Preview of DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019
Ihor MatusMain favorites
Team LiquidWorld rating position — #1
At the moment Team Liquid is still holding the top of the world rating according to HLTV. Having won IEM Chicago 2019, the Americans started to have a losing streak. At first, the roster got the 5-8 place at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 after that Liquid took the 3-4 place at ECS Season 8 North America Week 1. At the recently-completed ESL One New York 2019, Twistzz and his teammates took the 3-4 position in the tournament bracket. In his interview, the mentioned esportsman confessed that the preparation for the Major had been not as efficient as it could have been. It proves the idea that Team Liquid has run out of steam and, roughly said, they got tired of maintaining their perfect gaming shape. Due to this reason, Team Liquid does have the status of the main favorite, but the players are likely to give the title of champions to someone else, for example, Astralis or Evil Geniuses.
Team Liquid roster and rating of the players:
Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella — 1.07Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski— 1.22Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken — 1.17Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic — 1.22Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip — 1.08Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag — coach
AstralisWorld rating position — #2
At the moment Astralis should be the best team in the world is don't take their results at ESL One New York 2019 into account. There they yielded the championship to their opponents from Evil Geniuses. At the last Major tournament, the Danish defeated all their opponents and won the fourth major for them. We think that one of the main reasons for Astralis' loss at the finals of ESL One New York 2019 was time zone change and players' bad adaptation to the climate. Of course, Evil Geniuses performed brilliantly, but at home, they had an advantage over the Danish for sure. Additionally, Astralis claimed the audience told Liquid about the location of their opponents. This is not going to happen at the Swedish championship and it means that Astralis must perform properly in the European division. Gla1ve and his teammates are to get in at least Top-4 of the tournament.
Astralis roster and rating of the players:
Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz — 1.16Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen — 1.13Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth — 1.12Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander — 1.01Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif — 1.12Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen — coach
Evil GeniusesWorld rating position — #4
EG became champions of the recently-completed ESL One New York 2019, beating Astralis 3-0 at the final. Some people can consider this result as nothing surprising, but the Americans were doing a great job to raise the trophy over their heads. Perhaps, they were motivated by the fact that it was a debut championship as a new tag. Before that, the players had been defending colors of NRG Esports. At the upcoming championship, tarik and his teammates have a good chance of victory. The team is in their best shape and they are ready for a good performance. The team can face a jet lag problem which will not affect the players from Europe. Due to the reason that Astralis visited the USA, they also can have such difficulties. We expect to see Evil Geniuses in Top-4 as well as the other representatives of the category “Main favorites”.
Evil Geniuses roster and rating of the players:
Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte — 1.23Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov — 1.15Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold — 1.10Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik — 1.08Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz — 1.06Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh — coach
Outsiders
TYLOOWorld rating position — #42
The Chinese used to very strong and they even held the 12 position in the world rating. The name TYLOO made their opponents scared and we could also see BnTeT at many LAN tournaments. Now the times have changed as well as the roster, and the team does not represent even Top-40 best CS:GO rosters in the world. The level of the players' game has decreased and the representatives of the Asian stage are unlikely to precise the local teams with serious competition. We think they will take the 13-16 place in the tournament bracket.
TYLOO roster and rating of the players:
HaoWen ‘somebody’ Xu — 1.19Hansel ‘BnTeT’ Ferdinand — 1.15YuLun ‘Summer’ Cai — 1.12YuanZhang ‘Attacker’ Sheng — 1.08Cheung ‘Freeman’ Wing Hei — 1.11
Grayhound GamingWorld rating position — #25
Grayhound Gaming is in a bad gaming shape. At all LAN championships, their performances result in failure. At the previous Major tournament, they took the 17-19 place and left the event, being unable to get to Legends Stage. The passed there thanks to their victory at the Asian minor, defeating TYLOO at the final, but competition at the division is as weak as in Oceania if we compare it with the one in Europe or North America, for example. As for DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019, DickStacy and his teammates made it to the event through qualifiers in Oceania and it can hardly be considered as a high result. At its best, the team will take the 9-12 place at the tournament.
Grayhound Gaming roster and rating of the players:
Chris ‘dexter’ Nong — 1.26Oliver ‘DickStacy’ Tierney — 1.01Liam ‘malta’ Schembri — 1.08Simon ‘Sico’ Williams — 1.19Joshua ‘INS’ Potter — 1.23
Team EnvyWorld rating position — #39
We are sure that Envy will take the 13-16 place at the championship due to two reasons:
1 — the team is rather weak and has not been able to achieve anything good for a long period of time2 — the fifth player joined the team 3 days ago
Taking into account the other participants in the championship, Envy is unlikely to get prepared for the tournament to get at least the 9-12 position in the tournament bracket. Team Envy is the main outsider of the championship.
