Preview of DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019
Ihor MatusGeneral information
DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 will be taking place from 28 May till 2 June. 10 out of 16 slots were taken by teams that got their invitations directly. The other contestants had to pass regional qualifiers. Lucky owners of the invites are such teams as Cloud9, ENCE, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, Team Liquid, Ninjas in Pyjamas, North, NRG Esports, Renegades, and Team Vitality. Windigo Gaming, G2 Esports, FURIA Esports, Isurus Gaming, TYLOO, and Lucid Dream passed knockout tours in five divisions.
All the teams were divided into two groups of eight contestants in each. They will play in double-elimination brackets where they are to define six best teams going to the playoff. The teams that will win the final of the upper bracket will go to the semifinal of the final stage. All the other teams will start their participation from the quarterfinal.
The final stage will be held in the single-elimination bracket while all the matches will be held in the Bo3 series.
Tournament favorites
Team Liquid (place in the HLTV rating — #2)Win odds: 3.50
Team Liquid is the main pretender to win the upcoming event. The North American team has recently performed poorly at cs_summit 4. This might happen due to the fact that the championship took place in a country house of Beyond the Summit and relaxed atmosphere could obstruct the players to pull themselves together and lead them to the failure. We should also add that there the winner got a money reward of $64,000 while at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 the main prize was more than $100,000. The Americans are going to do their best to get the money. At the last LAN championship before cs_summit 4, which was IEM Sydney 2019, Team Liquid had got the win and it means that the team really could relax at cs_summit 4, but if they treat the tournament appropriately, the team can play well.
We should also add that DreamHack will take place in North America. It means that the players from Liquid will not have to adapt to the climate and, consequently, they have an advantage over their opponents. The viewers that will go to the LAN championship will support their favorite players from Liquid and this fact also proves that the players from the mentioned team will handicap any of their opponents.
Team Liquid roster and rating of the players:
Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella — 1.04Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski — 1.15Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken — 1.16Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic — 1.18Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip — 1.05Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag — coach
ENCE (place in the HLTV rating — #3)Win odds: 4.50
As we have already mentioned in our previous materials, ENCE is the strongest team in Finland. At the last LAN tournament they participated in, cs_summit 4, their performance resulted in a failure as they took the 4 place in the tournament bracket. This result is poor for the Finnish, and we think that they are preparing for the upcoming tournament in Dallas much better. Likelihood of ENCE winning DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 is rather strong, however to surprise the audience and their opponents, allu and his teammates must get prepared for the event thoroughly. Individual skills of the Finnish esportsmen are rather high and can make a good surprise for fans of ENCE and other spectators. We can only make assumptions about the reason why they could lose the matches against Ghost Gaming and Team Vitality. cs_summit 4 was a real failure for ENCE, and at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 they are to perform much better and to get to at least Top Four in the tournament bracket. Sergej and his teammates are one of the main pretender to make it to the final.
ENCE roster and rating of the players:
Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli — 1.07Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen — 0.97Jere ‘sergej’ Salo — 1.14Jani ‘Aerial’ Jassila — 1.07Sami ‘xseveN’ Laasanen — 1.02Slaava ‘Twista’ Rasanen — coach
Team Vitality (place in the HLTV rating — #11)Win odds: 8.50
The French team has gained a good gaming shape. This was reported to the viewers at cs_summit 4 where they took the first place and got a money prize of 1 $64,000. Even though in our opinion their win was taken only due to good concatenation of circumstances for Vitality, we can’t deny the fact that the French players are in a good gaming shape. NBK- with his teammates has had enough trainings to fight with Tier-1 teams equally and at the upcoming DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, we are likely to see a good performance. The team has a good individual player, ZywOo, and a very experienced captain, NBK-. This duet can lead the team to success, so Vitality deserve the right to be named one of the favorites of the championship.
Team Vitality should make it to the playoff. It seems to us that the French will pass to the semifinal where they are likely to end up their participation in the championship.
Team Vitality roster:
Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt — 1.11Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire — 1.06Cedric ‘RpK’ Guipouy — 1.01Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut — 1.32Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin — 1.01Remy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam — coach
Teams that have a chance to win
Fnatic (place in the HLTV rating — #5)Win odds: 11.0
Now Fnatic is the strongest team in Sweden. The players took the second place at the recent LAN tournament, StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 7 and Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2019. At Esports Championship Series Season 7 they also performed well, however they stopped one step away from the LAN final, giving a win to the players from OpTic Gaming. These achievements were noticed by the community and the team got placed at the 5 position in the world rating created by HLTV. The team has proved that they are in a good shape more than once, and DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 is a good chance to show what they are capable of and to outdo Natus Vincere in the HLTV rating.
