DreamHack Winter 2016 - Day 1 recap

DreamHack Winter 2016 has started with the opening and winners' matches in the group stage.

The first day of DH Winter included the opening and winners' matches of both groups. After six best-of-one matches, two group winners have been determined. The elimination and decider matches will be played during day two but before that, we present a brief recap of the opening day at DreamHack Winter 2016.

Group A

dignitas vs. Kinguin 9:6, 6:9, 5:7 (20:22)

Winner: Kinguin

Map: de_Mirage

MVP: Mikołaj "mouz" Karolewski

Group A kicked off with the clash between Team Dignitas and Team Kinguin where the Polish side grabbed the pistol round and two anti-ecos following it as Counter-Terrorists. The first gun round went Dignitas' way thanks to René "cajunb" Borg's 1v2 clutch. The Danes managed to win three more rounds before Michał "MICHU" Müller killed four to even the things at 4-4. Starting from 9th round, a different player stepped up each round and neither team won back to back rounds to establish a comfortable lead. In the last few rounds of the first half, Dignitas seemed to be finding weak spots on Kinguin defence as they were able to enter the halftime with a three round lead.

Kinguin started the second half by winning the second pistol round. Now playing as the T side, the Poles didn't allow Dignitas to stabilise their economy and won six more rounds after the pistol round to make the score 13-9. The CT side finally woke up after the 22nd round and proceeded to close the gap slowly but steadily. Despite Dignitas' efforts, the team was unable to close, as Kinguin won the 29th round to take it to the map point. In the 30th round, Emil "Magiskb0Y" Reif starred as he grabbed a triple kill to take the map to overtime.

The first overtime saw both teams getting two round while they were Terrorists, making the map go to the second overtime. The first match of DH Winter nearly saw a third overtime but Mikołaj "mouz" Karolewski clutched the last round of the second overtime on a 1v2 situation to close out the map.

GODSENT vs. FlipSid3 Tactics 7:8, 9:1 (16:9)

Winner: GODSENT

Map: de_Train

MVP: Jesper "JW" Wecksell

Jesper "JW" Wecksell's triple-kill won the pistol round for the T side. After winning the second round, the Swedish team lost the third round against much weaker weapons. Despite their broken economy, GODSENT didn't let FlipSid3 build a fair lead. After the GODSENT victory in 12th round, the score was 7-5 in favour of the Swedish team but FlipSid3 won all three of the remaining rounds of the first half to end the half with a single round lead.

GODSENT won the second pistol round and thanks to Wecksell's impressive plays they had little trouble before eventually closing out the map 16-9.

Kinguin vs. GODSENT 8:7, 4:9 (12:16)

Winner: GODSENT

Map: de_Mirage

MVP: Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson

The winners' match of Group A started with Markus "pronax" Wallsten grabbing three kills in the first pistol round for the T side. Kinguin responded instantly with a successful force-buy round. The Polish team held their ground solidly in the following rounds and all of a sudden it was 8-2 in favour of Kinguin. Then everything stopped working for them as GODSENT won five rounds in a row to make the score 8-7 at the halftime.

GODSENT won the first four rounds of the second half to continue their run before Kinguin finally grabbed a round to make the score 11-9. The Swedes didn't let Kinguin build on that round victory and continued playing impressive CS to win the map 16-12.

With these results, GODSENT advanced to the semi-finals from Group A where dignitas and FlipSid3 are going to clash in the elimination match. The survivor of the elimination match will face Team Kinguin in the decider match.

Group B

Cloud9 vs. Renegades 4:11, 10:5 (14:16)

Winner: Renegades

Map: de_Dust2

MVP: Karlo "USTILO" Pivac

Cloud9 were the heavy favourites going into Group B's first match. The North American team grabbed the first pistol round as Counter-Terrorists to be the first team to take the lead but they were bested by Renegades in the next round, particularly as a result of Justin "jks" Savage's triple-kill. Karlo "USTILO" Pivac and co. won five rounds in a row to make the score 6-1 before Jake "Stewie2K" Yip clutched a 1v2 situation. Fortunately for Renegades, Cloud9 weren't able to build on that round. Renegades continued their domination until halftime, where the score was 11-4 favouring them.

After halftime Cloud9 switched to the CT side and then it was their turn to dominate by winning six rounds in a row; however before they could make the score 11-11, Aaron "AZR" Ward stepped up and won the round for Renegades with three kills. The Australian team won one more round after Ward's triple kill to make the score 13-10. Cloud9 managed to melt the three-round gap as they won three back to back rounds, the latter of which was thanks to Timothy "autimatic" Ta's triple-kill. Renegades didn't let their opponenets take the lead and won two rounds to take it to a double match point. After failing to close out the map in the 29th round, Renegades managed to grab the victory on their second attempt and won the map 16-14.

OpTic Gaming vs. Gambit 4:11, 6:5 (10:16)

Winner: Gambit

Map: de_Cobblestone

MVP: Rustem "mou" Telepov

OpTic took on Gambit in the second opening match of Group B. Starting the match as Counter-Terrorists Gambit picked up the first pistol round but lost the following two rounds. Despite the low economy, Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko and his team managed to win the 4th round and by successfully preventing Terrorists from build a decent economy they increased the round difference to three at 5-2. In the 8th round, Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev grabbed an ace while defending a tec9-armor rush on B. In the remainder of the half, Gambit continued to be the better side as they entered the halftime leading by 7.

In the second half, OpTic performed better but the margin was too much for them and eventually Gambit grabbed the victory with a 16-10 scoreline.

Renegades vs. Gambit 9:6, 7:2 (16:8)

Winner: Renegades

Map: de_Cache

MVP: Justin "jks" Savage

Group B winners' match saw another upset as Renegades beat Gambit to advance to the semi-finals. Renegades started the map by winning four rounds in a row. After losing two rounds, the Australian team won four more rounds to make the score 8-2. Gambit took a timeout and the break worked as they won four rounds against Renegades' one in the remainder of the half.

Starting from the very first round of the second half, Renegades won every single round until Gambit finally won their first round in the 21st round when it was 14-6. Gambit managed to make it 14-7 by winning another round but before they could start hoping for a comeback, Renegades won two in a row to win the map 16-7 and advance to the semi-finals.



QUICKPOLL Are you surprised with Renegades' impressive display? Yes, I never thought they could reach the semi-finals

Thank you for voting! No, they've always had the potential

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