Dreamhack Winter 2014 was the third and final CS:Go major of 2014 sponsored by Valve. The prize pool was $250,000, similar to that of the previous 2 majors.
The major took place at Jönköping, Sweden from November 27–29 2014. 6 teams from ESL One Cologne 2014 were invited directly while the rest 10 slots were filled up through qualifiers.
Ninjas in Pyjamas, the defending champions were again one of the favorites to take home the second championship of the year, however the team had a roster change just before the competition.
The Swedish powerhouse had replaced “Fifflaren” with “Maikelele”, the legendary CS 1.6 player. Even with the change NIP remained as a strong contender for the title and were joined by Fnatic and Virtus.Pro as the front runners.
Format and map pool:-
The format of the competition was similar to ESL One Cologne 2014, with the 16 teams divided into 4 groups. Each group match was a Bo1 with the top two teams progressing to the playoffs.
The playoff bracket consisted of eight teams, two teams from each group. Every playoff match was a Bo3 in a single elimination format.
The map pool was also the same as the previous major too. In the group stage matches each team could eliminate ant two maps and then a map was randomly chosen. For the playoffs, each team first bans one map each and then picks one map. If the series then progresses to a third map, a map is randomly chosen from the three available choices.
Main event of Dreamhack Winter 2014
The CS scene was slowly becoming competitive but the there was still a huge gap between between the traditional Big 3 of NiP, Fnatic and VP and the rest
There however was a French team who had slowly but surely making giant strides in the scene. Team LDLC.com had assembled a young and an exciting squad and were ready to take upon the world’s best.
The French scene was notoriously known for its frequent changes to lineup with various organizations taking over from a team. LDLC
Lead by “NBK” the team had a plethora of talent in its arsenal with “Happy”, “shox” and “kioShima” all blessed with incredible game sense. When Dreamhack Winter 2014 arrived it was just the perfect platform for the French team to show the world what they were capable of.
LDLC started the tournaments as one of the underdogs, but after the quarterfinals (we’ll get to that in a bit) people started to believing that the competition belonged to the French.
This is the story of LDLC’s glory at Dreamhack Winter 2014.
LDLC, pitted alongside against NiP had a tough run of fixtures from the get go, but they weren’t there to give up. They defeated NiP in the group stages to make an early statement in the competition and qualified for playoffs with a first place.
Placing first didn’t make things any easy for LDLC as they were up against Fnatic in the quarterfinals and things went haywire. LDLC took the first map on Dust II winning 16:10 but Fnatic replied swiftly with a 16:8 victory on Cache. Overpass was the decider which Fnatic were very happy to play.
“olofmeister” publicly said in an interview that Fnatic had planned something very big and teams should not pick Overpass against them. LDLC however went ahead and played Overpass in the decider. They swept Fnatic aside in the first half with a 12-3 scoreline. They even managed to win the second pistol to extend their lead further.
But what followed was unprecedented and something not imaginable in any way. “olofmeister” and two of his team-mates boosted on the truck near the A side to have a clear view of the B-short and connector area of the map. Fnatic with the boost could very clearly see what LDLC were preparing for each round and could counter very easily. The boost lead Fnatic to win 13 straight rounds and take the series 2-1. LDLC had no clue what struck them and crumbled .
After the match, LDLC filed a complaint against “pixel-walking”, suggesting that Fnatic had performed a boost that was against the rules. The organizers obliged and ordered the team to replay the second half of the match again. Fnatic replied with a complain against LDLC implying they too had a boost which helped them see through transparent textures. Dreamhack then came to a conclusion that both the boosts allowed for an “immortal bug” and announced for the map to be replayed. Fnatic, however forfeited and LDLC progressed to the semis.
The quarterfinal would then be edged into CS:Go fans as Valve released a graffiti on the play which infamously known to be called as “olofboost”.
Natus Vincere were up next in the semi-finals. The CIS team lead by the admirable “zeus” had the best AWP player in the world in the form of “GuardiaN” playing for them. The semi final was expected to be a neck and neck affair with pure aim on display.
LDLC however brushed Na’Vi aside in two straight maps triumphing 16-11 on both Dust II and Inferno. The most satisfying part about the victory was the form of “Happy” and “shox” who started to peak late in the tournament.
The other semi-final was between the heavyweights of NiP and Virtus.Pro. NiP triumphed 2-1 in a match many believed would decide the ultimate champion.
It was LDLC against NiP in the grand finals, a match which would go down in history for the sheer brilliance shown by the players on the server. LDLC took first blood winning Dust II 16:10 but NiP replied with a dominant victory on Inferno conquering LDLC 16:4.
And as irony would have it, Overpass was selected as the decider after all the controversies surrounding it. NiP started the map in the way they finished Inferno and raced into a 11:4 lead after the fist half. LDLC on the brink of losing the trophy shifted to the CT side to keep their tournament hopes alive.
The resilience which the French team had shown all through the tournament started to show again after the second pistol. LDLC round by round managed to shut down NiP and started mounting a comeback. NiP did win a couple pf rounds in between but all the momentum was with LDLC. NiP reached map, series and championship point first but LDLC manged to pull back and take the game into overtime.
With all the momentum LDLC had garnered NiP crumbled in OT managing to win only a single round. LDLC finally after multiple ups and downs conquered NiP and became the champions of Dreamhack Winter 2014.
They took home $100,000 out of the $250,000 prize pool for their efforts. “Happy” was awarded the MVP award for his consistent performances throughout the competition.
Watch the official Dreamhack Winter 2014 movie here,
Dreamhack Winter 2014 was arguably the most controversial major ever played.
The best player in the world, “s1mple” made his first appearance at a CS:Go major during Dreamhack Winter 2014, another piece of history written during the tournament.
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