DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 is a tier 1 CS:GO event scheduled to take place in Dallas, US between May 28th – June 2nd. The tournament has all the features of a premium CS:GO competition, offering $250.000 in prizes and bringing together 16 of the world’s best teams.
DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 Participants
No less than 10 of the 16 participants will receive a direct invite. The other 6 will need to qualify and 4 of them have already done that. We will analyze these 4 teams as well as a few others that are pretty much guaranteed to get invited.
Windigo Gaming
This is a remarkable tier 2 team that’s quickly becoming a tier 1 competitor on the CS:GO scene. By the looks of things, much of this unexpected rise to prominence has to do with Shockwave, Windigo’s former analyst and current trial coach. He managed to take a group of players that had won only some tier 3 events in their entire history with the team and led them to a massive tournament title: WESG 2018-2019.
Immediately after winning this prestigious competition, Windigo Gaming went on to qualify for this event by taking first place in Europe. It’s still a bit early to say what the Windigo roster is capable of and what it can do when faced with tier 1 opponents, but DreamHack Dallas 2019 should be an excellent test for Shockwave and his crew.
Based on their recent results, we expect them to finish 9th – 12th. If they manage to do this, it would be a very solid result for a team that has only recently started to show signs of real strength.
G2 Esports
G2 Esports is on the rise again, after a very poor season in 2018. They’re currently ranked 13th globally and all the signs of a real recovery are there: they’re qualifying for tier 1 events again and they had a few positive results in recent months. More specifically, they finished 3rd at WESG 2018-2019 and 12th – 14th at the IEM Katowice Major.
There’s only one question mark regarding G2 right now. And that’s their recent roster change. AMANEK replaced bodyy at the beginning of March and the team will have to adjust to this change. So far they’ve shown clear signs that they can play very well in this new formation. After all, the 3rd place finish at WESG was registered after bodyy’s departure.
Going into DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, we expect G2 Esports to finish around 9th – 12th. With a bit of luck, they might be able to climb a bit higher, but it’s unlikely that they’ll make the Playoffs.
Isurus Gaming
Isurus Gaming is the winner of the South American qualifier. Apart from that, very little is known about this Argentinian squad. We haven’t seen them at any serious event in recent times and they are unlikely to do anything at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, simply because the competitive level will be at least two divisions above theirs. With that in mind, you should regard this team as one of the perfect ones to bet against.
FURIA Esports
We’ve seen very little from FURIA Esports this year. The high points were their 2nd place at Americas Minor Championship Katowice 2019 and their 20th – 22nd place at this Major, where they failed quite miserably but at least participated. Which is no small feat for a tier 2 team. A third positive result was, of course, their 1st place finish in the North American qualifier for DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019.
In spite of these few moments of triumph, we don’t see FURIA climbing higher than 9th – 12th at this tournament and it’s very likely that they’ll finish 13th – 16th. The level of competition will be simply too high.
Teams Yet To Be Invited To DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019
These are some of the teams that are not currently listed among the 16 participants but will certainly be once the announcements are made.
Team Liquid
Team Liquid is looking great right now. In fact, they look even stronger than they did under zews and TACO. Stewie2K and his teammates are hungry to win big trophies and just like last season, their main opponent is Astralis.
In recent months, we’ve seen Liquid get closer to the Danes in terms of skill and the Grand Finals between these two sides are getting more exciting as a result. The latest of these encounters took place at BLAST Pro Series: Sao Paulo 2019, where Astralis won after being one map down.
Team Liquid is pretty much guaranteed a spot at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, simply because they’re the best team in North America and the tournament is taking place on their home soil. Both from a business and a show perspective, the organizers would have no excuse for not inviting them.
As for the team’s chances, once they get invited, we expect them to finish in the top 4. They might be capable of playing in another Grand Final, but that’s not a certainty when so many other good teams will be present at the event. However, a place in the Semifinals should definitely be within their reach, considering how strong they’ve been lately.
Cloud9
Cloud9 is the other North American team with excellent past results and a lot to prove, so we’re quite certain about their participation at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 as well.
However, unlike Liquid, C9 is quite fragile right now. No less than 4 C9 members departed in less than a month: flusha, Zellsis, valens (the coach) and kioShiMa. All of them left the team and either got replaced or are about to be replaced. The main issue here is that we don’t see any options that would allow Cloud9 to maintain a high competitive level. This is practically the post-shuffle period and C9 simply missed the main transfer window that followed the IEM Katowice Major.
One thing to note about Cloud9’s roster is the reactivation of Golden. He’s known to be a solid captain and will likely have a positive impact on the team’s performance, but we fear it may not be enough. The coach, Rambo, has never coached a top-level team before while one of the players has never played for a tier one team before. Not to mention the fact that Cloud9 still needs to find a 5th player.
The situation is messy but keep in mind that there are two more months until DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019. So by the time the announcements are made, Cloud9 will probably have its house in order and will be able to take part in the event. If they do, we expect them to finish around 9th – 12th.
Astralis
And finally, a 3rd team that’s not on the list but will certainly be once the announcements are made is Astralis. That’s because they’re the best team in the world and have been for more than a year. As a result, having them at an event like DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 would give the tournament the prestige and hype that it needs to attract as many viewers as possible.
If Astralis does get invited, and they absolutely should, we expect them to win the competition. Right now, we see no signs that dev1ce and his squad may have lost their edge or motivation to win.
