DreamHack Bucharest preview (1/2)

As we count down the days to DreamHack Bucharest, set to kick off on Saturday morning, we now present you our official preview for the $15,000 event.

DreamHack Bucharest will be the first big tournament in over two months, as the last notable international tournaments took place in late June and early July, with only NiP attending ESEA Finals.

With almost all European top teams in attendance, the pecking order of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene will likely be set for a while at Sala Polivalenta this weekend.

Who will celebrate at this weekend's DreamHack event?

The tournament will start with four groups of four teams, each played in the GSL format. Top two teams from each group will then advance to the single elimination best-of-three plaoyffs, which will crown the champions.

You can find our viewer's guide for the event here. What should you expect from the tournament then? Read on to find out, as we break down the tournament by groups and teams.

Group A ( NiP, fnatic, TeG, neXtPlease!)

Like most of the groups at DreamHack Bucharest, group A has two clear favorites who shouldn't have too much trouble knocking the lesser known teams out of the tournament on Saturday morning. The two Romanian sides, TeG and neXtPlease!, are simply outmatched by the two Swedish giants, even if fnatic has shown major signs of inconsistency in recent times.

Based on the last month's online results it'd be hard to imagine fnatic truly challenging the Ninjas for the first spot in group A, and that is also backed by the DreamHack Summer results, where it seemed like just about everything went right for Epsilon, but they still weren't too close. NiP will be able to finish first, and fnatic should advance in second place.

If the stars aligned, the Romanian crowd worked their magic and fnatic were majorly upset after losing to NiP in what is going to be each team's second round match, you could talk me into the possibility of fnatic having a tough time with one of the local squads, but in reality it probably won't, and definitely should not be the case.

Prediction: 1. NiP, 2. fnatic

JW would have to be a monster for fnatic to come out on top in group A 

Group B ( Cph Wolves, n!faculty, HSBG, IGG)

This is to me the most interesting group of the four, even when assuming that HSBG and IGG are outmatched here and likely won't pose too much of a threat to the favorites. I think Copenhagen Wolves versus n!faculty is a fun match-up and the two seem to be on a very even level, which usually produces very good matches. As Markus "pronax" Wallsten said in his interview, their previous matches aren't great indicators of what will happen here either, so that only adds to the intriguement.

I think overall Cph Wolves have proven to be a stronger team, if only because they are more experienced than some of the younger players in n!faculty. I think Wallsten's teams usually play their best when they are the underdogs and don't have to worry about pressure, but they will be under some here versus arguably the best Danish team right now.

It's hard to say anything about HSBG or IGG because they have yet to attend international CS:GO tournaments, but both groups of guys often attended events in CS 1.6 and had some reasonably good results, so while I don't think they can advance from group B, they aren't unknown teams either.

Prediction: 1. Cph Wolves, 2. n!faculty

Defending champion Friis' Cph Wolves face a tough challenge early on in Bucharest 

Group C ( VeryGames, Lemondogs, Refuse, Tessa)

Group C is the most even of all the groups and definitely has the highest chance of an upset happening. VeryGames are the clear cut favorites to win this group as they are the second best team in the world, but they've recently scored two draws versus Lemondogs online, so clearly that is either a mismatch or the Swedes are simply stronger than usual over the internet.

Tessa are simply outmatched in this group, so effectively there will only be three teams competing here. Refuse have shown some promising results here and there, and most importantly knocked out Lemondogs from Mad Catz Vienna back in February. They are close to home and hardly ever get to attend tournaments, so they are likely more motivated than Lemondogs, who are a tough team to figure out.

I don't see anyone beating VeryGames and I also don't think Refuse will realistically upset Lemondogs, but it also wouldn't surprise me if it did. This is the closest one to call, but given how much time each team has had to prepare for this event, I doubt the favorites will go out early.

Prediction: 1. VeryGames, 2. Lemondogs

This weekend will be the first LAN in a while for Delpan 

Group D ( Astana Dragons, Na`Vi, Beantown Bandits, FAW)

Had the two Ukrainian powerhouses not met online last week, this group would have a whole lot more on the line. Now that everyone basically agrees Astana Dragons are currently stronger than Na`Vi, there isn't a lot of excitement left for this match-up as it stands now, unless you're a Na`Vi fan and have reason to think their roles would reverse upon their first of what surely will be many LAN meetings.

The Kazakhstani backed side is still inconsistent though, and traveling to Bucharest early, and skipping RC EMS One Cup #2 as well, to film some show for local TV seems like a questionable decision at best. Performance should always be a competitor's number one priority, and I can only imagine this hurting Astana - not only this weekend, but also when it comes to RC EMS One Fall. Lower point total can be the difference between an easy group and making finals, or staying back home.

Unfortunately the group is once again very top heavy as Bandits (ex-myRevenge) likely won't be able to put up a fight against either one of the top teams here, and FAW are just going to be happy to get to play both Astana Dragons and Bandits before exiting the tournament.

Prediction: 1. Astana Dragons, 2. Na`Vi

Can Zeus' Na`Vi stage an upset versus the inconsistent Astana Dragons? 

As you probably noticed this first part of our preview only goes over the group stage of DreamHack Bucharest, so we will be publishing a second part focusing on playoffs tomorrow.

HLTV.org will be traveling on-site to Bucharest to provide you with full coverage including statistics, GOTV demos, galleries and highlights from the fall's first big tournament.