Kinguin win DreamHack Montreal over ENCE
The last day of DreamHack Montreal kicked off with a Polish derby between AGO and Kinguin. Kinguin were quick to dismantle AGO on Dust2, taking the first map 16-4 with Karol "rallen" Rodowicz leading the charge.
Kinguin's performance continued onto Train, the second map of the series. While AGO were able to build up some rounds in the first half, Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas shut AGO down in the second half, taking the second map 16-8 and the series 2-0, moving Kinguin up to the grand finals.
The second team to meet Kinguin in the grand finals was determined shortly afterwards in the second semifinal of the bracket. Despite appearing to be one of, if not the, strongest team at the event, ENCE were crushed by Imperial on Mirage, with Imperial taking the first map in the series 16-2.
After an uncharacteristic loss by ENCE, the Finns rebounded on Dust2, taking the lead in the first half 11-4. Imperial fought back in the second half, attempting to reclaim the dominance of Mirage. Nearly pushing the game into overtime at 14-15, ENCE wrapped up the map by taking the 30th round, tying the series 1-1 with a 16-14 win on Dust2.
With the series tied 1-1, both teams were neck-and-neck on Train, with ENCE taking the lead in the first half 10-5. In the second half, Imperial reversed the scoreline, nearly taking the map 15-11 in a 5v2 before ENCE clutched out the round and pushed the game into overtime. Taking overtime to the full four rounds, Aleksi "allu" Jalli finally closed the map in his team's favor 19-17, giving ENCE the series 2-1 and moving them on to the grand finals.
Just two teams remained in the grand finals: Kinguin and ENCE. The series kicked off on Nuke, with Kinguin taking the early lead on the CT-side. Still, ENCE fought tooth-and-nail on the T-side, with Kinguin just taking a sliver of a lead at halftime 8-7. Kinguin fought back in the second half, taking another 8 rounds on the T-side to give them the first map 16-14.
On Dust2, rallen and Jacek "MINISE" Jeziak continued to lead their team, taking the lead in the first half 9-6. Kinguin continued to outperform ENCE, taking the second half 16-9 and closing the series 2-0. With their victory over ENCE, Kinguin claim the title at Dreamhack Montreal 2018 and the $50,000 prize.
Here are the final standings for DreamHack Montreal 2018:
- 1st. Kinguin - $50,000
- 2nd. ENCE - $20,000
- 3rd-4th. AGO - $10,000
- 3rd-4th. Imperial - $10,000
- 5-6th. Red Reserve - $3,000
- 5-6th. Luminosity - $3,000
- 7-8th. eUnited - $2,000
- 7-8th. Heroic - $2,000