The preview of DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017

The first large CS:GO tournament of the season 2017-2018 starts on August 30. The time has come for us to make an analysis and to see who has the biggest chances to win.

The general information

First of all, it is worth to remind that the company DreamHack, that has been organizing events for many years, will organize the tournament, so we will not have to worry about the quality of the championship in Malmö. Malmö Arena will become a venue for the tournament. The tournament will be run from August 30 to September 3. 16 teams will participate in it, they will divide the prize pool in the sum of $250,000. Twelve of them have already received direct invites to the event. The rest of teams have had to pass through the regional qualifiers in the Asian-Pacific region, Europe, and North America. It is noteworthy that two slots have been given to Europe, while only one slot has been given for the each of regions.

There is no information about the prize pool at the moment, however, there is speculation that the main money prize will amount $100,000.

The group stage will be run in a GSL system. Matches of the championship will be played in bo3 and bo1 formats. Two best teams from each group will go to the playoff, where participants will play bo3 matches in a Single-Elimination bracket.

Also, DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 is remarkable for being the first large CS:GO event after the season of reshuffles. It will become known at the tournament, what team has received a profit from the change of the roster and what team has not.

It is not worth to forget about the innovations of a coach’s work that organizers have decided to make. A coach can speak with the team for 20 seconds in the beginning of each round and, also, for one minute during the change of sides. The new rule will unlikely affect such teams as SK that don’t have a coach but such teams as Astralis, mousesports, Na’Vi might have a benefit from this.

The group analysis

Group A

The team SK Gaming is an obvious favorite of the group. The Brazilians have the biggest chance not only to come out from the group stage but to win the tournament because SK is one of the small numbers of teams that have saved its roster without changes. FalleN and his team has decided to continue their way to achieving new victories, despite the disappointing participation in PGL Major Krakow 2017. Also, SK was in a good enough shape before PGL, having a streak of four victories at large tournaments but didn’t show the performance they were expected to. If SK Gaming did not only have a rest after PGL Major Krakow 2017 but gained their form, the Brazilians would have very good chances to win the tournament. It is worth to notice that SK Gaming is the only team in its group that has not made replacements at the season of reshuffles.

What about other representatives of Group A, their things were much worse than SK in recent time and, accordingly, their chances to come out from the group are very low. Cloud9 has made three replacements on the roster and the five has unlikely had enough time to start playing well together and to get closer to the SK Gaming’s gaming level. It is worth to remind that the Americans have received a slot of OpTic Gaming.North signed the fifth player a week ago and B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape are not the representatives of the Tier 3 category and the general sum of their grabs amounts about $25,000.

Outcome: SK Gaming must come out from the group stage. The Danish team North is the second and the most probable contender to come out from the group. Cloud9 will unlikely get out from the group after reshuffles in their team.B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape are the underdogs of Group A.

Group B

Astralis will undoubtedly come out from Group B and will struggle for the title of the champion as SK will do. The Danes are the favorites of the group — this is not the only similarity with the team SK Gaming. Astralis has not made replacements on the roster for a long time. Three of five players have been playing together since January 19 last year. The Astralis’ last transfer happened on October 24, 2016, when the Danish organization signed a new in-game-leader of the team Lukas «gla1ve» Rossander. Astralis with him became the champions at such tournaments as ECS Season 2, ELEAGUE Major 2017 and IEM XI — World Championship. There are no doubts about the Astralis’ coming out from the group, also, because the Danes have a poor enough contest in their group.Besides them, such teams as Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, and Renegades will struggle to come out to the main stage of the tournament in Group B. There is not so much to say about these teams.Virtus.pro is in a bad enough shape and has not shown worthy results for a long time, despite the fact that they have not changed their roster since January 25, 2014 (not including the joining of the coach on February 2, 2015).Natus Vincere has made replacements on the roster and it is still unknown how they will affect the shape and the team’s results, and Renegades are considered as outsiders in their group, according to lots of viewers.

