DreamHack Masters Winter NA: Clear Road Ahead For Chaos?

The North American DreamHack Masters Winter event is not nearly as stacked as its European counterpart. Chaos are the only team with a solid claim for the trophy. They will have to compete against Triumph, which they have already beaten in a Grand Finals recently. Is this their chance for a second victory?

Chaos, Triumph, Mythic, Team One and the New England Whalers should ring a bell for those among us who have regularly tuned in to North American Counter-Strike. These teams have appeared every so often in the mid-sized online events of recent months, next to the usual suspects. But now, Liquid and FURIA have set ship for Europe and the Evil Geniuses had made travel arrangements (which they eventually had to abandon) that forced them to skip this event. So Chaos and Triumph are the only playoffs contestants of late to actually make this tournament now. The former already managed to set themselves on top of their domestic competition at IEM Beijing NA. Back then, Liquid and EG were in attendance as well. Will this be their second trophy?

WHO ARE THE OTHER TEAMS?

At least in this context, Rebirth, Rugratz, and Yeah Gaming are barely worth noting. In the absence of the top teams, they managed to qualify for this event or were just invited straight away. But they don’t really bring the performance necessary to compete on this level. Teams like Rebirth and Rugratz might be able to keep the matches between themselves tense and exciting, but Chaos, Triumph and Team One will likely have this tournament completely under control.

These players are on a much higher individual level and in this GSL format, it is highly unlikely for a team like Chaos to miss playoffs. But Triumph will actually have a tough time, as they’ve been put into a group alongside Chaos. DreamHack could have set this bracket up in a much more sensible manner, but now the two Grand Finals favorites will probably face euch other within their first two matches already. Even though both of them will likely still make playoffs, the arguably most exciting match-up of the event will not be left open until the very end.

In Group B, all teams have a realistic shot at reaching the Semi Finals. The New England Whalers may have the most experience and play-time versus top teams of the bunch, but they have been weakened by the departure of Brendan “Bwills” Williams to Triumph. Justin “FaNg” Coakley might be a capable replacement, but with so little time for preparation, the team will probably not function as well as it did before.

All signs are pointing towards Chaos securing their second tournament victory. This would obviously be a great and welcome conclusion to the year. At the IEM Global Challenge, they will probably not put up a fantastic show.