Fnatic got to Group B where they are going to face with Cloud9 at the first match and in case of their win they will oppose to the winners of the meeting between NRG Esports and FURIA Esports. The chance of the win of Swedish is high both at the first and the second matches. To our mind, Fnatic must get to the final stage and they may win the event for sure even if it is less likely than Liquid’s victory.
Fnatic roster and rating of the players:
Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson — 1.11Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell — 1.06Richard ‘Xizt’ Landstrom — 0.93Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson — 1.02Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin — 1.08Jimmy ‘Jumpy’ Berndtsson — coach
Ninjas in Pyjamas (place in the HLTV rating — #7)Win odds: 11.0
Lately Ninjas in Pyjamas has been showing a good performance as well as Fnatic. GeT_RiGhT and his teammates hold the 7 position in the HLTV rating. At the recently finished Esports Championship Series Season 7 Europe NiP managed to take the first position at the tournament bracket and got the fourth invitation at ECS #7 Finals. The last LAN for the Swedish was BLAST Pro Series Madrid 2019 where they took the 3 place and they won at BLAST Pro Standoffs series. However their victory at the duel series couldn’t be named striking as they were performing against Giants Gaming who had approached the tournament as a clear outsider.
Ninjas in Pyjamas got to Group А and there they will play against TYLOO at the first match. At the second battle they will have to meet with the winner of the meeting FaZe Clan vs Windigo Gaming. We think that NiP has a rather good chance both at the first and the second meetings. It means that Ninjas in Pyjamas has a very good chance to pass to the quarterfinal and if it happens, the Swedish will finish their participation in the tournament there.
Ninjas in Pyjamas roster and rating of the players:
Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg — 1.09Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT” Alesund — 0.90Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner — 1.07Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman — 1.05Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson — 0.95Faruk ‘pita’ Pita — coach
Renegades (place in the HLTV rating — #10)Win odds: 15.0
Renegades is the strongest team in Australia that holds the 10 place in the HLTV rating. Recently the players have had worse results and gaming shape. At the last LAN tournament they participated in, the team took the 6 place out of 6 possible ones. The team had three losses and two matches that ended up with a draw which resulted in the last position. We think that the team is likely to win 1-2 matches if the best happens, but they are not to make it to the playoff.
Renegades roster and rating of the players:
Aaron ‘AZR’ Ward — 0.95Justin ‘jks’ Savage — 1.16Joakim ‘jkaem’ Myrbostad — 1.11Jay ‘liazz’ Tregillgas — 0.95Sean ‘Gratisfaction’ Kaiwai — 0.93Aleksandar ‘kassad’ Trifunovic — coach
NRG Esports (place in the HLTV rating — #9)Win odds: 15.0
At the beginning of May NRG Esports took the 3-4 place at Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2019, and at the recently finished cs_summit 4, the team got placed at the third position in the tournament bracket. The team performed in a middling way winning over Ghost Gaming and Renegades and playing with a draw with Team Liquid and ENCE and losing a battle with Team Vitality.
NRG Esports got to Group B where they are to perform at the first match with FURIA Esports. They are likely to win this team, however they are unlikely to win the next meeting with Fnatic that must make it to the second round of the upper bracket by the results of the meeting with Cloud9. We think that NRG Esports will pass further through the lower bracket where they can meet with Renegades, G2, and even ENCE. In this case, NRG’s chance to make it to the playoff is not as big as they would like it to be. We think that this team is likely to pass to the final stage.
NRG Esports roster and rating of the players:
Damian ‘daps’ Steele — 0.86Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte — 1.16Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov — 1.15Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold — 1.14Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik — 1.08Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh — coach
North (place in the HLTV rating — #16)Win odds: 21.0
North is in a great gaming shape. At the recently finished ESL Pro League Season 9 Europe they showed their best sides. The team won over such opponents Natus Vincere, Heroic, and BIG and thanks to that, the players made it to the LAN final of the ninth season of ESL Pro League.
If the team keeps on developing and prepares for the upcoming DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, Kjaerbye and his teammates have a good chance to pass to the playoff. They will have to do their best to make it to the final stage as they got to Group А where they will be obstructed by such teams as Team Liquid, Vitality, FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas and etc. At the first battle they are to face with Vitality. The French have more chances to win the first meeting, however we shouldn’t ignore the option that North can surprise us.
