DreamHack Masters Spring 2021

The series of DreamHack Masters tournaments have been pleasing esports fans since 2016. These competitions are always in focus of the whole world. The events used to be held at big esports arenas but due to the coronavirus situation, the stadium switched to online. Nevertheless, the best CS:GO teams stably fight for the prestigious title and prize pool.

Another tournament of the series is Dreamhack Masters Spring 2021. It will be taking place from 29 April till 9 May. Initially the organizers planned to have a LAN event and the venue was planned to be one of European countries. But the teams will have to fight online. The reason is the persistently tense coronavirus situation.

Lineup

The competition will welcome sixteen teams:

1. Astralis
2. FaZe Clan
3. G2 Esports
4. mousesports
5. Natus Vincere
6. BIG
7. Virtus.pro
8. FURIA Esports
9. Gambit Esports
10. Team Vitality
11. Team Fiend
12. paiN Gaming
13. Heroic
14. Complexity Gaming
15. Team Spirit
16. Extra Salt

The full list of teams was released on 24 March.

Format and Grabs

The tournament has an interesting format. At first the teams will have to play in the group stage (two groups with eight organizations in each). The results of the groups will define six teams that will proceed to the playoff. Besides, two best teams will make it right to the semifinal, and the other four roster will start from the quarterfinal matches.

The groups are played by double-elimination. The upper bracket of the group stage will be happening in the BO3 format, and the lower one - BO1. The playoff will be held in single-elimination. Games of the stage will happen in BO3, except for the grand final (traditionally, the battle is in BO5).

The prize pool of the competition consists of $250,000 but it is not clear yet how it will be split in accordance to the places the teams will take. Also the tournament gives a chance to the contestants to fight for ESL points and the winner will reach 1000 of such points. The other positions will provide themselves with the following amounts of points:

• 2nd place - 750 points;
• 3rd place - 525 points;
• 5th-6th place - 350 points;
• 7th-8th place - 200 points;
• 9th-12th place - 100 points;
• 13th-16th place - no ESL points.

Predictions

The full list of participants was revealed just recently, so it is difficult to make prognosis of the results. For starters, you should wait for drafting of the group stage. Besides, April will present us some other competitions which will estimate power and shape of the teams. At the moment it is not clear how prepared for the tournament the teams will be.

The contestants are only the best organizations so we can only find outsiders but not favourites at Dreamhack Masters Spring 2021. Team Fiend, paiN Gaming, Finest and Extra Salt look much weaker on paper. These teams managed to enter the event thanks to qualifiers. But we should not exclude a chance of good gaming from any of the enlisted teams. Closer to the start of the event bookmakers will set a more detailed line. After that we will be able to make prognosis and conclusions about the powers of any of the teams.