Team Envy roster and rating of the players:
Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis — 1.01Sam ‘s0m’ Oh — 1.10Bradley ‘ANDROID’ Fodor — 1.05Jacob ‘FugLy’ Medina — 1.04Ryan ‘ryann’ Welsh — 1.03Zachary ‘Eley’ Stauffer — coach
Others
ENCEWorld rating position — #6
It is rather difficult to predict ENCE’s result at the upcoming tournament. The Finnish performed poorly at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019, and ESL One New York 2019. At the previous two championships, they were playing together with the newcomer suNny. If we look at this situation from another perspective, Miikka Kemppi is strongly motivated to show himself in the new team. We think that taking all the circumstances into account and hard work of ENCE, the Finnish can get approximately the 5-8 place in the tournament bracket.
ENCE roster and rating of the players:
Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli — 1.14Jere ‘sergej’ Salo — 1.10Jani ‘Aerial’ Jussila — 0.95Sami ‘xseveN’ Laasanen — 0.95Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi — 1.02Slaava ‘Twista’ Räsänen — coach
FnaticWorld rating position — #24
At the moment there is some mess in Fnatic. Over the last three months, apart from the first place in the European qualifiers for minor, the Swedish were not able to show any good result anywhere. Fnatic’s roster has recently been changed. flusha returned to the team and vacant place will be taken by Golden as a player leased from C9. Our tips for the team: Fnatic will lose their battle with ENCE and at the lower bracket the players will beat TYLOO. They will lose the second round of the lower bracket and will take the 9-12 place in the tournament bracket.
Fnatic roster and rating of the players:
Freddy ‘KRiMZ’ Johansson — 1.03Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell — 1.16Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin — 1.05Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist — 1.07Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim — 0.82Andreas ‘Sumelsson’ Samuelsson — coach
FURIA EsportsWorl rating position — #16
FURIA has recently renewed their roster. They sent ableJ on vacation and took Henrique ‘HEN1’ Teles instead of them. It happened a week ago and that is why we do not think that 7 days were enough for the Brazilians to get ready for the upcoming championship. At the first match, they are likely to lose the battle with G2 Esports, after that they will beat Team Envy at the lower bracket. At the second round of the lower bracket, they will not be able to win a re-match playing with the French and will take the 9-12 place at the tournament.
FURIA Esports roster and rating of the players:
Yuri ‘yuurih’ Gomes — 1.14Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan — 1.13Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo — 1.03Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato — 1.19Henrique ‘HEN1’ Teles — 1.02Nicholas ‘guerri’ Nogueira — coach
G2 EsportsWorld rating position — #13
Taking into account the fact that recently the captain has left the team and now the players have to play with a substitute, G2 performed well at ESL One New York 2019 together with kioShiMa. He will also join the French at DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019. Over this period of time, the team must have achieved good teamwork with Fabien Fiey to some extent. As for our calculation, if G2 plays at the same level as at the tournament in New York, they will take 5-8 place at the Swedish championship. They will beat FURIA, lose the battle with Astralis, after that they will defeat FURIA at the lower bracket again and will fight at the finals of the lower bracket.
G2 Esports roster and rating of the player:
Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub — 1.12Lucas ‘Lucky’ Chastang — 1.00Audric ‘JaCkz’ Jug — 1.06François ‘AmaNEk’ Delaunay — 1.02Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey — 0.96Damien ‘maLeK’ Marcel — coach
Natus VincereWorld rating position — #9
“Born to Win” lost their captain. He was replaced by GuardiaN, sniper, who has huge experience of performing for Natus Vincere. This team must be the most unpredictable on the whole professional CS:GO stage. NAVI can lose the matches which could be easily won by them even in the most unpromising situations. The factor that the roster of “Born to Win” is represented by electronic and s1mple, ones of the best players of the planet, is unlikely to improve the situation. Along with GuardiaN, they will have to work hard to achieve teamwork and to establish communication. Rearranging of roles in the team and leaving of the key player is unlikely to be beneficial for NAVI in the beginning. Natus Vincere can also run into apathy and lose because of a bad mood, being unable to pull themselves together at the crucial moment. One of such moments was commented by Zeus while participating in BLAST Pro Series Moscow 2019: “We were playing, fighting, but the guys were not in a good mood. They seem to want, but it doesn’t work.” If the CIS team will have the same attitude to the game which will dominate over their own emotions, NAVI is unlikely to climb up higher than the 9-12 places. They got to Group B, where they can be playing against Liquid and Evil Geniuses. If “Born to Win” pull themselves together, they will be able to make it to the playoff and take the 5-6 place.