North roster and rating of the players:
Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup — 1.15Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjorn — 1.09Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjaerbye — 1.06Nicklas ‘gade’ Gade — 1.05Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen — 1.17Torbjorn ‘mithR’ Nyborg — coach
FaZe Clan (place in the HLTV rating — #8)Win odds: 7.00
In the HLTV rating the team holds the 8 place, and the odds of the win of FaZe Clan equal only 7. We think that expectations of the viewers towards performance of FaZe are rather inflated and we cannot say that they are favorites of this competition. Recently the organization signed an experienced Polish captain NEO as a player that is on trial. Basing on the first results, the Polish does not suit the general atmosphere of FaZe Clan and success of the team could be much better. At the last matches against Grayhound Gaming, Virtus.pro and OpTic Gaming, the team lost by the score of 1-2, 1-2, and 0-2, correspondingly. The only opponent the European team could defeat is G2 Esports. It happened because the French opponents are having a dead period and lack of a good gaming shape, so the win over them could be a great achievement and a good indicator.
In our opinion, if FaZe make it to the final, it will be a great result for them. They represent Group A together with such contestants as Team Liquid, Lucid Dream, Team Vitality, North, Windigo Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and TYLOO. In this group Liquid, Vitality, North, and NiP look stronger than FaZe and, consequently, they are unlikely to let the former pass to the final stage.
FaZe Clan roster and rating of the players:
Havard ‘rain’ Nygaard — 1.12Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac — 1.23Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovacs — 1.01Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer — 1.01Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski — 0.89Janko ‘YNk’ Paunovic — coach
G2 Esports (place in the HLTV rating — #15)Win odds: 21.0
G2 Esports is a questionable and unpredictable team. The team can perform poorly at several tournaments in a row, and after that to play in a way that nobody expected. For example, recently the French have surprised everybody when they took the first place in their Group at ESL Pro League Season 9 Europe Phase 1. As a reminder, they opposed to such teams as Fnatic, Natus Vincere, and Windigo Gaming, so it means that their triumph in the group was unpredictable. Firstly, it happened on 21 April and since they more than a month has passed and secondly, G2 Esports got placed on the 13 position at the tournament bracket at Esports Championship Series Season 7 Europe. We find these facts as proofs that the French can be unprepared for the upcoming championship and they perform not very successfully. At the first meeting they are going to fight with Renegades and the battle can be rather intense.
We think that G2 will play well at the first two matches, but they are unlikely to get to the playoff. In any case, it will be interesting to observe shox and his teammates.
G2 Esports roster and rating of the players:
Richard ‘shox’ Papillon — 1.16Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub — 1.20Lucas ‘Lucky’ Chastang — 1.02Audric ‘JaCkz’ Jug — 1.14Francois ‘AMANEK’ Delaunay — 1.07Damien ‘maLeK’ Marcel — coach
Outsiders
Windigo Gaming (place in the HLTV rating — #19)Win odds: 26.0
At the moment Windigo Gaming can be seen among twenty best CS:GO rosters in the works and they can fight with Tier-2 teams. Lately their results can’t be named successful and their performances at the LAN tournaments are not as good as they wanted. For instance, at the recent DreamHack Open Tours 2019, the Bulgarian took the 5-6 place out of 8 possible ones and they were on of the first to leave the championship.
Windigo got to Group А where they will play at the first match against FaZe Clan. If they win over the Europeans, they are to play with the winner of the battle between Ninjas in Pyjamas and TYLOO, and if they lose, they are to play against a team that will lose the mentioned meeting. We think that Windigo will play at least at three matches of the group stage, but they are not able to make it to the playoff, as this group is represented by the teams who are unlikely to let the Bulgarian make it to the final stage.
Windigo Gaming roster and rating of the players:
Georgi ‘SHiPZ’ Grigorov — 1.11Kamen ‘bubble’ Kostadinov — 0.96Viktor ‘v1c7oR’ Dyankov — 0.98Yanko ‘blocker’ Panov — 1.03Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev — 1.13Aleksander ‘Shockwave’ Netreba — trial coach
FURIA Esports (place in the HLTV rating — #18)Win odds: 26.0
FURIA Esports represent Twenty Best CS:GO Rosters holding the 18 place there. The team approved themselves as one of the strongest Brazilian teams. Recently FURIA has taken the second place at DreamHack Open Rio 2019 and, having performed rather well there, they became silver finalists of Esports Championship Series Season 7 North America. At the North American qualifier for ESL One Cologne 2019, they showed good results and thanks to first place they took, they managed to provide themselves with an invitation to Cologne. In the ESEA league, they have a series of five wins due to domination over really weak opponents. FURIA are in a great gaming shape and they are most likely to oppose to the teams of the world class at the upcoming championship in Dallas. At the first match they were playing with the players from NRG Esports. The majority of spectators say that they have a chance at the battle with NRG, however we think that FURIA can win. Nevertheless, they are unlikely to make it to the playoff, as Group B is represented not only by the Brazilian, but also other strong teams that will not let FURIA pass to the final stage.
