Cloud9 win DreamHack Denver over BIG

The event began relatively as expected, with the only upsets being BIG beating mousesports and (arguably) Renegades beating CLG. The rest of the group stage however went pretty much as expected, with Cloud9, Renegades, BIG, and mousesports gaining spots in the playoffs.

Due to BIG advanced from group B in first, while mousesports advanced in second, this put mousesports against Cloud9 in the semifinals. The first semifinal however between BIG and Renegades was pretty straightforward. Johannes "nex" Maget was the main star over the series against the Australians, and despite the great play from Noah "Nifty" Francis, BIG trumped Renegades on Cobblestone and Cache to take the series 2-0.

Broken block

The second semifinal, which most thought would be the grand final, was much more contested than the previous one. The first map looked like it would be mousesport's, but at 14-7, Cloud9 began an incredible comeback and won nine rounds in a row to take the game 16-14. Tarik "tarik" Celik was very dominant in this map, and continued to be an integral part in Cloud9's win against mousesports.

mousesports once again got a great start on Mirage, and Cloud9 attempted a comeback from the T side, but Chris "chrisJ" de Jong and Robin "ropz" Kool said no, and closed out map two 16-11. The final map was back and forth the whole time, and eventually went into overtime. In the end, a terrible performance from chrisJ, combined with another monstrous game by tarik and Jake "Stewie2K" Yip put Cloud9 into the grand final.

Broken block

As many brackets turn out these days, the grand final wasn't as close as the semifinals were. Cloud9 handedly won both Cache (16-13) and Train (16-6) against the Germans, with big performances by Will "RUSH" Wierzba, tarik, and Stewie2K, and poor ones by Nikola "LEGIJA" Ninić.

Stewie2K received the HLTV MVP award for the event thanks to his stellar play in both the group stage and the playoffs, being a key component to his team's victory in Denver.

Broken block

Here are the final standings for DreamHack Open Denver:

1. Cloud9 - $50,000
2. BIG - $20,000
3-4. mousesports - $10,000
3-4. Renegades - $10,000
5-6. LDLC - $3,000
5-6. CLG - $3,000
7-8. NRG - $2,000
7-8. Tempo Storm - $2,000