It's been 36 days since the last premier event took place, but now the wait is almost over. We couldn't wish for anything more than DreamHack Masters Malmö, which returns to the scene after nearly a year and a half.

First, some more numbers.

Group A	Group B
SK	Astralis
North	Virtus.pro
Cloud9	Natus Vincere
BOOT-d[S]	Renegades
Group C	Group D
Gambit	Immortals
FaZe	G2
Ninjas in Pyjamas	Envy
MOUZ	fnatic

Fourteen of the world's top 17 teams, plus Renegades (#21) and Asian newcomers BOOT-d[S] (#112), will be present in Malmö. Half of the 16 teams will make their debut in Sweden after the post-Major shuffle, ready to prove their new lineups' worth.

Sweden will be the most represented country, with 16 participants, closely followed by the neighboring Denmark (13), whose capital city is only a bridge away from Malmö. Needless to say, the locals will have enough teams to cheer for, which is bound to give us the sort of amazing atmosphere many of us love most.

To get you fully ready for DreamHack Masters Malmö, we have prepared an in-depth preview of all 16 teams heading into the $250,000 event. Don't forget to check out our viewer's guide if you haven't done so already for everything else you need to know, such as the format, the talent, and the full schedule.

Group A

SK (#1)	Age	Rating 2.0
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	25	1.21
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	22	1.19
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	26	1.14
João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos	20	1.08
Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	22	0.98

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-8th	PGL Major Krakow
1st	ESL One Cologne
1st	ECS Season 3 Finals
1st	DreamHack Open Summer
3rd-4th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals

SK have been sitting atop the rankings for a couple of months now, having earned their place there after getting back on their feet in April and winning five out of the last seven tournaments they have attended.

The Brazilian side were in the position of a prime favorite at their latest event, the PGL Major, but things turned out differently than anticipated, as FalleN & co. fell short against Astralis in the quarter-finals and exited the Major early.

After the break, SK find themselves in a rather curious situation. When they stayed intact during last year's off-season, the Brazilians were unable to win any tournaments throughout the rest of the year, sometimes losing titles to teams that had made changes and taken advantage of the chaos.

Can SK bank on their stability this time?

We could see a rerun of the final quarter of 2016, when the new teams took turns winning tournaments, but the current No.1 side has the power to change that. The question is whether SK will bank on stability this time or if history will repeat itself and the newer teams will prevail.

The first testament to the Brazilians' ability to exploit the new teams, who are still in the figuring-it-out phase, will come in the groups, where two of such lineups, North and Cloud9, are waiting. Of course SK should top Group A, especially when their first match-up is against the Asians, but they can't know much about the American squad, who have two new players, or even the Danes with Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså, which opens up the possibility of an upset.

SK will be put to the real test in the playoffs. North and Cloud9 are hardly the most dangerous teams out of the eight that changed players, but then they will have Natus Vincere and FaZe to look out for. There is also Astralis, who came out on top of the last encounter with FalleN's five.

North (#7)	Age	Rating 2.0
Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså	22	1.29	*
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke	20	1.18
René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg	27	1.02
Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup	21	1.02
Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen	22	0.89
Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-8th	PGL Major Krakow (4/5 of the current lineup)
9th-11th	ESL One Cologne (4/5)
2nd	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals (4/5)

North's journey leading up to the off-season was a turbulent one. aizy's addition in February has yielded few successes, with the only one being a second place at the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals.

2017 has been threaded with early playoffs exits and a couple of group stage failures for the Danes, which led to the departure of Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif, a player who used to put up numbers with incredible consistency but has struggled to do so this year.

valde entered the fray instead (surprise, surprise), and, so far, things have been working online. North have five wins from six matches to their name in ESL Pro League Season 6, with the newest addition sitting among the best-rated players after the first two weeks of play alongside the team's main star, k0nfig.

All eyes are on valde

However, as always, we need to be cautious about online results. They don't (have to) translate to an offline environment, and new players often throw a wrench in the works early on when they haven't completely settled in yet. That will be the case for many teams in Malmö, including Cloud9, who should wrestle with North for second place in Group A.

If 2017 so far is any use in predicting the Danes' future beyond groups — if they even get there —, we can't set our expectations too high when it comes to MSL's roster. What they hope for is a best case scenario: valde becoming the clear second star of the team, which Magisk couldn't do.

