playoffs.
With the teams that made it through there will be some spectacular CS to watch, but for now it is time to see how they got there in the first place.
Ranking proves correct in Group A Upper Bracket
The opening rounds of Group A proved one thing: rankings are a solid indicator of team performance. Gambit faced the lowest ranked team of the entire tournament, Fiend – at place number 54 at time of writing – They got a raw deal as they were shot to the lower bracket with 16-5. Further along G2 faced off against Spirit, delivering a close result and eventually overtime, where G2 found their power and pulled through with a decisive 19-16. The Kovač brothers were the power pair in that round, and hunter proved that sometimes a little bit of aggression is all you need.
Further along mousesports tried their best but could quite cut it as Natus Vincere won from them by two rounds, landing a 16-14 result. FaZe made an equally valiant attempt against Virtus.pro but the CIS regions clearly reigned supreme as they too beat out FaZe with 16-13. The upper semi-finals were set; Gambit to take on G2 and Natus Vincere to face off against Virtus.pro.
Gambit allowed G2 one map, but made them fight hard for it, and that fighting spirit shined through as they took the other 2 maps with force and far better round differences. Gambit showed a very strong, consistent performance from the entire team, but Ax1Le does deserve a highlight for his solid mid defence on Mirage, on his birthday no less.
Natus Vincere gave Virtus.pro far less leeway, as they won the BO3 in 2 swiftly played maps, Perfecto coming out on top with B1T as close second; a strong duo to secure NAVI their spot in the Group A Upper Final.
The upper final was a BO3 like any other where Gambit reigned supreme, showing how they are still very much deserving of that number one world ranking. Natus Vincere started things off excellently with a 16-8 on Dust2, but that was everything they were going to win as Gambit beat back hard with two swift maps in return.
Rumble in the Lower Bracket
Whilst the initial matches in the lower bracket were chaotic, it all came down to Virtus.pro and G2. Virtus.pro got there with a strong 2-0 against Spirit and G2 followed suit, taking mousesports with a 2-0 of their own. In the Lower Final it was still a case of no more than 2 maps being played, as G2 knew exactly how to handle the CIS team, special thanks to NiKo, finishing the match in style with a smokebang.
Group B Upper Bracket remains consistent
The opening rounds of Group B followed a very similar pattern to those of Group A; the teams with the higher rankings got the wins. Astralis started off with a win over Extra salt whereas Complexity expertly dealt with Vitality. Sadly for Complexity, they just could not bring it home in the upper semi-finals, Astralis took the first map, and, after double overtime, the second. The shoutout goes to poizon on the Complexity side though, being the most exciting player in the entire match.
On the other side BIG and Heroic both booked a 16-6, setting themselves up for a battle of Denmark versus Germany. Sadly for BIG this was anything but their match; they lost 0-2 and the Heroic players secured a spot for a regional upper bracket final against their fellow countrymen, Astralis. Whilst you would have expected this to be an exciting and tense best of three, it was nothing of the sorts. Astralis was decimated, losing both maps 6-16. Part of the reason for Heroic’s success came down to the new player, refrezh.
Lower Bracket domination
Meanwhile, the lower bracket was dominated by two parties, Vitality and FURIA. Vitality started with a BO3 played to full extent, although the maps were not the most tense ones. Extra Salt did not quite know how to deal with the French team, as they soldiered on and faced BIG next. The Germans were surprisingly enough an easier enemy to beat, as Vitality grabbed a 2-0 result.
FURIA did not grant their enemies a single map win, first finishing off paiN with a 2-0, achieving 16-12 on both maps. In the next BO3 Complexity got close, managing to force FURIA to overtime on Mirage, but they managed to overcome Complexity and sent them home in the next map, sealing the BO3 with a 16-11 on Inferno. VINI his consistent performance through the two maps shined through in the statistics, but he also knew exactly how to put down a good defence.
This left the Lower Final where FURIA were clearly feeling consistent, as they continued their streak of 2-0 results. Vertigo was theirs for starters, a respectable 16-10 to start off with, followed by overtime on Nuke, but once more an overtime FURIA know how to deal with as they overcame Vitality with a 19-17 result, securing a spot in the quarter-finals against Natus Vincere.
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