DreamHack Valencia 2017 preview

The next summer tournament DreamHack — DreamHack Valencia 2017 is going to start on July 14. You can find the information about the chances of the teams in this article.

[General information]

The organizers of the tournament in Valencia, is the company that is one of the most experienced in holding esports championships, DreamHack. Their previous tournament was DreamHack Summer 2017, where Brazilian team SK Gaming took the first place.

DreamHack Valencia 2017 is going to be held on July 14 – 16, and the prize pool of the event is $100,000. 8 teams will divide the prize. 5 of the teams received direct invites, while other three teams were determined during the qualifiers in Europe, North America and Iberian.

List of participants:

Direct invites

Counter Logic Gaming
Team EnVyUs
Heroic
Misfits
Ninjas in Pyjamas

Qualifiers

Red Reserve (Europe)
NRG eSports (North America)
KPI Gaming (Iberian)

[Analysis of participants]

All teams except for NiP, CLG and EnVyUs are rather weak and are not at the peak of their playing condition.

The organizers have already announced seeding, so taking into consideration this information it is possible to analyze the teams and make a prognosis for their results.

Seeding of participants into groups:

Team EnVyUs
Misfits
Heroic
KPI Gaming

Group B

Counter Logic Gaming
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Red Reserve
NRG eSports

8 place — KPI Gaming

A Spanish team, that was created on September 1 of the previous year, managed to earn ~$23,000 for 10 months of existence. This is not a significant result, taking into consideration the fact that the team claims to be called a professional esports team. The biggest achievements of the team is winning of ESL Masters España - Spring 2017 (~$8,500). Comparing to other participants of the event, KPI Gaming is a new team on the professional arena. To my opinion, Spanish team will end the participation on the last place both in the tournament table and in the group stage.

7 place — Misfits

CS:GO roster of Misfits was created on January 14, 2017. For 6 months of existence, sgares and the team won $40,000. Their most prominent result is 10th place on ESL Pro League Season 5 North America ($17,500). Comparing to other opponents, Misfits as well as KPI Gaming look not competitive enough, so they will hardly take 7th place. In their group, Misfits also look rather weak, admiring the fact that there are such strong teams as Team EnVyUs and Heroic. It should be mentioned, that Team EnVyUs and Heroic are the favorites of the event.

6 place — Red Reserve

Currently, Red Reserve does not have some significant winnings. The biggest achievement is the second place on GeForce Cup 2017 ($7,000), but with joining of Mikail «Maikelele» Bill, the results of the team became better. Red Reserve should demonstrate themselves in a positive light. We should not ignore the fact that there are Ninjas in Pyjamas and Counter Logic Gaming in their group, and they have more chances to get into the play-off, but with the well-prepared strategies and paid enough efforts, Red Reserve can beat Counter Logic Gaming.

5 place — NRG eSports

NRG eSports got CS:GO roster on January 22 of the previous year by signing ex-Method. For a year and a half of existence, they managed to win about $200,000. The best result is 11-12 place on ESL Pro League Season 5 - Finals ($32,000). NRG eSports have enough strong opponents in this tournament, therefore, it is more likely that CLG or Ninjas in Pyjamas will pass the group stage in Group B instead of NRG.

4 place — Team EnVyUs

Being one of the most experienced team in Team EnVyUs is one of the main favorites to get into the play-off. Their latest results are not very stable, but considering their opponents, Team EnVyUs should pass the group stage and fight for the place in Grand-final.

3 place — Counter Logic Gaming

An American team Counter Logic Gaming opens the three favorite teams. CLG are currently not at the peak of their condition, and that’s rather obvious. Expect for the that, Counter Logic Gaming are in the list of the most experienced teams, and their total winnings exceed the number of rewards of all other teams. If Counter Logic Gaming will keep demonstrating the same game, they will definitely get into the play-off, and the team will manage to compete for the place in Grand Final and even fight for the main prize of $50,000.

2 place — Heroic

The European roster became one of the five teams that received direct invites to the tournament. After the triumph on International Gaming League 2016 - Grand Finals, the team did not manage to get any trophy. To win DreamHack Valencia 2017, Marco «Snappi» Pfeiffer and a team should pay enormous efforts, as they will meet rather strong opponents in the tournament. In their group, Team EnVyUs and Heroic are the main favorites to get into play-off. I predict they will take the second place.

1 place — Ninjas in Pyjamas

The main favorite for winning DreamHack Valencia 2017 is a Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas. Their results as the results of many other teams cannot be called stable, but their experience proves they should get into the play-off and Grand-final. Comparing to Ninjas in Pyjamas, other teams do not look strong enough.

See also: The participants of closed qualifiers to DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 announced

Team EnVyUs and KPI Gaming will open the first day of the event, that will take place on July 13 at 11:00 in UTC +0. The group stage will be held on July 13 – 14. On July 15, all play-off matches will be played.