Cloud9 (#10)	Age	Rating 2.0
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	20	1.12
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	19	1.11
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	24	1.06
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	21	1.06
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	23	0.94
Soham "⁠valens⁠" Chowdhury (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
9th-11th	PGL Major Krakow (3/5)
2nd	ESL One Cologne (3/5)
3rd-5th	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier (3/5)
3rd-4th	ECS Season 3 Finals (3/5)
7th-8th	DreamHack Open Summer (3/5)
1st	Americas Minor - PGL Major Krakow (3/5)
2nd	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals (3/5)

After going out in the groups at most events in the first half of 2017, Cloud9 saw their results improve in late June, when they finally broke their atrocious streak by placing 3rd-4th at the ECS Season 3 Finals.

Stewie2K's team went on to qualify for the Major and finish second to SK at ESL One Cologne before going out in the groups in Krakow, where they gave a fairly good account of themselves, all things considered. In the end, Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek and Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert departed the active roster for one reason or another in the off-season. The former stated that it was his decision and not the team's, but that doesn't matter at this point.

Stewie2K should have less pressure on himself with the arrival of tarik and RUSH

What matters is that Cloud9 have got themselves a promising lineup on paper — tarik is an upgrade over shroud purely thanks to Stewie2K having another more aggressive player to open things up, and RUSH should fit into the supportive role better than n0thing ever did.

The question of leadership remained unanswered, but the advantages in roles being more defined should help get some pressure off Stewie2K already. There isn't much evidence to support this claim just yet, but the new Cloud9 feels like a mixture of players who will do well in their debut.

It won't be an easy task by any means. SK are a tough nut to crack, and North will probably be better adjusted than Cloud9 thanks to MSL and the fact that they only changed one player, but the surprise factor could be enough to get the Americans a solid finish early on.

BOOT-d[S] (#112)	Age	Rating 2.0
Benedict "⁠Benkai⁠" Tan	20	1.04
Anthony "⁠ImpressioN⁠" Lim	21	1.03
Nevin "⁠splashske⁠" Aw	18	0.93
Benjamin "⁠moxie⁠" Kou	25	0.90
Kumaresan "⁠Tommy⁠" Ramani	23	0.90
Harley "⁠dsn⁠" Örwall (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd	CS:GO Super League Summer Finals

BOOT-d[S] are the newest team to come out of the Asian scene and show themselves on an international stage, having secured their place at DreamHack Masters Malmö via the regional qualifier, where ImpressioN's squad beat ViCi and TYLOO.

Coached by Swedish legend dsn, the Singaporean team has also placed second at WCA Asia-Pacific and qualified for CSL Summer, where they ultimately finished third after losses to Flash and ViCi.

Four of B.O.O.T-dS' players attended last year's TWC

BOOT-d[S] have been able to bootcamp in Copenhagen ahead of the $250,000 tournament, which has given them an idea of how the best teams in the world play, but it will be some sort of a miracle if they even get close to a single win in Malmö.

All the teams in attendance are completely out of their league, but it'll still be interesting to see how another Asian team approaches the game. So far we've seen the crazy, aggressive playstyles of the Chinese and a little bit of MVP Project, and this time it's Singapore's turn to show the world what they've got in store.

ICYMI - ImpressioN: "I think our players have improved leaps and bounds [since TWC]"

Group B

Astralis (#2)	Age	Rating 2.0
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	21	1.17
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	24	1.14
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	19	1.07
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	21	1.03
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	22	0.98
Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	PGL Major Krakow
3rd-4th	ECS Season 3 Finals
1st	ELEAGUE Clash for Cash

In 2017, there have been few teams as successful as Astralis. Just one has surpassed them in the number of titles, SK, although the Danes have been more stable throughout the year with their placements, always finishing in the top four.

However, it's been nearly half a year since gla1ve and company took home a title, if we disregard ELEAGUE's Clash for Cash, that is. Their last was IEM Katowice, in early March, and their best chance of lifting a trophy since then was possibly at the PGL Major, but they ended up being bested by Gambit in the semis.

Left without trophies for six months, Astralis will be hungry for one in Malmö

They'll be hungry for this one. Much like SK, Astralis are sitting pretty ahead of Malmö as one of the elite teams that didn't make changes in the off-season. That may become a double-edged sword like we discussed earlier when talking about the Brazilians, as some of the new teams will be tough to read.

Nevertheless, Astralis are looking good for another top-four finish at least. In the group, they'll have to beat one of Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere to place first, which, if they do, is bound to yield them a favorable match-up in the quarter-finals.

One would hate to see another SK-Astralis-type situation happening early again, so let's cross our fingers and hope the favorites avoid upsets in groups so that we can enjoy a match-up like that further on in the bracket.

