Spirit eliminate Fiend from DreamHack Masters Spring; Gambit secure playoff spot over G2

G2 and Spirit will play their next matches in the lower bracket semi-finals, while Gambit have only the upper bracket final left to play in the group stage.

The first round of DreamHack Masters Spring best-of-three series, pitting the winners and losers of the first opening best-of-one matches of the day, has come to an end. Gambit defeated G2 in three maps in the upper bracket, while Spirit knocked Fiend out of the competition in a lower bracket match that nearly went the way of the Bulgarians in two maps.

Gambit’s victory means they have now secured a playoff berth after two opening day wins, and have just one more group stage match to play, the Group A upper bracket final, which will decide if they can make it straight to the semi-finals or if they will instead have to fight their way through the quarter-finals.

The No. 1 team in the world got off to a brilliant start in their series with two of its stars, Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov, tearing through the G2 defenses on Mirage, getting an 11-4 lead in a map that they were able to close out in a hurry, 16-8. The Russians put a lot of pressure on the attacking side of their own pick, Train, in a match that was starting to seem reminiscent of their 2-0 victory at IEM Katowice, but G2 punched back on the attack and won the map 16-13 to force a decider. Ultimately, however, it was Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and company who were able to dominate on Dust2, 16-4, to secure their presence in the playoffs.

Spirit, who suffered a painful overtime defeat on Mirage at the hands of G2 in the opening round of DreamHack Masters Spring, struggled to contain the fiery Bulgarians of Fiend on the same map, as Kamen "⁠bubble⁠" Kostadinov and co. took a 10-5 lead on the attack which they were able to turn into a 16-9 victory on the defending side.

Fiend put on another display on the attacking side of Overpass, once again going up 10-5 at the half, but this time the map went all the way to the wire and the Bulgarian squad were unable to close out two map points, giving Spirit an opening to keep the series alive with an OT win. Fiend’s fuel finally ran out on Nuke, where Spirit put up a 12-3 half on the attack that served as enough cushion to close the map and series out, 16-6.

Gambit are now off until Sunday, when they will play the upper bracket final in a derby against the winner of Natus Vincere vs. Virtus.pro, while the loser of the match will go down to the lower bracket to play in another CIS derby against Spirit. For Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and company their first lower bracket match will come on Friday against one of two international squads, MOUZ or FaZe.