OpTic to DH Open Summer grand final over North

OpTic have become the first grand finalists at DreamHack Open Summer after defeating North 2-1 in the semis (16-11 on Inferno, 13-16 on Mirage, and 22-18 on Train).

The Danish derby kicked off on Inferno with North starting on the T-side and picking up the first three rounds with relative ease as they lost only three players in total. The first weapon round saw Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke get a crucial quad-kill to give OpTic their first round (3-1).

The back-and-forth half, in which neither team could run away with it, ended with another k0nfig quad-kill which gave the lead to OpTic for the first time in the game (8-7). North started their CT-side by picking up three rounds in a row to reclaim the lead, largely thanks to Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup and Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye's kills (10-8).

Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen and k0nfig found entry kills in the first weapon round as OpTic secured their ninth round. René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg & co. only lost one round after that, winning the map 16-11 and taking the 1-0 series lead in the semi-finals.

The second map was Mirage. OpTic picked up the pistol round despite having a 2vs4 disadvantage as JUGi finished off the round with a 1vs2 clutch. North's response came in the shape of Deagles in the following round which they won with Kjaerbye and Daniel "⁠mertz⁠" Mertz's double kills.

North put eight more rounds on the board but their streak was brought to an end by Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade's quad kill in the 11th round (9-2). Off the back of this round win, OpTic recovered and trailed 10-5 at halftime after having been down 9-1 previously.

The k0nfig quad-kills kept coming as this time he got one in the second half pistol round. The gap was cut to only two rounds after OpTic won the anti-ecos but North were victorious in the first weapon round, making it 11-8.

k0nfig got another quad-kill in the 21th round, when OpTic were on a full-eco, and secured the round with a defuse. North were leading 14-13 when they picked up the 28th round with only CZ75s, earning two map points. They closed it out 16-13, taking the series to the third map.

OpTic opened Train on the CT-side, winning the first four rounds with a defuse. North couldn't get on the board until the seventh round when aizy and Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså found opening kills. However, they were reset immediately and OpTic secured five rounds in a row.

OpTic closed out the half 13-2 with a quad kill from k0nfig in the 15th round. North matched OpTic's performance in the second half and took it to overtime. OpTic won the map 22-18 after two overtimes, taking the series 2-1 and advancing to the grand final at DreamHack Open Summer 2018.