Virtus.pro (#8)	Age	Rating 2.0
Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski	24	1.09
Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski	29	1.09
Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński	23	1.05
Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski	30	1.00
Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas	31	0.91
Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	PGL Major Krakow
15th-16th	ESL One Cologne
1st	Adrenaline Cyber League
2nd	ELEAGUE Clash for Cash

Oh, Virtus.pro... Whenever we talk about the Poles, the same things pop up again and again — we have no idea whether they'll show up to play and become a title contender or bomb out early.

Such has been TaZ's squad's story for a couple of years now, but 2017's events have given us fewer and fewer reasons to believe they'll ever again become an elite team consistently.

From March to mid-July, Virtus.pro bombed out of three big events in a row before we saw a hint of the old plow returning at the Major… and then it was gone in a flash during the Immortals semi-final, when the Polish powerhouse was nowhere to be seen again.

Once again, we find ourselves wondering if VP will show up or bomb out early

If there's one thing we took away from their history — and this is something they agree with —, VP and longer breaks between events don't agree with each other. This time, the break is not that long, a little over a month, so there's hope for Snax's team yet.

We should be able to see quite quickly which box they'll belong in during the Swedish tournament, as they'll face the new Natus Vincere first, and if they pass that test, Astralis should be next. If we see a determined team at the beginning of groups, then we can start assuming that VP are here to play. If not, well, we already saw at StarSeries what the worst case scenario could be.

Natus Vincere (#11)	Age	Rating 2.0
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	19	1.23
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	20	1.12
Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	29	1.06
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	29	1.00
Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin	22	0.91
Mikhaylo "⁠Kane⁠" Blagin (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
12th-14th	PGL Major Krakow (4/5)
3rd-4th	ESL One Cologne (4/5)
2nd	Adrenaline Cyber League (4/5)
9th-10th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals (4/5)

Na`Vi's 2017 has been somewhat equivalent to North's, filled with either group stage exits or quarter-final losses with just two exceptions at StarSeries and ESL One Cologne, where they made the semi-finals.

Their latest disappointment came at the Major, where they lost their Legends status for the first time in three years, leading to a single lineup change. Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács left of his own accord and Zeus came back after he had been replaced at this point last year, during the off-season.

seized was reportedly on his way out as well, which is supported by the fact that he was placed on a transfer list by the organization, but, in the end, the Russian player stayed on. 

What can Zeus do to bring Na`Vi back to the top?

And that might be for the best, provided seized is capable of returning to his old self before the weight of leadership brought him down. Now that Zeus is taking over, the Russian player can theoretically return to more familiar grounds, but we have seen other players stagger due to the loss of confidence and never get back on their feet.

seized is one of the question marks we'll be looking to get answers to in Malmö. Many are also wondering about Na`Vi's style, with Zeus back in the picture, and what s1mple's part as the primary AWPer will look like. After a year's tenure on Gambit, the Ukrainian leader may have found a different approach, so keep your eye on Natus Vincere's pace at DreamHack Masters.

Renegades (#21)	Age	Rating 2.0
Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage	21	1.15
Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis	19	1.10
Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac	24	1.07
Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward	24	1.04
David "⁠Jayzwalkingz⁠" Kempner	20	0.97
Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Atlanta (4/5)
12th-14th	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier (4/5)
1st	Asia Minor - PGL Major Krakow (4/5)

Renegades are yet another team debuting in Malmö, after their second addition of 2017, Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković, was removed following a turbulent period for the team, who were unable to improve their results.

The Australian-American mixture have welcomed another youngster, Jayzwalkingz, who used to be the primary AWPer in his teams but has now moved to a secondary role as  Nifty prioritizes the big green gun.

Jayzwalkingz is struggling in his new role

The former fnatic Academy player has so far been struggling in his new role, which doesn't look good for RNG and their debut at DreamHack Masters.

Astralis, Natus Vincere, and Virtus.pro are all tough teams to have in your group whoever you are, and Renegades certainly haven't given us any reason to believe they'll have a chance amongst the three giants.

Group C

Gambit (#3)	Age	Rating 2.0
Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	27	1.17
Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	25	1.17
Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov	23	1.14
Bektiyar "⁠fitch⁠" Bahytov	25	1.14
Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	29	1.02

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	PGL Major Krakow (4/5)
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Summer (4/5)

As the only group that includes more than two debuting teams, Group C will be particularly exciting. Gambit are one of them after the dramatic loss of Zeus, who decided to return to Natus Vincere once the Major winners cut coach Kane.

Another Kazakh player made his way over to Gambit from Tengri, as fitch joined to try out for the current world No.3 team, but it's AdreN who has taken up leadership after Zeus left, which he admits is a tough task.

