Dreamhack returned to India in 2019 with CS Go Esports tournament. It was hosted by Viacom18 and Nodwing Gaming. 6 teams participated to win a lion’s share of the USD $55,000 prize pool. The biggest team to appear in the tournament were HellRaisers a CIS giant in the game. The other 5 teams were: pro100, Goliath Gaming, YaLLa Esports, Lucid Dream and 5Orgless( the sole Indian team).
These 6 teams were divided into two groups with each match being played in a B02 format in the group stage and Bo3 in the playoffs.
Group A consisted of pro100, Goliath Gaming and 5Orgless. Group B had the reaming 3 teams; HellRaisers, YaLLa Esports and Lucid Dream.
Day 1 (group stages):
Group A matches were conducted on Day 1 of the tournament. pro100 managed to top the group with 1 win and 1 tied match. They beat Goliath Gaming 2:0 and tied 1:1 with the Indian roster 5Orgless. The third match between Goliath Gaming and 5Orgless resulted in a victory for Goliath Gaming which helped them book a spot in the playoffs.
Day 2 (group stages):
Group B matches were held on the second day and as expected HellRaisers topped the group with two 2:0 victories. They easily beat both their opponents showcasing their superior level and sending out a statement to the rest. Losing to the CIS giant was somewhat of a predicted result for Lucid Dream and YaLLa Esports and hence they knew the winner of the match between them would progress to the playoffs. But the match was tied at 1:1 and YaLLa Esports qualified on the virtue of winning more rounds as compared to the counterparts
Day 3 (playoffs and Grand Final)
The first semi final was held between pro100 and YaLLa Esports with the Russian roster pro100 coming out on top. They won 2:0 in a Bo3 series winning 16:4 on Vertigo and 16:12 on Inferno. They were the heavy favourites before going into the match and exactly showing why.
The second semi saw tournament favourite HellRaisers take on Goliath Gaming. Goliath knew beforehand that they needed to play out of their skin to even get a chance against their opponents. But they were simply outclassed and outplayed by the Ukrainian roster. HellRaisers won 16:6 on Overpass before closing out the series on Inferno winning 16:8.
Grand Finals:
HellRaisers faced off against pro100 in the Grand Finals to take home the trophy. The two strongest teams in the tournament eventually made it to the finals. Both these teams had somewhat off a comparable firepower, which throughout the tournament was not comparable. Both had some experienced pros in the roster with HR having “ANGE1” and “nukkye” and pro100 having “Worldedit” and “wayLander”.
With expectations of a closely contested grand final the game started off on Mirage (HR pick). Matching the expectations the map was tied at 15:15 at the end of 30 rounds. It moved into overtime where surprisingly pro100 managed a clean sweep of 4 rounds winning the map 19:15. Train was up next and with HR starting on the CT side normalcy was expected to resume. But it didn’t, as pro100 won 12 rounds on their T side leaving HR to make a monumental comeback to have a chance of winning the finals.
They did showcased their experience and class by winning 9 rounds but it was a little late as pro100 managed to win the 4 rounds required to take home the trophy. They won 16:12 upsetting the odds and the fans too who were present at the arena. It was somewhat of an unexpected result but that is the reason why we love to watch this game.
