DreamHack Open Sevilla reaches playoffs

The playoff teams at DreamHack Open Sevilla are now set, with MAD Lions facing North and CR4ZY going up against GODSENT in the semi-finals.

Movistar Riders and BIG played the first elimination match of the day, with the Spaniards coming from a crushing defeat against CR4ZY in their opener and BIG failing to close out their match on Nuke against North, who they lost to in an overtime affair. The best-of-three against Riders saw BIG play two more overtimes in a two-map series, on Mirage and Overpass, that the local team were able to win with strong performances by Rajohn "⁠EasTor⁠" Linato and Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes.

North will face MAD Lions in the semi-finals

The second series of the day was the Group B elimination match, a 90 round affair between GODSENT and Gambit Youngsters that saw all three maps get played out to the very end. The first map, Overpass, went the way of the European combine, with Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk leading his team in the fragging department, just three frags shy of one per round. An 8-7 half on the CT side of Train for GODSENT proved to be too little, as the CIS team took nine out of the last 10 rounds to push it to a third map. The decider ensued and it was GODSENT who were eventually able to lock it down, in part because Gambit Youngsters’ star AWPer Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov wasn’t able to have an impactful performance with just nine kills.

The Group A decider match pinned Movistar Riders and North, and although the Spaniards started off with a convincing 9-6 lead on the attacking side of their pick, Inferno, they deflated on the defense as Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye and Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen dominated, pushing their team to a 16-11 win after a one-sided second half. North then crushed Movistar Riders’ playoff dreams in a one-sided second map, Vertigo, to set up a Danish derby in the semi-finals against MAD Lions, their first in a disappointing season in which they have been eliminated in every group stage to date.

STYKO & co. made it past Illuminar in the Group B decider

The final match of the day, which finalized the playoff bracket, featured GODSENT and Illuminar. The first, Overpass, went the way of the European combine, while Illuminar won their pick, Nuke, with both of them going all the way, making it five out of five thirty-round maps today for Kevin "⁠kRYSTAL⁠" Amend and company. The European combine then took a 12-3 lead on the attacking side of Vertigo, and although the Poles were able to put up a fight in the second half, they eventually faltered and GODSENT secured their spot in the semi-finals.

The DreamHack Open Sevilla playoff bracket is:

11:00 - MAD Lions vs. North | BO3
14:00 - CR4ZY vs. GODSENT | BO3