DreamHack Masters: Malmö 2016 - Team Performance Recap

With DreamHack Masters: Malmö 2016 having concluded last week, we present you, our readers, a recap on the performances of each team that participated at the event.



Image courtesy of DreamHack

Team Liquid

Roster:

Nick "nitr0" Cannella

Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski

Spencer "Hiko" Martin

Kenneth "Koosta" Suen

Alexander "s1mple" Kostylev

After a successful run at this event last year there were high hopes for the American outfit coming into the 2016 edition. TL managed to get into the semi-finals and could've even made it into the Grand final, but ended up losing in two overtimes to the eventual champions LG. This time their run was cut short as they failed even to take a single win, losing to Mousesports and TyLoo. Both games were close, however they could not convert the key clutch situations on either de_dust2 to Mouse and de_cbble to the Chinese.



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G2 Esports

Roster:

Cédric "RpK" Guipouy

Richard "shox" Papillon

Edouard "SmithZz" Dubroudeaux

Alexendre "Bodyy" Pianaro

Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom

After bombing in the group stages at the major the team made a roster change, releasing their IGL and bringing in more fragging power in "Bodyy". However, that was not enough to change their fate as the team has yet again failed to get past the groups, losing their two matches to CLG and GODSENT. They failed to make any impact on the game and lost the first game on de_dust2 16-2 as well as the second one to GODSENT - 16-8 on de_train. Overall the tournament was another huge disappointment for them.



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Lounge Gaming

Roster:

Michał "MICHU" Müller

Grzegorz "SZPERO" Dziamałek

Paweł "innocent" Mocek

Mikołaj "mouz" Karolewski

Jacek "minise" Jeziak

There wasn't much expected from the Polish team, mainly due to a tough group and a perceived lack of star power on their roster. As expected, they lost both of their matches and finished in 13th-16th place, losing to Astralis 16-9 on de_mirage and to NiP 16-8 on de_cache. The only stand-out player throughout the two maps was MICHU, who would consistently deliver for his team whilst the others struggled to perform.



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FaZe Clan

Roster:

Ricardo "fox" Pacheco

Fabien "KioShiMa" Fiey

Håvard "rain" Nygaard

Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad

Philip "aizy" Aistrup

Yet another team going into this tournament with a new player added after the major and yet another team with a disappointing group stage exit at MLG Columbus 2016. With the departure of "Maikelele" the team had brought in "KioShiMa", but even with the new addition they looked very much lost in what they were doing and failed to get past the groups. They lost their first game to VP 16-8 on de_train and the second to NV 16-12 on de_cache.



Image courtesy of DreamHack/Adela Sznajder

Luminosity Gaming

Roster:

Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo

​ Fernando "fer" Alvarenga

​ Marcelo "cold" David

​ Tacio "TACO" Filho

​ Lincoln "fnx" Lau

The reigning major champions entered the tournament as one of the favourites to win it all. They were in great form and their morale was high. However, despite having all the odds in their favour they've only managed to win a single game and exited the event in 9th-12th place, following a loss to mousesports, 16-7 on de_cache, and a 2-1 defeat to TyLoo, whom they first beat 16-7 on de_mirage. Their loss to the Chinese side was a huge upset.



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Counter Logic Gaming

Roster:

Steve "reltuc" Cutler

James "Hazed" Cobb

Tarik "tarik" Celik

Josh "jdm64" Marzano

Jacob "FugLy" Medina

CLG were the second North American team coming into this event, and also had high hopes after making it into the quarter-finals of the most recent major. However, the team exited the tournament, only winning one map against G2 and losing the following three. Overall, the team had an impressive showing in the first two games but probably underestimated their last opponents, eventually losing 2-0 in poor fashion with only overpass being a close game (19-16).



Image courtesy of DreamHack/Adela Sznajder

Astralis

Roster:

Nicolai "device" Reedtz

Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen

Finn "karrigan" Andersen

Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth

René "cajunb" Borg

The Danish team were another side tipped to contest the DH Masters title. They made it into the top four of the last major and expectations for them were high, but the story repeats itself and, just like LG, they weren't able to get into the last eight. They won their first game against CSGL very comfortably, never being in any real danger, but then the sorrow came. They lost the following game to their countrymen from Dignitas and finished off with a pretty disappointing 2-1 defeat to the eventual champions - NiP.



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Tempo Storm

Roster:

Joao "felps" Vasconcellos

Ricardo "Boltz" Prass

Henrique "Hen1" Teles

Lucas "Lucas" Teles

Gustavo "SHOOWTiME" Gonçalves

The second Brazilian team coming into this competition managed to qualify very comfortably, beating their NA opposition and gave an impressive account of themselves IEM Katowice 2016 only a month ago, so all eyes were on them. They won the first game against the French nV on de_cbble 16-14, but then fell short of the victory against them in the second instance, facing them in a Bo3, and losing 2-0. They also faced Polish giants VP, who absolutely outplayed them in the winners match, securing the result with a 16-9 on de_mirage.



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Mousesports

Roster:

Chris "ChrisJ" de Jong

Nikola "NiKo" Kovač

Johannes "nex" Maget

​ Denis "denis" Howell

​ Timo "spiidi" Richter

The Germans came into this event as potential dark horses and managed to make it out of the groups as the first quarter-finalist. They upset big names like LG or TL and were happy to see their star players show up in both matches, with "NiKo" and "nex" topping the scoreboards. However, all good things must come to an end and so did their miracle run when they met GODSENT. Mouse weren't able to put up much resistance and lost to the Swedes 2-1, taking de_cache but losing on both subsequent maps - de_inferno and de_mirage.



