Coming off the heels of the wildly successful MLG Major in Columbus, Ohio, DreamHack will be providing some exciting Counter-Strike action as its Masters tournament is set to launch April 12-17.
Sixteen of the world's best CS:GO teams will travel to Malmö, Sweden to compete for $250,000 and the chance to become Masters champions.
The Group Stage will take place off-site from April 12-14. Under the GSL format, each group will feature five matches played in a double-elimination bracket to determine which two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Then, the eight teams that make it out of the group stages will play in a best-of-three single-elimination bracket set to take place in the Malmö Arena on April 16 and 17.
There are some heavy hitters in this tournament and the competition will be stiff. But after looking over the teams, fans may have noticed the number one ranked team in the world is missing from the roster.
Fnatic has dropped out of the tournament due to an injury to its resident AWPer and entry fragger, Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer. olofmeister has been dealing with an undisclosed hand injury for over a month and sources say it affected his play at the Columbus Major. Instead of further aggravating the injury, he and Fnatic decided it was best to withdraw.
That, in turn, opened the door for G2 Esports, which will take Fnatic's place and compete in Group B.
Another exciting development in this tournament is the emergence of three teams that'll see the big stage for the first time. Lounge Gaming, TyLoo and Godsent will try to make a name for themselves against the best teams in the world this time around.
Now let's take a look at the groups and make some predictions. Time to see which teams are going to make it out of the initial rounds, become the DreamHack Malmö Masters Champion, and take home $100,000.
Initial Matches:
Luminosity vs. TyLoo
Liquid vs. mousesports
Getting out of group:
Luminosity
Team Liquid
Upset watch:
mousesports
Striking absolute fear into the three other teams in Group A is the pride of Brazil--this year's MLG Major Columbus champions, Luminosity. Luminosity has played well in 2016, finishing second at DreamHack Leipzig, and placing second at IEM Katowice. The team's success has come largely from the play of rifler Marcelo "coldzera" David. At MLG Columbus, coldzera was named the MVP, thanks to 1.36 rating, the highest of all ratings in the tournament, according to HLTV.org.
However, Luminosity isn't simply a one-man team. Two other standout individuals grace the roster: both Garbriel "FalleN" Toledo (1.13) and Lincoln "fnx" Lau (1.10) managed to put up four top 10 ratings at MLG Columbus.
Team Liquid also had a strong showing at the MLG Major in Columbus, finishing third/fourth. However, the team that knocked them out of Columbus--Luminosity--is waiting. These two teams are very likely to meet in the top bracket of the group, with the winner receiving the automatic advancement to the quarterfinals and the loser just one match away from elimination.
mousesports just recently qualified for the inaugural edition of the Esports Championship Series Season 1 by defeating HellRaisers 3-2 in a hard fought best-of-five series. Led by team captain and AWPer Chris "ChrisJ" De Jong, the team tied for ninth place in Columbus, meaning it's accumulated just a little bit of experience on the big stage.
TyLoo is an organization that has a long history of playing well in the Counter-Strike arena. But the team just hasn't had much success lately, and that may just bleed into this tournament as well--thanks to a certain Reddit user.
On January 30, with just one hour before group play at the Asia Minor, a Reddit user by the name of _uroak noticed that a Tyloo player, Quanqing "qz" Wu, was using the same name as a banned player. After a bit of investigation by Valve, it was determined that this was the same player that had been banned in 2013 thanks to multiple users playing on qz's account.
With qz now officially disqualified from all future Valve events, YuanZhang "Attacker" Sheng will take his place, bringing in a little more mystery to how they will perform.
Initial Matches:
Natus Vincere vs. Godsent
G2 Esports vs. Counter Logic Gaming
Getting out of group:
Natus Vincere
Counter Logic Gaming
Upset watch:
Godsent
With a resume nearly a mile long (including a second place finish in Columbus, a first place finish at Counter Pit Season 2, and first place finish at DreamHack Leipzig), Natus Vincere is one of the favorites to win at Malmö.
The strength of Na'Vi is in the tenure of its roster and the fact the team has a core group of players that know each other well. In fact, its newest member, Egor "flamie" Vasilyev, joined the team in March of 2015. If Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs were playing, arguably the best AWPer in the game, Na'Vi would be an even easier pick for the tournament. In his place will be Sergey "starix" Ischuk.
G2 is a dark horse, one that became just a bit darker after news surfaced that the club released Kevin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans in favor of former Team LDLC.com White's Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro. bodyy will have a short amount of time to get in some work with his teammates and get ready for one of the toughest competitions in 2016.
