DreamHack Winter 2014

DreamHack Winter 2014

2014
The DreamHack Winter 2014 logo
Tournament information
Sport	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Location	Jönköping, Sweden
Dates	November 27, 2014–December 29, 2014
Administrator(s)	Valve DreamHack
Tournament format(s)	16 team round-robin group stage Eight team single-elimination playoff
Host(s)	DreamHack
Venue	Elmia
Teams	16
Purse	$250,000 USD
Final positions
Champions	Team LDLC.com
1st runners-up	Ninjas in Pyjamas
2nd runners-up	Virtus.pro Natus Vincere
MVP	Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer
← Cologne 2014 Katowice 2015 →

The DreamHack Winter 2014 was the fourth Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship that was held from November 27–29, 2014 at Elmia in Jönköping. It was organized by DreamHack.

The tournament had a total prize pool of US$250,000.^[1] The eight quarter-finalists from the previous major, ESL One Cologne 2014 were invited, while qualifiers were held for the other eight spots.

Team LDLC was the winner of the event after beating Ninjas in Pyjamas 16–10, 16–4, 19–16 in the finals.^[2]

Format[]

The top six teams from ESL One Cologne 2014 ("Legends") received direct invitations to DreamHack Winter 2014. The remaining ten spots (the "Challengers") were filled by a mixtures of qualifiers and invites. Five teams from Europe, one team from North America, and two teams from the Last LAN Qualifier qualified for the tournament. After the scheduled qualifiers were completed, two teams were directly invited to the Major to fill the final two spots.^[3]

Teams were split up into four groups, and all group matches were best-of-ones. The highest seed would play the lowest seed in each group and the second and third seeds would play against each other. The winner of those two matches would play each other to determine which team moved on to the playoff stage, while the losers of the first round of matches also played. The loser of the lower match was then eliminated from the tournament. With one team advanced and one eliminated, the two remaining teams would play an elimination match for the second playoff spot. This format is known as the GSL format, named for the Global StarCraft II League.^[4]

The playoffs bracket consisted of eight teams, two from each group. All of these matches were best-of-three, single elimination. Teams advanced in the bracket until a winner was decided.

Map pool[]

The seven-map pool did not change from ESL One Cologne 2014. Before each match in the group stage, both teams banned two maps. The map for the match was then randomly selected from the remaining three maps. In the playoffs, each team first banned one map, then chose one map. The two chosen maps were the first two maps in the best-of-three. If the series were to require a third map, the map was randomly selected from the three remaining maps.

Maps Cache Cobblestone Dust II Inferno Mirage Nuke Overpass

Regional qualifiers[]

European Closed Qualifier[]

North America Closed Qualifier[]

Last Call LAN Qualifier[]

Broadcast talent[]

Host

• Scott "SirScoots" Smith

Stage Host

• James Duffield

Analyst

• Duncan "Thorin" Shields

Commentators

• Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat
• Anders Blume
• Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson
• Stuart "TosspoT" Saw

Teams[]

Legends Ninjas in Pyjamas Fnatic Team Dignitas Natus Vincere Cloud9 Virtus.pro

Challengers Team LDLC.com Planetkey Dynamics PENTA Sports ESC Gaming HellRaisers Team iBUYPOWER Copenhagen Wolves Flipsid3 Tactics myXMG1 Bravado Gaming1

¹Bravado Gaming and myXMG were invited to the tournament. Bravado did not have to play in any qualifier. myXMG failed to qualify through the European qualifier but was still invited.

Prior to the major, changes took place.

The biggest change came after the scandal of three French players. Two teams that achieved Legends statuses at the previous major, ESL One Cologne 2014, were dropped from their Legends spots. Titan, which achieved Legends status with Team LDLC.com,^[5] was disqualified from the tournament after Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian was found cheating. In the same incident, Epsilon eSports was disqualified after Gordon "Sf" Giry was found to be cheating. The two players and Simon "smn" Beck were then VAC banned by Valve and were permanently banned from any Valve-sponsored tournaments, including any majors. The two remaining spots were then filled up in the Last Call LAN qualifier, taken by Copenhagen Wolves and Flipsid3 Tactics.^[6]

After KQLY, Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, and Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez left for Titan, Team LDLC.com released Kévin "Uzzziii" Vernel and signed Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt, Richard "shox" Papillon, Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey, and Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux.^[7]

Team Dignitas released Philip "aizy" Aistrup and signed René "cajunb" Borg from the Copenhagen Wolves.^[8] Copenhagen Wolves also released Finn "karrigan" Andersen and Nicolaj "Nico" Jensen along with cajunb and sign Casper "cadiaN" Møller, Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjærbye, and Jesper "tenzki" Mikalski.^[9][10]

