North Academy scrape by Space Soldiers in two maps (19-15 Cobblestone, 16-14 Train) to earn a spot at the final DreamHack stop of the year, DreamHack Open Winter.

Sixteen teams competed in the European Closed Qualifier for DreamHack Open Winter, with some of the bigger names, such as FlipSid3, Kinguin and Vega Squadron, being eliminated in the first round of the single-elimination BO3 playoffs. A new European mix named MANS NOT HOT made it fairly deep into the qualifier, losing to Space Soldiers in the semi-final, while the other semi saw North Academy beat AGO despite the Danes being 1-0 down after their map pick, Overpass.

North Academy earned a spot at DreamHack Open Winter

In the final, Space Soldiers started strongly on their map pick, Cobblestone, winning five out of the first seven rounds, but that is when North Academy turned it around by bringing out the double AWP on Daniel "⁠mertz⁠" Mertz and Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand. The duo really started firing up as the Danish side swiftly took back the lead with a five-round winning streak.

Switching to the T side with a 9-6 lead, North Academy were able to extend their lead to 13-6 shortly by winning the second-half pistol round. Space Soldiers were able to claw back into the game by winning a low-buy round, starting a streak of their own. Çağatay "⁠DESPE⁠" Sedef, who stepped into the first squad in place of Ahmet "⁠paz⁠" Karahoca, was crucial for his side, picking up AWP kills round after round.

Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın added two clutches that got his side to 14-14, but Space Soldiers fumbled the following anti-eco that would earn them match point, and ended up economically reset. Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş pulled off a hero play in mid, acing the Danes in a matter of seconds to push the game to overtime, but the Turkish side was promptly stopped there and North Academy closed out Cobblestone 19-15.

A back-and-forth first half on Train was pulled in Space Soldiers's favor when Calyx added another clutch to his name, resolving a 2v2 after plant on A to make the score 7-6. Just when it seemed that the Turks were set for a 9-6 Terrorist half scoreline, acoR pulled out a 1v2 of his own to make the deficit moving into the second half minimal.

North Academy faked out Space Soldiers in the second pistol round and went on to win five rounds in a row, but struggled to break through the CT's defenses when Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli and co. could finally afford full buys. From a 12-8 deficit, Space Soldiers were able to come back to a 14-12, but the Danes woke up at the end of the game, threw in fast A fake that got them to match point and closed the series on Train with a 16-14 scoreline.

DreamHack Open Winter 2017 Europe Closed Qualifier Best of 3 Space Soldiers Matchpage 0 2 North Academy 15 Cobblestone 19 14 Train 16

Space Soldiers K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES 50 - 47 +3 85.6 1.20 Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx 41 - 42 -1 72.0 1.04 Çağatay 'DESPE' SedefDESPE 41 - 40 +1 66.6 1.01 Engin 'ngiN' KorngiN 28 - 40 -12 54.8 0.82 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R 34 - 49 -15 61.3 0.78 North Academy K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandacoR 51 - 37 +14 84.4 1.32 Daniel 'mertz' Mertzmertz 51 - 41 +10 82.5 1.24 Nicklas 'gade' Gadegade 45 - 41 +4 76.8 1.22 Johannes 'b0RUP' Borupb0RUP 41 - 41 0 74.8 0.99 Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsensycrone 30 - 35 -5 45.6 0.88

With North Academy earning a spot at DreamHack Open Winter, this is how the team list for the event looks: