Fnatic and Vitality advance to the semifinals of DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019

Cover Image Courtesy: DreamHack Counter-Strike | Thumbnail Image Courtesy: Adela Sznajder

The quarterfinals of the DreamHack Masters Malmo 2019 came to an end yesterday with Fnatic and Team Vitality making their way into the semifinals, over NiP and Mouz, respectively. Both the winning teams had to give it their best as both the matches went down to the wire, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats, as they got served some top tier Counter-Strike action.

Fnatic vs NiP

The Swedish rivalry between the two of the best Counter-Strike teams from the country is always a treat, and the derby lived up to all the expectations. It was great seeing the Swedish line-up do some damage at such a big stage after being absent from the scene for some time now. But a refreshed NiP did not go down easy, playing for the first time without GeT_RiGhT they tried their best.

Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson was on fire, as he continued to pummel the opposition along with Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin, who kept pace with him. The two led Fnatic to victories on Dust 2 and Overpass, securing themselves a slot in the semifinals and a match-up against Astralis, who hasn’t dropped a single map yet.

Team Vitality vs mousesports

Following the Swedish derby, this three-game series was the icing on the cake. The two teams took the fight down to the last map, as every game observed close victories for the winning team.

Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut charged from the front as the rest of the squad followed. Richard ‘shox’ Papillon seemed comfortable in the new team as he played really well. Together the French side secured close victories on Mirage and Dust 2, to take the series.

The odd thing was that the teams did not win on their own maps. Mouz did not play bad at all and went head-to-head against a packed French firepower, showing their true strength and potential to go big at future tournaments.

Highlights

• Shox pulls off a great 1v3 clutch on Mirage.
  
  

• Karrigan with the pre-match trash talk.
  
  

• Lekr0 hold connector alone, stopping Fnatic with a triple kill on Overpass.
  
  

• Insane hold by Karrigan on the B-site on Dust 2.
  
  

With this, the day came to an end as the two winning sides go on to face Astralis and Na’Vi in the semifinals. It is going to be tough for the two advancing teams, as they go up against opponents who haven’t lost yet in the tournament. Let’s see who advances to the grand finale.