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SK Gaming have finished no lower than fourth in their last six events and have won three, including CS-Summit, the Intel Extreme Masters XII, and the ESL Pro League Season 5- North America qualifier.
In three more recent events, they have proven fallible, with Cloud9 beating them in the Subaru Invitational 2017 and G2 Esports coming out on top in the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals.
This will be SK Gaming’s first appearance at a DreamHack event since their second-place finish in the Las Vegas Masters back in February. Due to their excellent form, SK Gaming start as 5/4 favourites to win in Sweden this weekend.
The event has the same format as all other DreamHack events: two four-team groups comprise the opening stage, and the top two teams in each group move forward into playoffs, which consists of a straight knockout semifinal and then the final.
In addition, there is the usual $50,000 for the winner out of a total prize pool of $100,000.
Draws for the group stage
The draw for the group stage has been made:
- Group A – SK Gaming, mousesports, Immortals, Team Singularity
- Group B – Gambit Esports, Fnatic, Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming
It is worth noting that the short odds on SK Gaming are perhaps showing a little too much confidence in the Brazilian-German team. DreamHack Austin winners Gambit Esports are a very talented team, and Cloud9 have a recent win over SK Gaming. Fnatic, Immortals, and mousesports are also capable of pulling off a win.
The action begins Saturday, June 17 with arguably the biggest mismatch possible in the tournament. SK Gaming will take on rank outsiders Team Singularity. This is followed by mousesports vs. Immortals in a much more even second game.
Group B opens with Gambit Esports taking on Counter Logic Gaming, while Fnatic face Cloud9 in what looks to be the most keenly contested opening match.
In addition to offering 5/4 on SK Gaming winning the event, punters can back Fnatic at 4/1, Gambit Gaming at a tempting 11/2, as well as mousesports at 6/1. Outsiders include the two 10/1 chances, Immortals and Cloud9, while Counter Logic Gaming at 33/1 and Team Singularity at 50/1 are the outsiders. All those prices are available right now with Bet365.
In addition, fans can bet with Bet365 on a number of other markets, including the To Reach the Final, Region of Winner, and the Winner’s Group markets.
Americas and CIS Minor Championships decided; Europe this week
Last week, we brought news on the Americas and CIS Minor Championships, which feed into the PGL Major Krakow Qualifier event. This weekend is the European Minor Championship.
Americas results
In the end, the two teams that came through their group stages on top eventually progressed into the qualifier. In Group A, Immortals beat compLexity Gaming and Luminosity Gaming, while in Group B, Cloud9 thumped paiN Gaming 16-1 and beat Counter Logic Gaming 16-12.
Both group winners came through their semifinal 2-0 to set up a clash in the Upper Bracket Final, which Immortals won 2-0. That sent Cloud9 into the Consolidation Final, where they defeated Counter Logic Gaming 2-0 to earn a Grand Final spot and a chance at revenge.
And revenge it was, as Cloud9 beat Immortals 2-1 to claim the $30,000 top prize and a spot in the PGL Major Krakow 2017 Qualifier.
CIS results
Two sides from Group A eventually claimed the two qualifying spots. Vega Squadron and Tengri met three times to eventually decide the winner.
Quantum Bellator Fire and pro100 made it through from Group B, but they were very much second best to the two Group A sides, both losing 2-0. That set up a Vega Squadron-Tengri Upper Bracket Final.
Reversing the result of their group stage meeting, Tengri claimed the first Grand Final spot with a 2-1 win. Vega Squadron then went on to qualify via the Consolidation Final, where they beat pro100 2-1. In the Grand Final, Vega Squadron beat Tengri 2-0 in yet another reversal to take home the top prize and qualify for Krakow.
That means Cloud9, Immortals, Vega Squadron, and Tengri now join Renegades and TyLoo from China as confirmed qualifiers for Krakow. Three more teams will come from this weekend’s European event. More on those results next week.
Image credit: Dreamhack.se
