Written by: Skim



Table of Contents

1. The Location

The venue there holds room for many thousand people and has become iconic to Dreamhack. There is sufficient room for stages, seats, BYOC areas and player areas, as well as a small exhibition area. More can be seen on Friday in our walkthrough video.

Dreamhack returns once more. Thousands of people will pack their bags, their gear and their joy to travel to Elmia, Jönköping. The 9th most populous city in Sweden is quite a hassle to get to, depending where you are from. The airport only has a few international destinations, which is why many people arrive by bus from Göteborg, Landvetter. Once you get to Jönköping, the venue is one bus ride more away from the city.

2. The Casting

The competition is more fierce than ever as the best teams in the West head towards Elmia, Jönköping to fight it out for a total of $42,000. With the exclusion of Kaipi and maybe Empire, the top teams will assemble in a best-of-one groupstage, where the best two teams will advance into the best-of-three single elimination playoff bracket. Except for Power Rangers, all invited and qualified teams will make the trip and participate in what is considered as the most prestigious Dota 2 LAN event in the West aside from The International.

In an interview with us , 2GD revealed that this time around there will be more player interviews in between the games. Whether this means that they will be actually running around with a camera and get footage this way or whether the players will be sitting at the desk is yet unknown.

The casting this time around is going to undergo a considerably big change. Iconic caster Toby 'TobiWan' Dawson will miss his first Dota 2 event at Dreamhack and is going to be replaced by Aaron 'Ayesee' Chambers. The North-American caster will be attending his first Dreamhack and it will be the second LAN for him to cast. He will re-unite with his long-time co-caster Andy 'Draskyl' Stiles. The four-man panel will be completed by The GD Studios' James '2GD' Harding and Bruno 'Statsman' Carlucci. Like last year, it is expected to have a few pro players on the panel to bring in a bit more diversity.

3. The Groups

Group A

Team M W D L P Liquid 3 3 0 0 9 mouz 3 2 0 1 6 eL'Pride 3 1 0 2 3 4FC 3 0 0 3 0 Matches and results

Group A could be one of the toughest groups. Two weeks ago, mousesports might have been considered the top favorite in this group, as they were on a winning streak and performed admirably. The new patch however seemed to have disturbed their rhythm and the team has recently wavered. In addition, offlane player qojqva will be replaced by bone7 for the duration of the tournament. While bone7 is probably the best stand-in they could've hoped for, there is always a certain level of communication, understanding and blind trust that can only be obtained when playing over time and time again. Despite syndereN's 100% Dreamhack winning streak so far, the Germans will have to adapt quickly and a bad day can already mean elimination.

G-1 League contestant Team Liquid has been in quite the good form after they returned from China - on paper. However, all their losses in these past weeks have been against top tier teams that will be attending Dreamhack. The North-Americans have gained a lot of experience attending G-1 and the new patch could favor them as they are known to be creative and effective in drafts. The team likes to play very mid-game oriented, which is why heroes like Slark are one of their secret weapons. This will be the team's first Dreamhack attendance, but if they adapt quickly, they can live up to the expectations.



Mousesport's Black^ at DreamHack Winter 2012

4Friends+Chrillee is a team that has been around in the scene for more than a year. The team consists of very talented players and even though there's little to no success in their cv, the Swedes could definitely cause an upset. Kunkka has been used by 4FC even before Vici Gaming made the hero popular. What could and probably will play into their favor is the lack of limelight they get. If they are underestimated, they can punish it.

Last team in the group is the newly established squad eL.Pride. The all Danish team has shown potential and performed quite promising. In addition, they have a few experienced players like Link, Cr1t, Hestejoe and Noia that have acquired a bit of LAN experience by themselves. The team is considered as the underdog of the group, as they haven't been playing for too long, but the experience and talent could maybe get them second place in the group.

Group B

Team M W D L P Virtus.Pro 3 3 0 0 9 dignitas. 3 2 0 1 6 uebelst 3 1 0 2 3 TCM.Dota2 3 0 0 3 0 Matches and results

Group B doesn't seem as tough. Both Team Dignitas as well as Virtus.pro are the clearcut favorites and TCM and uebelst can only hope for a slip-up and a good day.

Team Dignitas will be at Dreamhack for the second time in a row. Last time around, the team crumbled and was in a slump in general. In addition, the team lacked LAN experience and especially Dreamhack with it's atmosphere and noise makes it quite difficult to communicate properly. This time around, the team is in much better shape and is actually one of the top teams at the event. The North-Americans have found themselves a unique playstyle with a unique pool of heroes that doesn't always fit the general trend. They will definitely be the favorites to advance in this group, maybe even as the first place.

Virtus.pro will be at Dreamhack for the first time. A few months ago, the Russians were quite strong, taking game after game and eventually winning The Defense. Since then, the Russians kinda stepped out of the limelight and haven't performed quite as much as other teams, especially since they dropped out early in the G-1 League qualifiers and were already invited to TI3. Nonetheless the Russians are a force to be reckoned with. What could maybe hurt them is the lack of experience they have together as a team on LAN, but each player individually has quite a vita at his hands. The team is definitely on par with Team Dignitas and the match between them is probably going to decide who places first.



