DHW preview: groups C & D

Second day of competition at DreamHack Winter 2013 will feature groups C and D, as well as the remaining two quarter-finals, to be featured in this preview.

Today has seen NiP, LGB eSports, Recursive eSports and fnatic make it through to the quarter-finals, which are set to begin momentarily in search of the first two semi-finalists.

Tomorrow will see the likes of VeryGames, compLexity, SK Gaming and Astana Dragons, and four other hopefules, battle their way through the two groups in hopes of clinching the semi-finals.

If you missed any of our pre-event team introduction articles, we've listed all four of them below so you can find the ones featuring the teams you're interested reading about.

Part 1/4 - Clan-Mystik, n!faculty, fnatic, Universal Soldiers

Part 2/4 - SK Gaming, Recursive eSports, LGB eSports

Part 3/4 - Cph Wolves, Natus Vincere, compLexity, iBUYPOWER

Part 4/4 - VeryGames, NiP, Astana Dragons

Below is the official HLTV.org preview of DreamHack Winter 2013's day two, once again featuring predictions for each group as well. Continue reading to find out what you might expect come Friday morning.

DreamHack's $250,000 SteelSeries championship continues 

Group C ( VeryGames, n!faculty, compLexity, BYOC #1)

VeryGames, the world's best team, are a lock to get out of this group no matter what. Due to the GSL-system in the group stage, which for all purposes turns the group into a four team double elimination bracket, there can be no three-way ties that could potentially screw the Frenchmen over, so whether they advance in second place, which could pit them up against NiP as early as the semi-finals, or in first place, is the only thing in question. I don't see any of these three teams having a realistic chance at defeating Kèvin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans' team, and they should escape with two quick Ws.

n!faculty now field an entirely Danish roster led by Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander and flanked by former Anexis teammates Renè "cajunb" Borg and Jacob "Pimp" Winneche. The Danes are not battle tested at all as of today; they're a very new team and due to the style of play in Rossander's squads, likely will need more time before they can be a real threat to more established opponents. Strong counter-terrorist play leading to big half scores wouldn't surprise me at all, especially if Borg catches fire, but it's hard to see them overcoming anyone but the team coming from the BYOC qualifier.

compLexity are fresh off a five day bootcamp at Inferno Online, so theoretically they should be in tip top shape. I think they are clear favorites over both n!faculty and whoever qualifies from the BYOC, simply because they've had the roster for a while, they tend to perform better on LAN than online, and they should frankly be better prepared than both of them. coL has previously put up good performances, and the Americans are no strangers to map wins over VeryGames; their core even won a best-of-three series in April. Expect one American side to qualify for playoffs.

Favorites to go through the BYOC qualifier are mousesports and the CIS-based Nostalgie, which features former Astana Dragons superstar Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev. I think Nostalgie could actually really cause trouble for compLexity because they strike me as a team who struggle to adapt to odd playing styles, whereas I don't see mousesports doing much damage in this group. Regardless, you have to roll with the favorites, and those are VeryGames and compLexity.

Prediction: 1. VeryGames, 2. compLexity

n0thing's coL seek revenge after a disappointing ESWC 

Group D ( SK Gaming, Copenhagen Wolves, Astana Dragons, BYOC #2)

Similarly to the previous group, group D also has a clear number one favorite in Astana Dragons, the world's third best Counter-Strike team. They've looked really good since adding Emil "kucher" Akhundov, but at the same time they've yet to truly be tested, and had by no means an easy time in Moscow when battling Natus Vincere and Universal Soldiers at TECHLABS Cup Finals. Short of a major upset the CIS powerhouse will go through group D, most likely in first place, and that should set them up nicely for a quarter-final match-up that should see them clinch a top four placing at DreamHack Winter.

Copenhagen Wolves should be the favorites to advance in second place, but due to their recent roster changes and SK Gaming adding Andreas "MODDII" Fridh at the last second, that match is now a toss up, and even the team coming through the BYOC qualifier could have a small chance to advance. The Danes haven't ben tested any more than their countrymen in n!faculty, so it's next to impossible to guess what form they will show up in. As said in my introduction article, I believe in Henrik "FeTiSh" Christensen's system, and I believe that, together with the Wolves' individual skill and Nicolaj "Nico" Jensen's AWP, will put them into the playoffs.

SK Gaming went for what seems like a panic change upon what must have been a very disappointing best-of-one loss against fnatic at MSI Beat it! Grand Finals. Ironically enough Fridh actually is the perfect player to stand-in for a single event, and his history with Marcus "Delpan" Larsson and Faruk "pita" Pita suggest they may be able to work something out, MYM style from fall 2009. I don't really believe in the Swedes simply because I though Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi was a very good player and it seemed like they panicked after one tournament, and they won't have enough skill to make up for their lack of practice. The Wolves' lack of practice is what SK have going for them.

Final team in group D will come through the BYOC qualifier, so we're once again going to assume that'll be either mousesports of Nostalgie. I once again don't think mousesports can beat either team at their own strategic game, so if it's the Germans I think they'll face an early exit. Nostalgie on the other hand could make things very interesting. Both Copenhagen Wolves and SK Gaming lack practice, and therefore routine, and that puts them on a much more even line with the CIS based mixteam. If players like Dimitri "hooch" Bogdanov and Sukhariev go off and they win some pistol rounds, I wouldn't be surprised if they surprised everyone. Regardless, upsets aren't expected by definition. 

Prediction: 1. Astana Dragons, 2. Copenhagen Wolves

Could Edward's Nostalgie go through to the playoffs? 

Quarter-finals (C1 vs. D2, D1 vs. C2)

Assuming my predictions hold true, which they didn't whatsoever on the opening day, we'd get to watch VeryGames tackle Copenhagen Wolves and Astana Dragons take on compLexity in the quarter-finals of day two at DreamHack Winter 2013. Unfortunately for the viewers each series has a clear cut favorite who would likely win eighty-to-ninety percent of the time if the teams played multiple series between each other, but at least the underdogs can put up a solid fight in either series, so all the hope is not lost. Plus, there's also the off chance of one of the giants getting upset in a best-of-one game, which would mean they'd actually face off in the quarters. Ouch.

VeryGames are simply too strong right now to lose a best-of-three series to Copenhagen Wolves, SK Gaming, mousesports, Nostalgie or anyone else who could potentially go through from group D aside from Yegor "markeloff" Markelov's Astana Dragons. The French are too strong to give up two maps to any of those teams, and the funny thing is they even match up super well against Astana Dragons, so I don't think they are even too worried about potentially having to face Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow's team earlier than expected. They have the skill and the confidence needed, and will use it to leverage themselves a spot in the semi-finals.

The second quarter-finals could be a closer affair as Astana Dragons could potentially have problems with compLexity, or whoever goes through from group C, as the core of that team in Quantic Gaming were very close to beating Virtus.pro, whose roster featured four Astana members, at Copenhagen Games. I don't think the Americans will pull off the upset because they looked anything but convincing in Paris and even a bootcamp won't make me think otherwise, but it's certainly not off the table. I've talked about relying on favorites at this major event before, which is the only reasonable thing to do with so much money on the line, and that's why I will side with the world's third best team.

Prediction: VeryGames and Astana Dragons to semi-finals

Who will celebrate on Friday evening in Jönköping? 

The third and final installment of our DreamHack Winter preview series will be published once the quarter-finals are over. It will focus on the semi-finals and the grand final of the event.