DreamHack Open Winter: CSGO Preview
Eight world ranking Counter Strike teams will be standing on the battle grounds at Jonkoping, Sweden at the Elmia Convention Center on November 26-28th for what should be two days of intense competition.
With just five of the eight teams through so far and the EU qualifiers unfinished, who at this stage looks likely to take the ultimate prize of $40,000?
We have made our assessment on where the value could lie in Dafabet’s eSports betting.
EU qualifier winners
Team Solomid and Team EnVyUs are both guaranteed a place in the DH winter finals, coming out joint top after winning nine matches each.
Fnatic lost to Virtus.Pro earlier on in the qualifiers and with their recent team reshuffle, Markus ‘pronax’ Wallsten was replaced by Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman, they do not have much time to regain their form as a cohesive team.
They only have two more qualifying games remaining but the CSGO Gods are smiling on the eSports heavyweights, who are still in a firm position to qualify.
Virtus.Pro have almost another nine consecutive matches still to play, with each one looking tougher than the last. They are though proving to be brutally difficult to conquer, with victories against the top EU qualifying teams including EnVyUs, Team Solomid and Fnatic. The question is, will they be able to carry their victories forward?
NiP, in spite of recent moments of weakness, are also looking to be in a good place to qualify for the finals, having played incredibly consistently with five wins and five losses. They even managed to come out victorious against EnVyUs and TSM on Dust2, showing off some of the old magic NiP were so fondly known for in days gone by.
EU losers:
With the shuffles between Titan and G2, moving Adil “ScreaM” Bernlitom, both teams were looking to be nigh undefeatable with their formidable line-ups. However, the pair have crumbled under the immense pressure along with HellRaisers. Each of the teams fought valiantly, but did not cause many upsets, apart from Titan’s flabbergasting win against EnVyUs on Mirage.
Predictions:
LEGACY ESPORTS (LAST PLACE)
It is sad to see that despite their truly spectacular efforts, Legacy eSports just did not have the age, wisdom or experience to beat the other teams in the finals. They only won the OCE qualifiers by the skin of their teeth against fSociety with a 21-18 overtime victory on Cache. This weakening team will not be able to accomplish as much as some other better known teams, but, with vast quantities of luck they may just still pull a punch or two.
NIP (7TH PLACE)
NiP just haven’t been up to par, perhaps they’re not getting enough sleep? They lost to HR on overpass. Having been in a pretty awful state for quite some time, NiP have underperformed and are not showing any real signs of improvement. It’s not looking good for this declining outfit, not good at all.
TEAM LIQUID (6TH PLACE)
Liquid’s spot in the finals was very nearly snatched away by Cloud9 with a very close 16-12 victory on Cobblestone. It was only a stunning individual performance by adreN, who recently left HellRaisers, and decided to take matters into his own hands in the game, which saw them through. Whether Team Liquid will perform well or not is up for debate but we doubt they will have enough true grit and that edge needed to pull it off in the finals.
VIRTUS.PRO (5TH PLACE)
Virtus.Pro are no strangers to feeling the euphoric rush of victory, but it seems they haven’t experienced that high of winning for some time now. They have carelessly thrown away matches that should be easy wins, like against G2, with childish-like mistakes. Maybe someday soon they will regain the title of Virtus.Plow!
FNATIC (4TH PLACE)
It might be a surprise to some to see Fnatic so low down in the rankings especially with mythical and demigod players such as JW and Olofmeister in their ranks, but with the recent dropping of their in-game leader ’pronax’ for G2 player ‘dennis’, a power vacuum may exist and Fnatic may become a team without one of the best callers in-game right now.
LUMINOSITY (3RD PLACE)
The almost complete domination of the NA qualifiers by the Brazilian Luminosity Gaming, displays the team’s awesome potential. Winning their past 11 games, Luminosity have undoubtedly proven their worth and without a doubt, should be safe against any team 5th place or below on this list.
TSM & ENVYUS (2ND & 3RD PLACES)
We believe TSM and EnVyUs are the tow two teams who will battle it out in the finals. Both have performed like legends in the past few months as they have continually slogged it out, giving blood, sweat and tears in search of the number one spot.
But which of the pair will prove to be the mightiest of them all?
It has been back and forth nonstop between the French EnVyUs and the Danish TSM, but with wins going to the French team for the larger part of 2015.
However, the last time these teams clashed, the Danes took control of Inferno with a 16-9 victory despite the favours falling to EnVyUs. Both teams have outrageously skilled and experienced players in their ranks and have strong individual claims to the title.
However, weighing up the respective form, personnel and talent our prediction right now for the world number one team slot is TSMs.
Dafabet will be providing odds on the CS:GO DreamHack tournament.