HellRaisers drop Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev in favor of Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev^[11]

iBuyPower dropped Sam "DaZeD" Marine and Joshua "steel" Nissan despite being considered to be the best North American team. The team brings in Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella and Derek "desi" Branchen in their place.^[12]

Group stage[]

Group A[]

Pos	Team	W	L	RF	RA	RD	Pts
1	HellRaisers	2	0	32	19	+13	6
2	Fnatic	2	1	46	23	+23	6
3	Cloud9	1	2	26	33	-7	3
4	Bravado Gaming	0	2	3	32	-29	0

Group A Matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Fnatic	16	Mirage	2	Bravado Gaming
Cloud9	5	Inferno	16	HellRaisers
Fnatic	14	Mirage	16	HellRaisers
Cloud9	16	Cache	1	Bravado Gaming
Fnatic	16	Dust II	5	Cloud9

Group B[]

Pos	Team	W	L	RF	RA	RD	Pts
1	Team Dignitas	2	0	32	16	+16	6
2	PENTA Sports	2	1	41	41	+0	6
3	Team iBUYPOWER	1	2	36	36	+0	3
4	Copenhagen Wolves	0	2	16	32	-16	0

Group B Matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team Dignitas	16	Nuke	9	PENTA Sports
Team iBUYPOWER	16	Nuke	4	Copenhagen Wolves
Team Dignitas	16	Nuke	7	Team iBUYPOWER
PENTA Sports	16	Dust II	12	Copenhagen Wolves
Team iBUYPOWER	13	Inferno	16	PENTA Sports

Group C[]

Pos	Team	W	L	RF	RA	RD	Pts
1	Team LDLC.com	2	0	32	17	+15	6
2	Ninjas in Pyjamas	2	1	41	36	+5	6
3	ESC Gaming	1	2	33	45	-12	3
4	Planetkey Dynamics	0	2	15	32	-17	0

Group C Matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Overpass	2	Planetkey Dynamics
Team LDLC.com	16	Cobblestone	4	ESC Gaming
Ninjas in Pyjamas	13	Overpass	16	Team LDLC.com
ESC Gaming	16	Mirage	13	Planetkey Dynamics
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Cache	13	ESC Gaming

Group D[]

Pos	Team	W	L	RF	RA	RD	Pts
1	Virtus.pro	2	0	32	4	+28	6
2	Natus Vincere	2	1	37	39	-2	6
3	Flipsid3 Tactics	1	2	39	46	-7	3
4	myXMG	0	2	13	32	-19	0

Group D Matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Virtus.pro	16	Inferno	2	myXMG
Natus Vincere	16	Mirage	8	Flipsid3 Tactics
Virtus.pro	16	Nuke	2	Natus Vincere
Flipsid3 Tactics	16	Mirage	11	myXMG
Natus Vincere	19	Overpass	15	Flipsid3 Tactics

Playoffs[]

Bracket[]

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
		HellRaisers	0
		Ninjas in Pyjamas	2
							Ninjas in Pyjamas	2
							Virtus.pro	0
		Virtus.pro	2
		PENTA Sports	0
												Ninjas in Pyjamas	1
												Team LDLC.com	2
		Team LDLC.com	21
		Fnatic	1
							Team LDLC.com	2
							Natus Vincere	0
		Team Dignitas	0
		Natus Vincere	2

¹The third map originally ended with a Fnatic win. However, the match was to be replayed due to both teams violating in-game rules. Fnatic refused to replay the map and LDLC was given the win

Quarterfinals scores[]

HellRaisers vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas[]

HellRaisers had a surprise run to the playoffs, as it easily took down Cloud9 and upset Fnatic in the winner's match to take the first seed of Group A. Meanwhile, Ninjas in Pyjamas easily took down Planetkey Dynamics before losing a close match to Team LDLC.com. The Swedes had to edge its way past ESC Gaming to reach the playoffs.

Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler

HellRaisers vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
HellRaisers	5	Dust II	16	Ninjas in Pyjamas
HellRaisers	5	Inferno	16	Ninjas in Pyjamas
HellRaisers	–	Overpass	–	Ninjas in Pyjamas

Virtus.pro vs. PENTA Sports[]

Virtus.pro took care of business in Group D, giving up only four rounds in two maps to easily move on to the playoffs. PENTA Sports had an early loss to Team Dignitas but came back to defeat Copenhagen Wolves of Denmark and Team iBUYPOWER of the United States to claim the second seed of Group B.

