CS:GO – DreamHack Open November 2021 Playoffs Results

The final ever DreamHack Open has concluded, with fnatic being crowned as the Champions of the historic tournament. With a dominant 3-0 win over BIG, fnatic cemented their place as one of the best rising teams in the world, and this mixture of English and Swedish players is one to be feared of going forward.

They pulled out a NaVi in this tournament, by winning every single map they played, losing none. Since DreamHack is now merging with ESL, this was the very last DreamHack Open we could witness. The first and the second DreamHack Opens were also won by fnatic, and it’s poetic how we’ve come full-circle, with fnatic winning the very last one as well. Now let’s take a look at how the Playoffs panned out.

The Semifinal Grind

Going into the first semifinal between fnatic and MAD Lions, everyone knew fnatic would be the easy winner. The English/Swedish squad did prevail, but not without an intense fight from the Lions. The first map pick of Ancient was from MAD Lions, and since fnatic had played zero matches on it in the previous months, it looked like MAD Lions would finally break fnatic’s spotless streak.

After sprinting to a 13-7 lead, our suspicions seem to be confirmed, but playing from within a strong castle of mental fortitude, fnatic made a great comeback and won 16-14 on Ancient. The second map was not an issue for fnatic, as they won 16-12 on Mirage. Nevertheless, props to MAD Lions for such a strong performance. They are definitely a team worth following in the future.

The second semifinal was more well-matched, between BIG and forZe. After winning 19-16 in overtime on the first map, Inferno, forZe put themselves in a position to upset the German squad, but the collective efforts of BIG prevailed as they won 16-10 and 16-8 on Dust2 and Nuke, respectively. Jerry’s performance was applaud-worthy, but the German duo of syrsoN and tabseN prevailed on the night.

Both teams were good, with all players getting 50+ kills except tiziaN. syrsoN was awarded MVP for his extraordinary AWPing on Inferno and Dust2. The expected Grand Final between fnatic and BIG was set, with both teams looking rock-solid on their maps, and then some.

The Third Place Decider

The third-place match between the two giant-killers was an absolute treat to watch. forZe humiliated MAD Lions 12-3 on the Lions’ own map pick, Overpass, thanks to KENSI’s and Jerry’s masterful performance. forZe went on to close out the map 16-10. But MAD Lions returned the favour in a way when they easily broke through forZe’s faltering defense, winning the second half of forZe’s map pick, Inferno, 9-1 and winning the whole map 16-9.

After winning each other’s map picks, it was time for the decider map, Vertigo. forZe displayed an impressive T side, winning 10-5 on the half. But another horridly weak defense meant MAD Lions were allowed back into the game, as they won 11-3 in the second half and ended a map that almost went all the distance.

MAD Lions are your Third Place team, and though forZe did very well to be placed Fourth ahead of teams like ENCE and MOUZ, you really have to wonder where things went wrong for the Russians after that formidable first half CT side of 12-3. With that win, MAD Lions have also qualified for ESL Pro League Season 15 Conference as fnatic and BIG are both Permanent Partner teams for ESL Pro League.

The Majestic Grand Finals

The Finals was as grand as its obligatory name, with Dust2 and Overpass being banned. fnatic’s first pick was Inferno, followed by BIG’s Vertigo. On Inferno, fnatic tore through BIG’s paper-thin defense and closed the map with a score too eye-popping for a Grand Final: 16-3. smooya hadn’t performed up to his usual mark thus far into the tournament, but he finally came alive against BIG, and he and KRIMZ put up a scary side that BIG had to face for the rest of the series.

By the end of the first half, it was apparent that BIG had given up on the map, and were clearly looking forward to Vertigo. Unnecessary duels, failing to clear corners, and rash decisions marred a forgettable performance for the Germans.

On their map, BIG sprinted to an early 3-0 lead but crumbled after fnatic’s first full buy. They could only muster 2 T rounds after that, while fnatic put up a strong CT half of 10-5. The second half was similar, where BIG started out strong and threaded 5 rounds in a row, but fnatic crawled back into the game. After a fair 6-7 second half, fnatic had emerged victorious on a map BIG so desperately wanted to play on during the Inferno disaster.

The next set of maps would be fnatic’s Ancient and BIG’s Nuke, with Mirage being the decider map, but the last two could only sit on the sidelines to watch, as the Swedish men run rampant. Ancient was a very interesting map since both BIG and fnatic had played zero times on it, except for fnatic’s semifinal against MAD Lions.

It had been 5 months since BIG had played on it, competitively. And for two teams so lost, it was a fitting first half of 8-7, in favour of BIG. fnatic did not have the greatest CT side on Ancient against MAD Lions, but they definitely fixed their issues, as the English Org put up a dominant 9-2 CT second half, and won a historic tournament. Brollan’s play on Jaguar was beyond phenomenal and the two Vikings of the team ran the whole show on Ancient. The younger one, Brollan, was named the MVP of the Finals.

fnatic have gone spotless in the whole tournament, dropping not a single map. Ever since the team has gone UK-majority, they haven’t lost a single match, with this tournament’s stats being a cherry on the top. Hopefully, this could be the revival of a team that has fallen from grace ever since not only the “fnatic era” of early CS:GO, but their overall dominance in any iteration of Counter-Strike.

To rise from the ashes of recent years would be a story worth remembering for this new and young team, and we can only be excited to see this new fnatic face off against the best teams in the world next month in IEM Winter 2021. tabseN and syrsoN will leave with a bad taste in their mouths, as they did not deserve a 3-0 beating, given their great showings in the match. Nevertheless, fnatic are your DreamHack Open November 2021 Champions, the first and last one to ever do so!