Jönköping in southern Sweden was the location for the latest CS:GO tournament as eight teams gathered at the Elmia convention and event center on the shores of Lake Vättern.
Brazil’s SK Gaming took first place at DreamHack Summer 2017, reigning supreme over Immortals, mousesports, Team Singularity, Counter Logic Gaming, Fnatic, Gambit Esports and Cloud9. They secured a $50,000 prize in the process, 50% of the overall prize pool.
SK Gaming start strongly
SK Gaming opened up play in Group A against Team Singularity, an outfit with minimal expectations going into the tournament.
However, SK got off to a slow start on Cobblestone, securing only eight rounds on their CT-side as they entered halftime 8-7 to the good. From there it was all SK though as they dominated the T-side to the tune of 8-2, which gave them a 16-9 overall victory.
SK then squared off against fellow Brazilian side Immortals on Cache and once again struggled to find early momentum. Immortals put on a clinical display on their T-side, picking up an impressive 11 rounds, but while SK showed more life on their own T-side, winning six of the first seven rounds, Immortals then responded with four rounds in a row to claim a 16-10 upset win. Even in defeat, SK’s superstar coldzera showed his prowess with 28 kills in 26 rounds.
SK settle for second seed
SK thus had to play mousesports in a best-of-three affair to determine the second seed from Group A.
Opening up on Inferno, SK fell behind early, dropping 10 of the first 12 CT rounds before ending the half with three wins in a row. SK built on this late upturn in the second half and bested mousesports’ incredible opening T-side run, first securing nine of 10 rounds to take a 14-11 lead. SK then did just enough to steal the map, winning two of the last five rounds in a 16-14 success.
Moving over to Mirage, SK once again showed prowess on their T-side, claiming 11 further rounds. They then continued their strong play on their CT-side, splitting the opening ten rounds five to five, which saw them secure a 16-9 overall victory. Entry fragger fer produced on both maps, dropping 26 and 21 kills, which was good enough to top the scoreboard in each.
CLG tough semifinal opponents
Entering the single elimination playoffs, SK Gaming’s semifinal opponents were North America’s Counter Logic Gaming, who posed a huge threat. CLG have seen an upswing in form this year based around two quality additions to their roster; hybrid AWPer (sniper) Rickeh and in-game leader FNS.
As if proving the point, paced by Rickeh CLG defeated SK Gaming on Mirage in a convincing manner, 16-9. Rickeh was huge, gathering 28 kills in 25 rounds, with the next highest being SK’s felps at 20.
However, this didn’t deter SK, who immediately bounced back on Train, dominating the first half 12-3 on their CT-side. SK then split the opening eight rounds on their T-side 4-4 to secure a 16-7 win to level the series.
Overpass was eerily similar to Train, with SK taking a slightly improved 13-2 CT-side lead. CLG answered back with five rounds in a row to open their CT-side, but SK secured three out of the next five rounds, putting them into the Finals against Fnatic.
Fnatic a tough challenge
Fnatic had come out of Group B as the second seed behind CLG following a classic group stage battle which ultimately ended 31-28 in favour of the North Americans. The Swedes then got the better of Immortals in the semifinals to progress to the decisive encounter.
In the Finals, SK took early control on Inferno by winning six of their opening seven CT rounds. Fnatic rebounded, however, to claw their way back to within one game of SK at the halfway mark. It was all SK from here though as the Brazilians dominated their T-side by winning eight of nine to secure a quick and easy 16-8 win.
Undeterred, Fnatic bounced back to level the series in an absolute romp, winning 16-4 on Overpass. It was a team effort for Fnatic, with four kills separating the highest and lowest members on the scoreboard.
The final and decisive map of the tournament was Mirage, with the game mirroring the first map of Inferno exactly. Once again SK Gaming secured six of the opening seven rounds on their CT-side before Fnatic pulled off six of eight to give SK Gaming the exact same 8-7 halftime lead. SK then came out swinging on their T-side, picking up another eight rounds in nine to secure a 16-8 victory and with it the championship. Felps produced his best game of the tournament on Mirage, dropping 23 kills in the 24 rounds of play.
All in all it was a fascinating tournament with no single team dominating, demonstrating just how close the teams are in overall ability right now. Any one of the top four could have won and on another day the Swedes of Fnatic could well have secured an excellent home victory. However, SK Gaming claimed the crown and once again enhanced their reputation by building on their recent strong form.