The pressure is on AdreN to take leadership after Zeus

We're looking at a hard adjustment period for Gambit, who now have their star player making the calls, but their debut in Malmö may not be a lost cause. Two more teams in their group, MOUZ and FaZe, will be in a similar situation, and Ninjas in Pyjamas haven't proven themselves a great team just yet.

We simply can't know how this group will pan out, but everything suggests it'll be a close affair between the four of them.

FaZe (#6)	Age	Rating 2.0
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	20	1.21
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	23	1.11
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	26	1.07
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	25	1.02
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	27	0.91
Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
15th-16th	PGL Major Krakow (3/5)
3rd-4th	ESL One Cologne (3/5)
2nd	ECS Season 3 Finals (3/5)

Despite a fantastic period leading up to the Major, when FaZe made four finals in a row and added a semi-final run at ESL One Cologne, the European squad were shockingly swept from the Krakow event in just three matches.

Whatever FaZe's reasons for making changes were — and it's hard to see just that one poor campaign being the sole cause —, they waved Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey goodbye to make room for GuardiaN and olofmeister.

The two new players are not only part of the same HLTV meme, they are undoubtedly among the best in the game's history, but both have struggled to put up the same numbers since their injuries and breaks in early 2016. Hints of their old selves have peeked out every now and then, as was the case with GuardiaN at ESL One Cologne, but they have not been able to keep it up tournament-to-tournament.

FaZe's new look will hopefully be nothing like this

That doesn't even need to change in FaZe for them to get some more titles, as long as they keep a steady level and peak every now and then to help rain and NiKo with the workload. As karrigan pointed out, the peak of all of his players is now through the roof, but it's practically impossible for all four to be at their best at all times.

It shouldn't be a stretch to say that FaZe will play quite loosely. They already did so with the previous lineup, and now they have at least one more playmaker in olofmeister, so the biggest question is if karrigan can find a way to give everyone the room they need.

ICYMI - karrigan: "The feeling in this team is something special, something unique"

Ninjas in Pyjamas (#13)	Age	Rating 2.0
Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund	27	1.28
Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg	29	1.25
William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin	21	1.24
Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner	19	1.16
Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström	26	1.05
Björn "⁠THREAT⁠" Pers (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	DreamHack Open Valencia
5th-8th	ESL One Cologne

When it comes to adjustment periods, Ninjas in Pyjamas have a head start in this group as they've already had a couple of months and two tournaments to test things out with REZ and go over the entire map pool.

And while we have to consider the level of competition Ninjas in Pyjamas faced at their latest event, DreamHack Open Valencia, it appears as though their move from Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg to REZ has reinvigorated GeT_RiGhT.

DreamHack's new coaching rules should relieve some weight off Xizt

What's more, THREAT will now be able to travel with the team after finishing his studies, and he will have a bigger role in Malmö as well, thanks to DreamHack now allowing coaches to talk during freeze time.

That will probably be of most help to the Swedes more than anyone else, as they were one of the teams who made the switch to a leading coach in 2016 before Valve shut that option down later on in the year.

MOUZ (#17)	Age	Rating 2.0
Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi	23	1.18
Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný	26	1.16
Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool	17	1.04
Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong	27	0.95
Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk	21	0.92
Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
12th-14th	PGL Major Krakow (3/5)
9th-11th	ESL One Cologne (3/5)
1st-2nd	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier (3/5)
5th-6th	DreamHack Open Summer (3/5)
5th-6th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals (3/5)

MOUZ entered the off-season following a couple of unsuccessful campaigns, leaving ESL One Cologne and PGL Major Krakow in groups. Changes were to be expected, although perhaps not two at the same time.

It's no secret that their aim was to get both suNny and Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas, but even without the latter, the boost in firepower is definitely still there, and they now may have a better defined team with STYKO, who can fill the shoes of Denis "⁠denis⁠" Howell in a more supportive role and help out with leadership.

Group C is wide open

Similarly to Ninjas in Pyjamas, the coaching changes revealed by DreamHack will also help MOUZ in that aspect, as lmbt can now have a more hands-on approach, which he'll definitely take advantage of as much as he can.

The group is wide open and any combination of the four teams can go through.MOUZ may be the last seed, but we should expect them to at least put up a fight.

Group D

Immortals (#4)	Age	Rating 2.0
Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles	22	1.11
Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles	22	1.08
Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass	20	1.07
Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe	22	1.04
Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes	23	1.01
Rafael "⁠zakk⁠" Fernandes (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
2nd	PGL Major Krakow
12th-14th	ESL One Cologne
6th-8th	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Summer
2nd	Americas Minor - PGL Major Krakow
9th-10th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals

The Brazilian squad would have been expected to come into Malmö with plenty of confidence on the back of their best result yet, the runners-up finish at the PGL Major Krakow.