FURIA Esports roster and rating of the players:
Yuri ‘yuurih’ Gomes — 1.30Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan — 1.16Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo — 1.10Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato — 1.23Rinaldo ‘ableJ’ Moda — 1.02Nicholas ‘guerri’ Nogueira — coach
Cloud9 (place in the HLTV rating — #33)Win odds: 34.0
Cloud9 have been playing poorly lately (and not only lately). Recently Golden has been on a long break due to his health condition. The team is not able to gain a good gaming shape, and the only result the representatives of Cloud9 can boast of is the first place in Group B at ESL Pro League Season 9 North America Phase 2. Thanks to that the teams managed to provide themselves with a trip to the LAN final of ESL Pro League Season 9 that will take place in Montpellier, France.
At the recent matches C9 won over such opponents as Infinity, Ghost and eUnited. We think that the team holding the 33 place in the HLTV rating and defeating such opponents will not be able to show a good game at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 with a prize pool of $250,000. At the first match they are going to play against Fnatic that holds the 5 place in the world rating and they are truly much stronger than the Americans. Cloud9 will play at not more than 2-3 matches at the tournament and will be one of the first to leave the competition.
Cloud9 roster and rating of the players:
Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta — 1.20Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba — 0.96Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim — Daniel ‘vice’ Kim — 0.95Rene ‘cajunb’ Borg — 1.08Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury — coach
TYLOO (place in the HLTV rating — #32)Win odds: 67.0
TYLOO are not having the times they would like to have. Once the team was close to Ten Best CS:GO Teams in the world but now they have lost their shape and they hold the 32 position. The only event where the Chinese managed to perform well is ESL Pro League Season 9 Asia. Thanks to that TYLOO gained an invitation to the LAN final in France and it is not the end of success of the Chinese team. At the first match TYLOO will face with Ninjas in Pyjamas where they are likely to lose. If they win the first match of the lower bracket, they will not be able to do it at the second round and finish their participation in DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019.
TYLOO roster and rating of the players:
HaoWen ‘somebody’ Xu — 1.16Hansel ‘BnTeT’ Ferdinand — 1.24Kevin ‘xccurate’ Susanto — 1.04YuLun ‘Summer’ Cai — 1.12YuanZhang ‘AttackeR’ Sheng — 1.06
Isurus Gaming (place in the HLTV rating — #40)Win odds: 101.0
Isurus is one of the main outsiders of the championship. The team from Argentina holds the 40 place in the world rating and at the first match the players are to play with ENCE. Their chance to win the tournament as well as to make it to the playoff is tiny. Odds of their win equal 101 and it is justified. Isurus Gaming is likely to take the 13-16 place and we should not reckon on their success at any of the upcoming matches at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019.
Isurus Gaming roster and rating of the players:
Nicolas ‘Noktse’ Davila — 1.16Gabriel ‘1962’ Sinopoli — 1.03Roberto ‘Reversive’ Themtham — 1.05Ignacio ‘meyern’ Meyer — 1.23Maximiliano ‘maxujas’ Gonzalez — 0.97Rodrigo ‘pino’ Manarino — coach
Lucid Dream (place in the HLTV rating — #77)Win odds: 201.0
Lucid Dream got to the championship in Dallas thanks to the fact that their performance was the best among the others in Asian qualifier. We should mark the fact that there were a few competitive teams and their success at the Asian qualifiers cannot be considered as something surprising. Lucid Dream is the main outsider of the tournament that will be the first to leave the competition holding the 13-16 position.
Lucid Dream roster and rating of the players:
Jirayu ‘wannafly’ Meesuk — 1.04Thotsaphon ‘cbbk’ Suphatthanaphalaphon — 1.09Kitikawin ‘PTC’ Rattanasukol — 1.23Kritthee ‘Geniuss’ Sawatmuang — 1.08Phoomphat ‘qqGod’ Phojjanart — 1.12