Dreamhack Masters Spring 2021 is another CS:GO championship from the Dreamhack tournament operator and Intel Grand Slam planned for May 2021. Sixteen teams will take part in the tournament, and some of them got slots for winning the Open January 2021, and the others made it through knockouts. The event is part of the ESL Pro Tour rating system. Apart from monetary awards, the contestant will gain tournament points that will help them to proceed to the following events.
Rules of the Tournament and Teams
The first stage will be held from 29 April till 1 May. Two groups with eight teams in each will be fighting with each other in the GSL format. The first matches will be taking place up to one win (Bo1), the others will last till two victories (Bo3). The results of the group stage will define six teams that will make it to the playoff. The winners of the group will make it to the semifinal, the semifinalists will advance to 1/4 as High Seeds. The team with the third place in the first stage will make it to 1/4 as Low Seeds. The playoff will be taking place from 2 to 5 May in the single-elimination format. Participants in the quarterfinal and semifinal will be fighting till two wins (Bo3). The game will end with three wins at the grand final (Bo5). The first teams that got slots to the tournament (partner-teams):
- Астралис;
- FaZe Clan;
- G2 Esports;
- mousesports;
- Natus Vincere.
Six teams made it to the tournament after victories at the regional qualifiers. There are Complexity Gaming, Team Spirit, paiN Gaming, Heroic, Team Fiend, Extra Salt among them. Five more teams got invited thanks to ESL World Ranking. These are BIG, FURIA Esports, Gambit, Team Vitality, and Virtus.pro.
Analytics and Potential Favourites
We should expect good results from several teams. First of all, you should keep an eye on Gambit, Heroic, Astralis, Natus Vincere.
The last time when NaVi and Astralis met happened on 24 January 2021 at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020. The Ukrainian roster managed to beat the opponents with 2:0 leaving no chance to the Danish players on the second map. Now Astralis has a second chance to get even with the offenders.
Gambit and Heroic have fresher relationships. The teams show impressive gaming and they do deserve to make it to the grand final of ESL Pro League Season 13. On 11 April, Heroic appeared to be stronger at the decisive fifth map in the final. Now Gambit has time to prepare for the failing Mirage and win the rematch at Dreamhack Masters Spring 2021. These two teams should be considered as the main favorites of the tournament which is proven by the newest HLTV rating – Gambit took first place while Heroic’s position is third (they climbed nine positions up).
The outsiders of the tournament are Team Fiend, Extra Salt, and Heroic. And if we take into account the fact that the first matches will be held in the Bo1 format, there are chances to see the teams in the further stages. We should definitely avoid making a prognosis about their participation in the playoff. The teams will be able to fight for 14th-16th place. Even if they win the roulette with one map, they will face matches with two wins where a more experienced team will never let them take two rounds.
Conclusion
The contestants will fight for $250,000. First-twelfth places will also have a chance to get tournament points that will help them to get an invitation to the next Dreamhack event. The tournament will be happening from 29 April till 9 May, and the most pleasant fact is that the organizers plan to hold it in the LAN format in Europe. The venue has not been revealed yet. The audience will finally be able to see the players on stage and to enjoy their emotions. We should only hope that the epidemic will not intensify and the European countries will not impose new lockdown restrictions.