However, three of the team's players considered leaving Immortals to join up with Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau again, leaving the scene wondering as to what would happen after the Major. We'll have to wait to see how much the disagreements have affected the squad, but it must have caused turmoil between the players weeks before their first post-break appearance.

Even if Group D in Malmö looks like the easiest on paper, G2 are still a team to fear, and no one knows what to expect from the new fnatic. Immortals will first face the Swedes, which should already give us an idea of where the Brazilians stand after the off-season drama.

G2 (#5)	Age	Rating 2.0
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	22	1.14
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	23	1.07
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	20	1.02
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	25	1.00
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	24	0.98
Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
9th-11th	PGL Major Krakow
5th-8th	ESL One Cologne
1st-2nd	PGL Major Krakow Main Qualifier
5th-6th	ECS Season 3 Finals
1st	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals

Another top-tier team that has so far managed to stay intact are G2, who had a brief successful period in May, winning DreamHack Open Tours and ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals.

The Frenchmen then qualified for the Major with three wins in a row, but their Krakow journey ended in disappointment, a 2-3 record in the group stage that left them without a Legends spot once again.

G2 need some confidence back after the disappointment in Krakow

G2 will be looking to get some confidence back after that campaign, and Group D at DreamHack Masters Malmö is a good way to start. With Immortals in disarray and fnatic playing their debut after adding two new players, shox & co. are looking like a lock for playoffs.

They first need to pass the French derby with Envy, and as we've learned throughout the years, these matches can be treacherous, especially in the French scene. If they do so, NBK-'s side should go through to the playoffs with the higher seed, which should earn them a favorable match-up in the quarter-finals.

Envy (#12)	Age	Rating 2.0
Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom	23	1.15
Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy	28	1.15
Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer	25	1.03
Alexandre "⁠xms⁠" Forté	20	1.03
Christophe "⁠SIXER⁠" Xia	26	1.00
Damien "⁠maLeK⁠" Marcel (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
1st	DreamHack Open Atlanta
3rd-4th	DreamHack Open Valencia
4th	Europe Minor - PGL Major Krakow
5th-6th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals

After Envy' failure at the Europe Minor, which they were expected to pass, the team around Happy was able to recover and go on a title-winning campaign in Atlanta, which featured GODSENT, Renegades and HEROIC, among others.

The French-Belgian roster has also been great online. After qualifying for Malmö in July, Envy came back from the break and made it to three more events within ten days: ESG Tour Mykonos, ESL One New York, and ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier.

EnVyUs will have a busy September

We'll see plenty of EnVyUs in the coming weeks, with their first endeavor being DreamHack Masters Malmö. The stakes are higher for Envy than they had been for months as this will be their first big event since ESL Pro League Season 5 in May and only the second with this lineup.

Envy are by no means favored to make playoffs here, but, having been matched up against G2 in a best-of-one, rather than a series later on, their chances are quite good. Naturally, G2 aren't the only team in the group and there are also Immortals and fnatic to consider, but the Swedes have the odds stacked against them, and steel's squad may not be in their best mindset.

ICYMI - Happy: "We know how to win, we just need to go for it with all we have"

fnatic (#15)	Age	Rating 2.0
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	22	1.09
Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim	23	1.04
Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson	24	1.02
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	23	0.99
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	24	0.95
Jimmy "⁠Jumpy⁠" Berndtsson (coach)

Offline placings in the last three months
5th-8th	PGL Major Krakow (3/5)
9th-11th	ESL One Cologne (3/5)
7th-8th	ECS Season 3 Finals (3/5)
2nd	DreamHack Open Summer (3/5)
7th-8th	ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals (3/5)

fnatic's journey in the last three months has hardly been a successful one, so it wasn't a big surprise to see olofmeister leave for FaZe and Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman for GODSENT, leaving room for two new players.

Lekr0 swapping with dennis was just another edition of the shenanigans between fnatic and GODSENT, but the addition of an in-game leader from the ranks of the Academy team is another story entirely.

Golden should bring a fresh perspective to fnatic

flusha was clearly not content with in-game leading anymore, so it makes sense to add Golden. There probably weren't many other options, unless the Swedes wanted a reunion with Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten.

fnatic have been making it work in the Pro League thus far, with a 5-1 record, but nothing else points to a deep run being possible for JW's team. Nevertheless, keep an eye on their style and pace with Golden at the helm, as the new player should bring a fresh perspective on things into the old guard.