Team Dignitas' TI invite... which was accidentally sent to Fnatic. Picture by H4nni

TCM-Gaming have recently changed their roster. They dropped two players in chw- and Quix, picking up Atze- and HawaiOo. Two promising players that have been around in the scene without being successful. Despite HawaiiOo having been to Dreamhack Winter, the team lacks LAN experience and as mentioned before, the atmosphere at Dreamhack can definitely influence your play. The team has shown promising performances but still has a far way to go. The mainly Swedish squad is unlikely to advance, but should be able to place third.

Third, because the fourth team is the fairly new uebelst-Gamyng. The German team has been around for quite some time. Their most notable achievement was winning the German World Cyber Games qualifiers. However, the team has undergone many changes since then. Currently the line-up consists of Sky, Ede, rmn-, BlueBanana and Alex. Despite Alex and rmn- having gained a lot of experience, the team will be considered as the underdogs as they lack competitive experience. The Germans can hope for their enemies to underestimate them and then go for a big surprise, but other than that they are unlikely to advance, could however take a game against TCM.

Group C

Team M W D L P Na`Vi 3 3 0 0 9 EG 3 2 0 1 6 Keita 3 1 0 2 3 [F.3] 3 0 0 3 0 Matches and results

Teams that qualify via the BYOC are generally perceived as the underdogs. Most of the time they are local teams that couldn't qualify via the online qualifiers or weren't good enough to get invited. The Wild Honey Badgers proved to be the only team to actually be successful after gaining their BYOC slot. This time around, it would need a team from China to win the BYOC to actually be successful in their group, as the teams will face up against the best the West currently has to offer. Favorites for the BYOC are Keita Gaming, former Out of Tangoes.

Natus Vincere will participate in the third Dreamhack in a row. Last time they fell short in the quarter finals and will be looking to redeem themselves. Na'Vi lost their Western supremacy some ago and after EMS One Spring the team kinda hit a slump. The Ukrainians however fought back and have been in old shape as of recent. The team started to dominate their enemies again and displayed the aggressive, yet easy-going and fun playstyle what made them both successful and popular in the first place. Some people say they are back, some people say it's just a phase. Nevertheless, Na'Vi regained their strength just in time for Dreamhack and is going to be one of the teams with the most LAN, as well as individual player experience. They are one of the top contenders for the title and are expected to take first place.



EG finished 2nd at least year's DreamHack

When there's talk about experience, Evil Genuises can not be far away. The North-Americans have highly experienced and skilled players in their ranks and on good days, they are easily one of the top teams in the West. They lack consistency, but their last Dreamhack performance was rather admirably. If they can perform like that again, they are definitely in for the win. They have quite a good run against Na'Vi and could possibly take the group win.

Flip.Sid3 being the underdogs should tell how tough this group is. The mainly Danish squad doesn't seem to be in the best of forms and is still trying to figure out new roles and will have to adapt to the new patch. This being their second LAN together doesn't help the case, especially since they are up against experienced teams. The team are not expected to advance, but that could play into their favor.

Group D

Team M W D L P Alliance 3 2 0 1 6 Quantic. 3 2 0 1 6 Fnatic. 3 2 0 1 6 iN.int 3 0 0 3 0 Matches and results

G-1 League winner Alliance is considered by many as the currently best team in the West and their track record agrees. They have performed well on every LAN - except for EMS One Spring - they have been to, placing in the top and taking online tournaments on the side. Many pro players describe the Swedes as predictable, yet perfect in their execution which makes them rather strong. While they might be predictable in their playstyle, their draft has proven to be rather unique and uncommon. Rikimaru, Phantom Assassin and Ogre Magi are only a few of the heroes that Alliance has used and even made popular - at least the latter. The team is one of the favorites, maybe even the top favorite to take the title, especially being the title defender. Teams are struggling to beat them online, but it is only going to be worse on LAN.



Alliance after winning the G-1 League

One team to experience that power is Fnatic. It is the team with probably the most experience of playing on LAN together as the team has been around for quite some time, first in Heroes of Newerth and then in Dota 2. A few months back they were the top contender, together with Alliance, for the "best of the west" title. Since then however, they have have dropped a fair amount of games to all kinds of teams. The start of their bootcamp did not seem promising at all and it is only during recent days they have been able to regain some of their ground. It is hard to predict how they will perform on this event but they are a force to be reckoned with, both known for innovative pick-ups and stable performances under pressure.

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Fnatic would easily be considered as one of the favorites to advance in this group D, if it wasn't for Quantic Gaming. Quantic, former dd.Dota, is in great shape and has proven over the past weeks and months that they are more than annoying to play against. Treant Protector, Outworld Devourer, Spirit Breaker, Skeleton King and Razor are only some of the heroes this team has utilized these past days. They can definitely pull off something crazy, which in hindsight always seems to make sense and be strong. The groups tags being best-of-one format could therefore play into their favor. However, they haven't been purely successful with these strats and picks, so what is considered as their strength can easily hurt them back. The range of experience this team has however makes them extremely strong and not only are they a contestant for the top two group slots, some people consider them a title contender.