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Virtus.pro

Roster:

Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas

​ Paweł "byali" Bieliński

​ Filip "neo" Kubski

​ Jarosław "pasha" Jarząbkowski

​ Janusz "snax" Pogorzelski

The second Polish team had a much better showing than their brothers in arms. VP managed to win both of their group stage games in impressive fashion, taking victories over FaZe and TS, not even letting their opponents get into the double digits. Their great run in the tournament ended in when they met NiP in the quarter-finals. They couldn't take a single map in the series and exited the event following a 2-0 loss on de_cache and de_train. You could see the improvement in their form compared to the past couple of months with "snax" finally getting some of that 2015 form back, so the signs are positive going forward.



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TyLoo

Roster

Cai "fancy1" Lun Yu

Ke "Mo" Lui

Haowen "somebody" Xu

Hui "DD-" Wu

Yuan "AttackeR" Zhang Sheng

Prior to this event nobody expected anything from the Chinese, especially after they were forced to swap one of their players as it was discovered he was previously VAC-banned, with the entire team being disqualified from the Asian major qualifiers as a result. As it turned out, TyLoo showed up big time, grabbing a win in a Bo1 against TL as well as a 2-1, Bo3, victory against LG, who were one of the favourites to win the whole thing. Their run was ended in the Bo3 they played in quarters against Na'Vi where TyLoo didn't really perform, putting in a pretty miserable display and crashing out with a 2-0 score line. It is worth mentioning that "Mo" was a great part of their success as he won a stunning five clutches during the group phase.



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Team Dignitas

Roster:

Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye

​ Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen

​ Jesper "TENZKI" Plougmann

​ Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke

​ Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel

The Danes went into this event with everyone expecting them to do well and reach the top eight, or perhaps even the top four having in mind their recent results. The team did not disappoint, starting with a win over NiP and then their countrymen Astralis. "k0nfig" was a big figure in both the games putting up big numbers alongside "MSL", who had some great reads on their opponents. Dignitas' run was ended in the quarters with a much more experienced NV securing a 2-0 score line to defeat them. This time "k0nfig" and his inability to perform when it mattered most played a big part in the French victory.



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Team EnVyUs

Roster:

Vincent "Happy" Cervoni

Nathan "NBK" Schmitt

Kenny "KennyS" Schrub

Dan "apEX" Madesclaire

Timothée "DEVIL" Démolon

EnVyUs had a very disappointing showing at the major, crashing out in the groups with defeats to Gambit and CLG, and have just made a roster change to bring in "DEVIL" for "KioShiMa", a move that baffled a lot of people. With the new IGL in place and a new structure NV have been in something of a slump ever since winning Cluj-Napoca, and their start to the event didn't look too promising as they lost to TS. However, they managed to win the next two group stage games against FaZe and TS, again, and the quarter-final draw was kind to them as they faced Dig, whom NV managed to outplay thanks to their experience. Their showing was cut short, however, as they faced Na'Vi in the semis. NV only managed to win 9/41 rounds and even though they got to the top four their performance was far from ideal.



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GODSENT

Roster:

Markus "pronax" Wallsten

Simon "Twist" Eliasson

Andreas "schneider" Lindberg

Mathias "pauf" Köhler

Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson

Pronax's new team, GODSENT, were underdogs in all the games they played in this tournament and nobody expected them to get out of groups, let alone into the top four. They started the event off with a loss to Na'Vi on de_train, although despite Na'Vi coming into the second half with a 13-2 lead GODSENT still managed to pull off something of a comeback and win nine rounds on their CT side.

The next two group stage matches the Swedes faced were against G2, in a Bo1, and CLG, in a Bo3. They managed to win both games very comfortably with only one map against CLG being close. The quarters started in a similar way, as they lost the first map to mouse but managed to come back into the game and take it 2-1 against the Germans. Semis saw them matched up against NiP, with the first map a close call going the way of NiP and the second going into overtime after an impressive comeback by pronax's team. NiP still managed to win the match 2-1, but it is well-worth mentioning is how good "Twist" was throughout this tournament, dropping three thirty-bombs on the space of ten maps.



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Natus Vincere

Roster:

Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko

Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev

Denis "seized" Kostin

Yegor "flamie" Vasiliev

Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovacs

The runners up of the last major had a seemingly easy task ahead of them, with few top teams in this tournament, or at least not on the level Na'Vi were playing at. The group phase was the real test for them as their star player "GuardiaN" was absent due to a wrist injury and their coach "starix" had to step in. They had a very easy run up to the Grand final, not losing a single map on the way.

Their firepower received a great boost after the groups as "Guardian" managed to recover from his injury in time for the playoffs. They only close game on their way up to the final was in groups against CLG, where they needed overtime to get the W. In the final the CIS team fell just short of victory as they lost both the maps by a very close margin, 16-14. Overall, all the players performed and nobody stood out or lagged behind during the tournament.



Image courtesy of DreamHack/Adela Sznajder

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Roster:

Richard "Xizt" Landström

Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg

Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund

Adam "friberg" Friberg

Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi

After a quarter-final exit at the major, where NiP were using their coach, "Threat", as a stand-in for "pyth" whose visa request was denied, the Ninjas were on home soil. They were never considered a team that could win this event, not even after they beat Astralis in the groups. They started the tournament with a loss to Dig, followed that up with a win against CSGL and continued with a victory over the other Danish team to finish the group in the 2nd place.

They continued on with next two very close wins against VP and GODSENT, in games that could've very well gone the other way. The final draw pitted them against Na'Vi, and even the CIS team wasn't able to stop the re-born NiP, who took two close maps to win the series 2-0 and become the DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016 champions. NiP showed a new interesting style with some new executes as well as a double AWP setup they've come up with, with both "f0rest" and "pyth" picking one up.

Headline image by DreamHack/Adela Sznajder

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