According to HLTV.org and ESL, the new number one team in North America is Counter Logic Gaming. The team made it out of group play at the major in Columbus and took third/fourth in the iBUYPOWER Invitational 2016 Spring Finals. CLG is led by rifler and entry fragger Tarik "Tarik" Celik who ranks as the 34th best player in the game with a rating of 1.11, according to HLTV.org.
Tarik is supported by teammate and AWPer Joshua, "jdm64" Marzano and his 1.09 rating, but the rest of CLG needs to step up its game if it want to get out of group stages and finally get the major victory it desperately craves.
Godsent is led by Markus "pronax" Wallsten, who, up until last November, was the in-game leader for Fnatic. He has three major championships to his name--and if there were ever a guy who could figure out how to win, it'd be pronax.
Godsent qualified for the Malmö Masters in the second European Qualifier and has had a couple of very good wins over the likes of FlipSid3 Tactics and CPH Wolves. The rest of this team isn't quite ready for prime time, however, making this an uphill climb for the team.
Initial Matches:
Astralis vs. Lounge.GG
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Team Dignitas
Getting out of group:
Astralis
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Upset watch:
Team Dignitas
Astralis has played remarkably well in 2016. Led by AWPer and in-game leader Finn "karrigan" Andersen, Astralis has finished in the top four of every tournament it's competed in this season--including a third/fourth finish in Columbus, and a second place finish in the Counter Pit Season 2 Finals. Astralis is going to need Nicolai "Dev1ce" Reedtz, who was voted third best player in the world by HLTV.org last year, to bring his devastating AWP and pistol game to Malmö if Astralis wants to win the Masters.
Ninjas in Pyjamas is a team that can beat anybody on any given day. In fact, this group is so deep in talent that its coach, Björn "THREAT" Pers, got in on the action at MLG Columbus Major after Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi ran into a visa issue and couldn't make the tournament. NiP has beaten many highly ranked opponents and if the team can get on a roll and remain consistent, it could contend for the title of Malmö Masters Champion.
As the minor league circuit heroes, Team Dignitas has shown an affinity towards playing in the smaller majors. The team seems to thrive in that environment, as it usually finishes high enough in qualifiers to partake in larger events, but usually wind up in the middle of the pack at the Majors. The team's level of dedication might come into question--after all, Dignitas certainly has the skills to beat most teams at Malmo. It simply remains unclear if they're content with just being there.
Lounge.GG busted through the first Malmö European Qualifier beating the likes of FlipSid3 Tactics and Team Dignitas in order to gain entry into the Masters. Lounge.GG has been on an upwards trend, participating in the CS:GO Champions League Season 3 and qualifying for the event in Malmö, but they'll need to play way over its skill level if it wants to make it out of group play.
Initial Matches:
Virtus.Pro vs. FaZe Clan
EnVyUs vs. Tempo Storm
Getting out of group:
Virtus.Pro
Tempo Storm
Upset watch:
FaZe Clan
Virtus.Pro is in the middle of the pack as far as top-tier CS:GO teams go, but this group of players is somehow always in the mix when it comes to the late rounds of tournaments. The frustration surrounding VP is that it's one of the most inconsistent teams in this tournament. Just look at its results: the team ended up last place in the ESL Pro League with a 6-18 record, landed in the fifth-eighth finish at Columbus, and took third/fourth in the Counter Pit Season 2 Finals.
A frustrating team to decipher, for sure. Pencil it in to survive group play and advance into the quarterfinals.
EnVyUs has fallen flat on its face in 2016, failing to get out group play in both Columbus and IEM Katowice, going a combined 1-6. This team was invited due to its solid 2015 season, but saw some strife as the team was rumored to be fighting amongst itself. This notion appeared to be corroborated when Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey was replaced by Timothee "DEVIL" Demolon, igniting a war of words. EnVyUs will need to prove that the team can work together as a cohesive unit if it's to do anything in Malmö.
Group D is the toughest group at Malmö thanks to Tempo Storm. This team had an outstanding 2016 season, tying for fifth at IEM Katowice and achieving significant wins over the likes of EnVyUs and Natus Vincere. Winning its opening match would be an upset on paper, but it certainly wouldn't surprise pundits.
Rounding out Group D is FaZe Clan. Although the team is struggling right now, posting a 2-8 record in its last 10 matches, this club has had some great wins over teams like Tempo Storm and Virtus.Pro. Fans should watch out for the potential matchup between FaZe Clan and EnVyUs as FaZe's new rifler and entry fragger, kioShiMa, may want to stick it to his former team in group play after EnVyUs replaced him with the aforementioned DEVIL.