Presenting the DH Masters: Spring Playoffs Teams

At DreamHack Masters: Spring, tensions were high already. While the favorites made it through the Group Phase unscathed, the Lower Brackets were an absolute mess. So who’s continuing on and who can we actually expect to make the Grand Finals?

The Best-of-One matches right at the start of the event made for an exciting time. Natus Vincere almost failed against mousesports and only got away on a 14-16 scoreline. FaZe also almost made it against Virtus.pro with a 13-16 score. G2 Esports, who had already defeated Team Spirit at BLAST before, took until overtime to sort them out once again.

The results of Group B were a little more decisive. Extra Salt failed to replicate their performance jump from Funspark ULTI and missed the mark against Astralis on an 8-16 scoreline. The Danes then kicked off an exciting match against Complexity and survived, which was quite a surprise considering the recent roster departure of Nicolai “device” Reedtz. Vitality are struggling to work their new fifth man into the roster. Following a loss to Complexity, they got back on their feet and secured victories over Extra Salt and BIG. However, Jayson “Kyojin” Nguyen Van was far from being a top performer.

In the end, the team lost out to FURIA, who pulled off the reverse sweep of Group B’s Lower Bracket after initially losing to BIG on a 6-16 scoreline. So despite all expectations, the Brazilians made it through to the playoffs. In the Lower Bracket of Group A, G2 Esports were the ones to do this. After losing to Gambit, they stabilized, but aren’t looking nearly as competitive now as they did during the BLAST Premier Showdown.

THE QUARTER FINALS PARTICIPANTS

G2 and FURIA are facing off with Astralis and Natus Vincere, respectively. These teams had fought all the way through to the Upper Bracket Finals, before losing their very last encounters. NaVi narrowly survived against the new mousesports pack and then confidently swept Virtus.pro off the server. However, Gambit Esports were their final bosses once again. At IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and his men had already failed to bring the CIS team down. This time, NaVi made it to the third map, but eventually conceded on a 13-16 scoreline. Even though they still have made the playoffs, this is another heavy blow to them and should give them something to worry about for the matches to come. They stand a chance against FURIA, but the Brazilians are explosive, unpredictable, and on top of that, NaVi seem to be struggling with mental issues.

Astralis had their fair share of problems going into the event as well. Now that device is gone, they’re missing one of their most fundamental building blocks. Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander had to completely rework the role distribution within the team. However, this new concept seems to be working out fine for now, as they confidently put themselves on top of Extra Salt and Complexity. Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen is putting up a much better show now that the team regards him as an actual fifth man. In the end, it still wasn’t enough for Heroic, though, as their Danish rivals scored two quick 16-6 maps to qualify for the Semi Finals. In the playoffs, Bubzkji and his colleagues will have to get past G2 Esports first, which should prove to be quite a tough challenge.

GAMBIT & HEROIC AT THE HELM AGAIN

Gambit managed to move past Fiend, G2, and NaVi. Their last match was particularly rough, but Gambit have retained their favorites position for this event. The same holds true for Heroic, who didn’t struggle a single bit. They effortlessly claimed every victory in the bracket, and now they’re patiently waiting in the Semi Finals to meet their next opponent.

At the last two events, both teams were the frontrunners. Now the two are starting on different sides of the bracket. So if everything goes according to the most recent tournaments, we will see the two battle it out in the Grand Finals again. There, they will play for the lion’s share of a 250.000 USD prize pool, but the honor of making first place should overshadow everything. After Heroic snatched the first-place finish away from Gambit at ESL Pro League, the Russians found revenge at the BLAST Premier Showdown by claiming the last Finals spot for themselves. Tying the score, the two teams will now look to determine who actually has the upper hand in this rivalry.