Natus Vincere roster and rating of the players:
Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilev — 1.03Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev — 1.20Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov — 1.15Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov — 0.99Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács — 1.04Andrey ‘B1ad3’ Gorodenskiy — coach
Ninjas in PyjamasWorld rating position — #14
Last week it was known that GeT_RiGhT completed their collaboration with Ninjas in Pyjamas and for the first time in 7 years will be able to continue his career at another place. He got the offer to take a higher position in the Swedish organization, but Christopher Alesund had repeated many times that he wanted to continue his gaming activity. 3 days ago his place was taken by twist, who is known for his performances for Fnatic and GODSENT. His playing for NiP will be a new and interesting experience for him. At the first round, the Swedish will have to fight with mousesports and we think that they will lose their battle with the Europeans. At the lower bracket, they are likely to play with Grayhound Gaming, who will lose the battle with EG. As a result, NiP will make it to the second round and they will lose again and then take the 9-12 place in the tournament bracket. If the team cannot fix communication with the newcomer, the Swedish can be the first to leave the event.
Ninjas in Pyjamas roster and rating of the players:
Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg — 1.05Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner — 0.99Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson — 1.09Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora — 1.12Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson — 1.07Faruk ‘pita’ Pita — coach
NorthWorld rating position — #11
Even though North has been playing together for a long time, their results do not testify that the team is in great game shape. At StarLadder Berlin Major 2019, they got placed on the 12-14 position, being unable to get to the playoff stage. After that, the Danish had rest from participating in tournaments and DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019 will be a debut for them in the new season. In Malmo, Kjaerbye and his teammates are unlikely to make it to the playoff and getting to Top-8 is a task they are to cope with.
North roster and rating of the players:
Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup — 1.07Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn — 1.06Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye — 1.18Nicklas ‘gade’ Gade — 1.02Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen — 0.95Torbjørn ‘mithR’ Nyborg — coach
Team VitalityWorld rating position — #5
A couple of months ago, Vitality was one of the strongest teams in the world. At the Major tournament, they performed worse than it had been expected, so it was decided to remove NBK-. He was replaced by shox and now the team with the new captain should play out in fresh colors. Officially, Richard Papillon was taken on board several days ago, but there were a lot of rumors about this, and it means that the player had already trained with his new brothers in arms. We think that the French roster can beat at least two opponents in their double-elimination bracket in Group A, so it means that they are likely to get to Top-8. If they try hard and prepare for the championship well, the players can pass to the playoff and fight for the main money prize and an invitation to IEM Katowice 2020.
Team Vitality roster and rating of the players:
Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire — 0.97Cédric ‘RpK’ Guipouy — 0.99Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut — 1.27Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin — 0.99Richard ‘shox’ Papillon — 1.09Rémy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam — coach
OpTic GamingWorld rating position — #35
In comparison with the other participants in Group B, the Danish, as well as Grayhound Gaming, are approaching the tournament, being one of the main outsiders. But we should not exclude a chance that OpTic can surprise their viewers and perform even better than it is expected, using dulled vigilance of their enemies. The fact that the tag is represented by two esportsmen who do not have any contract with the organization proves that the management of the Danish team is not going to collaborate with TeSeS and cajunb in the long term. It can press the Danish morally. On the other hand, TeSeS and cajunb can be more motivated to perform well which can give them an advantage over the opponents. Anyway, we do not think that OpTic are favorites of the tournament and suppose that at its best, the Danish team will take the 9-12 place.
OpTic Gaming roster and rating of the players:
Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke — 1.09Mathias ‘MSL’ Sommer Lauridsen — 1.04Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen — 0.97René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen — 0.96René ‘cajunb’ Borg — 1.01Casper ‘ruggah’ Due — coach
mousesportsWorld rating position — #7
Lately, mousesports have not been doing great. At the Major tournament, they took the 9-11 place and, being one step away from the playoff, were not able to make it to the final stage of the championship. The Europeans managed to succeed only at the qualifiers for DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019 and IEM Beijing 2019. At V4 Future Sports Festival Budapest 2019, they took the 3-4 place. We should mark that there they lost their battle against Virtus.pro, and at the upcoming championship, there will be stronger teams that the Polish opponents who did not let mousesports pass to the final of V4 Future Sports Festival. Considering not only gaming shape of mousesports, but also Group B where they got in and state of the teams from the group, we can suppose that “mice” will be able to get to Top-8, but they are unlikely to make it to the playoff.
mousesports roster and rating of the players:
Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong — 0.99Robin ‘ropz’ Kool — 1.16Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen — 0.97Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker — 1.11David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský — 1.16Allan ‘Rejin’ Petersen — coach