Outcome: Astralis must come out from the group without efforts. Virtus.pro might compete for the coming out but, considering all above-mentioned facts, Natus Vincere has more chances to get to the playoff.

Group C

The four teams are the most unpredictable in Group C. All teams have recently made replacements on the rosters. Gambit eSports changed the roster after its triumph at PGL Major Krakow 2017, having moved out the coach and the captain, having signed the ex-player of Tengri fitch. Considering the failed participation of Gambit in qualifiers to ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017, we can make a conclusion that the Kazakhs have not started playing well together and found their gaming style, so their chances to come out are not so big as they would want to.FaZe Clan changed kioShiMa to olofmeister after unsatisfactory results and made a replacement of the sniper, having removed allu, and set GuardiaN on this position.Ninjas in Pyjamas made only one replacement. Friberg moved to OpTic Gaming and his place was held by a young and promising ex-player of Epsilon eSports, REZ.

In its turn, mousesports decided to release the players loWel and denis from their duties and signed suNny and STYKO.

Outcome: This is the group, in which all teams have made replacements on the rosters. It is very difficult to predict the best teams but FaZe Clan and mousesports have the biggest chances.

Group D

The fourth group is the most interesting. There are the vice-champions of the last Major tournament, Immortals, two French teams that have a potential, G2 Esports and Team EnVyUs and, also, Fnatic. Group D is the most unpredictable group. Immortals had problems with players that had wanted to leave the team but the management of the organization arranged with players about the continuation of the partnership. Players were finding a chance to leave instead of training hard for the next season. This factor might have a negative effect on their performance. G2 Esports was in a good shape before the Major tournament and even won a couple of trophies. Team EnVyUs has gained a good shape recently and their chances to come out from the group are big enough. Talking about Fnatic, their results over the last six months left much to be desired. Having made a replacement, the Swedes are unlikely to start playing together well so fast, to find their game and to beat their opponents.

Outcome: Two French teams G2 Esports and Team EnVyUs will probably get to the main stage.

Teams-favorites

SK Gaming

Certainly, the Brazilian team, that is in the first place of the world team rate by HLTV.org, is the main favorite of the tournament. FalleN and the team, as it was mentioned previously, had had a series of four victories before the participation in PGL Major Krakow 2017. After the unlucky participation, the Brazilians could make an analysis of their mistakes, fix them and prepare for the first large tournament in the season 2017-2018.

Astralis

The Danish team Astralis is one more favorite of the tournament that has held the second place on the world team rate, according to HLTV.org. Having spent the season of reshuffles without reshuffles, the players have decided that it will be more stable to play with the roster they have now. Astralis looks enough steadily compared to all other teams. Their shape was good before the last tournament too. According to many viewers, gla1ve and his team will get to the grand final and struggle for the main money prize and the title of the champion.

G2 Esports

The French team G2 Esports has become the last team on the list. G2 earned two enough serious trophies over the last three months. They became the winners of DreamHack Tours 2017 and ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals. The French participated in the Major tournament in an enough bad way and didn’t get to the playoff but a save of the current roster and an analysis of the mistakes together with a good preparation for the championship might become the key to the success for shox and his team.

All other teams

It is difficult to talk about the upcoming results of the rest of teams. Nine of sixteen participants made replacements on their rosters during the season of reshuffles. As it has been previously said, this tournament is the first tournament after a series of replacements in teams. So there is not so much sense to make any analysis.

Talents

One of the best talents were invited to DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017. Alex «Machine» Richardson will become the host of the tournament. Such famous persons as Anders Blume, Jason «moses» O’Toole and others will be among casters. Janko «YNk» Paunovic, Chad «SPUNJ» Burchill, Halvor «vENdetta» Gulestøl and Jacob «Pimp» Winneche will analyze matches. Sue «Smix» Lee will be the main interviewer and Pala «Matrousse» Gilroy Sen and Tres «stunna» Saranthus will be the reporters.