As we’ve seen with IBUYPOWER Masters and Northern Arena, tournaments don’t need to have the best teams and an enormous prize pool to be exciting.

When there’s $100,000 up for grabs and variety of different level teams, upsets are bound to happen.

DreamHack Winter is no exception.

Who are the most in-form teams heading into DreamHack winter?

HeatoN: Cloud9 and Dignitas are two of the hottest teams going into the event but neither team have won a DreamHack event.

Cloud9 defeating SK gaming in the finals of ESL Pro League cemented them as the best North American team.

As for Dignitas, they’ve consistently shown in the past four months they’re capable of going toe to toe with any tier one team.

The Stats: While Dignitas are the best-ranked team at the event, the stats say it’s Cloud9 or OpTic who have had the most recent success.

Both North American teams finished 1st and 5th respectively at ESL Pro League whereas Dignitas could only manage a poor 10th place.

While we haven’t seen a great deal from the Danes since Pro League, while OpTic have bested both Heroic and G2 in separate best of threes to win Northern Arena.

Back HeatoN: Cloud9 to win DreamHack -

Back The Stats: OpTic to win DreamHack -

Which player will be crowned MVP?

HeatoN: Stewie and Autimatic are in exceptional shape for Cloud9 right now, but in my opinion MagiskboY is the best player at the tournament.

Cloud9’s star pairing was the main reason returned from Brazil victorious, their ability to open up bombsites, clutch and single handily win rounds is up there with the best.

Magiskb0Y is an absolute god with pistols and rifles and his no-respect style of play makes him one the most difficult players to counter.

The Stats: With a rating of 1.22, Magiskb0Y has the best LAN rating in the past three months of any player attending DH.

As impressive as that is, it’s his teammate k0nfig who has the highest average damage per round.

On paper, k0nfig is also the better clutcher and boasts a 72% 1on1 clutch success rate whereas Magiskb0Y has 52%.

Either way having Magiskb0Y and k0nfig in the same line-up is a scary prospect for any team to have to face.

Back HeatoN: Magiskb0Y to have the higher ADR -

Back The Stats: k0nfig to have the higher ADR -

Finally, what team and why are most likely to cause an upset?

HeatoN: Having recently swapped Krimz for Lekr0 and won the Minor, Godsent are looking like a much more well-rounded side.

They haven’t had the best time against tier 1 teams recently but if JW and flusha return to their best, Godsent will have a great chance of making the final.

The Stats: While Godsent and OpTic are both 7.00 to outright win DreamHack Winter, their recent results couldn’t be more different.

13 of OpTic’s 18 LAN wins in the past three months have come against teams in the top 15 of HLTV’s world ranking. Godsent, on the other hand have a less than impressive four wins.

Talent is something both of these teams have in an abundance, but if we compare player ratings Godsent don’t even come close.

Flusha’s 1.02 rating is overshadowed by the deadly duo of Tarik and mixwell who both have a LAN rating of 1.10 or above for the past three months.

Back HeatoN: Godsent to beat Flipsid3 -

Back The Stats: OpTic to beat Gambit -