Casters: TosspoT & Fifflaren

Virtus.pro vs. PENTA Sports
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Virtus.pro	16	Cache	9	PENTA Sports
Virtus.pro	16	Mirage	5	PENTA Sports
Virtus.pro	–	Nuke	–	PENTA Sports

Team LDLC.com vs. Fnatic[]

Team LDLC.com had an easy game against ESC Gaming and took down the Swedish powerhouse of the Ninjas in Pyjamas to top Group C. Fnatic easily took down the South Africans of Bravado Gaming but suffered an upset to HellRaisers. However, it came back and beat Cloud9 in the elimination match. The third map of this series would become one of the most infamous matches in CSGO history.

Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler

Team LDLC.com vs. Fnatic
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team LDLC.com	16	Dust II	10	Fnatic
Team LDLC.com	8	Cache	16	Fnatic
Team LDLC.com	W	Overpass	F	Fnatic

Team Dignitas vs. Natus Vincere[]

Team Dignitas topped Group B after defeating Germany's PENTA Sports and USA's Team iBUYPOWER. Natus Vincere defeated Sweden's Flipsid3 Tactics twice in the initial matches and the elimination match, but was stomped on by Poland's Virtus.pro in the winner's match of Group D.

Casters: TosspoT & Fifflaren

Team Dignitas vs. Natus Vincere
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team Dignitas	3	Cobblestone	16	Natus Vincere
Team Dignitas	13	Mirage	16	Natus Vincere
Team Dignitas	–	Overpass	–	Natus Vincere

Semifinals scores[]

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Virtus.pro[]

The runner-up of Group C faced off against the winner of Group D. The Swedish legends easily took care of HellRaisers, winning each map by 11 rounds. The Polish legends also had a relatively easy time against PENTA Sports, with the Germans not getting to double digits in either of the two maps.

Casters: TosspoT vs. Fifflaren

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Virtus.pro
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Ninjas in Pyjamas	22	Nuke	20	Virtus.pro
Ninjas in Pyjamas	10	Cache	16	Virtus.pro
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Inferno	8	Virtus.pro

Team LDLC.com vs. Natus Vincere[]

After the controversial series against Fnatic, Team LDLC.com had a ticket to the semifinals against the Ukrainians of Natus Vincere which defeated Team Dignitas in a 2–0 sweep.

Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler

Team LDLC.com vs. Natus Vincere
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team LDLC.com	16	Mirage	11	Natus Vincere
Team LDLC.com	16	Inferno	11	Natus Vincere
Team LDLC.com	–	Cobblestone	–	Natus Vincere

Finals scores[]

The Ninjas in Pyjamas had a close series against Virtus.pro and was back in the finals. NiP was the defending major champions and looked to defend it; it was also NiP's fourth straight major final appearance. Team LDLC.com became the first French team to make it to a major final, taking down Natus Vincere by five rounds in both maps in the semifinals.

Casters: Anders Blume & Semmler

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Team LDLC.com
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Ninjas in Pyjamas	10	Dust II	16	Team LDLC.com
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Inferno	4	Team LDLC.com
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Overpass	19	Team LDLC.com

Final standings[]

Place	Prize Money	Team	Seed	Roster	Coach
1st	US$100,000	Team LDLC.com	ESL One Katowice 2015	kioShiMa, Happy, SmithZz, NBK, shox	MoMaN
2nd	US$50,000	Ninjas in Pyjamas		f0rest, GeT RiGhT, Xizt, friberg, Maikelele	pita
3rd–4th	US$22,000	Natus Vincere		Edward, Zeus, starix, seized, GuardiaN
		Virtus.pro		TaZ, NEO, pashaBiceps, byali, Snax
5–8th	US$10,000	HellRaisers		ANGE1, kucher, markeloff, s1mple Dosia	Blad3
		Fnatic		JW, flusha, pronax, olofmeister, KRiMZ	Devilwalk
		Team Dignitas		FeTiSh, dev1ce, cajunb, dupreeh, Xyp9x	3k2
		PENTA Sports		r0bs3n, Spidii, denis, kRYSTAL, fel1x
9–12th	US$2,000	Flipsid3 Tactics	ESL One Katowice 2015 Main Qualifier	twist, berg, zende, BENDJI, Dumas
		ESC Gaming		innocent, SZPERO, mouz, MINISE, rallen
		Cloud9		ShahZam, sgares, n0thing shroud, Semphis
		Team iBuyPower		nitr0, Skadoodle, swag, desi, AZK	lrukandji
13–16th	US$2,000	Bravado Gaming		Cent, Detrony, Racno, bLacKpoisoN, deviaNt
		Copenhagen Wolves		gla1ve, Pimp, tenzki, Kjaerbye, cadiaN
		Planetkey Dynamics		strux1, alexRr, Troubley, nex, stavros
		myXMG		MSL, HUNDEN, AcilioN, Friis, smF

References[]

External links[]

• Official webpage