FURIA await Denial or eUnited in final of DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier
The second day of the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier has concluded, seeing three teams eliminated from the event as two lower bracket semifinals, the upper bracket final, and the losers bracket final all played out.
Luminosity and compLexity were the first two teams to be sent packing, with the Brazilians being handily dealt with by Denial. An offense helmed by Johnny "JT" Theodosiou allowed for the South African squad to roll through Luminosity's CT side on Inferno, with the Brazilians mustering just three rounds in the first half of the map. Little room was granted to Luminosity as just one additional round went their way before Denial closed out their own map pick 16-4.
Denial continued their good form into the start of the second map, Cache, by picking up four of the first five rounds for a 4-1 lead. Luminosity managed to step up to the plate themselves, with Denial managing just one single round in the time it took for Luminosity to put up ten of their own for a 10-5 scoreline at the half.
JT and Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek quickly combined to start the second half off on the right foot, winning seven rounds straight to steal away the lead from their Brazilian opponents at 12-10. Luminosity fought back with four rounds of their own, but Denial were the first to reach match point as they added another trio of rounds to the board. Although Luminosity snagged the 30th round of the map to force overtime, they were unable to prevail as only two rounds went their way before Denial closed out the map 19-17.
The second lower bracket semifinal saw far closer scorelines, with Envy prevailing 2-1 over compLexity after two overtime maps. Envy had a solid start on their own pick of Inferno, mustering a 5-0 lead. compLexity still managed to edge out a win in the half, taking eight of the next ten rounds for their own to narrowly pull ahead 8-7 as the sides swapped over.
Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan's side managed to extend their lead with two more rounds at the start of the second half, but once Envy had rifles on the board the map shifted in their favor. A seven round streak saw Envy steal away the lead, with a trade of rounds allowing for the newly minted roster to grab match point first. compLexity strung together four rounds towards the end of the half to force overtime, where they gave up just one single round before closing out the map 19-16 and moving the series on to their pick of Cache.
Envy once again got off to a solid start, putting up a 7-1 lead on the T side before compLexity began to battle back. Although six of the remaining seven rounds of the half went the way of ShahZaM's side, Envy regained the momentum in the second half for a five-round streak of their own. compLexity managed just three more rounds before Envy closed out the map 16-10, forcing the series to a deciding map of Mirage.
Despite a 3-0 start on the decider, Envy managed just three additional rounds on their CT side of Mirage while compLexity racked up nine of their own. Envy managed to mirror compLexity's performance in the second half, forcing yet another overtime as the two teams fought for survival.
Although compLexity took the first three rounds of overtime without contest, Envy managed to push for a second overtime as they took three rounds straight of their own. Another back-and-forth followed, with the teams once again trading rounds for a third overtime, where Envy finally prevailed by winning three rounds straight for the series victory.
Surprisingly, the upper bracket finals matchup saw the least contention, with FURIA mustering a 12-3 CT half on Train against eUnited before eventually closing out the map 16-11. A second 12-3 half, this time on the T side, saw FURIA maintain their momentum into the second map, with Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato and Rinaldo "ableJ" Moda Junior powering their side to a 16-5 finish on Mirage.
The final match to conclude was the lower bracket finals matchup between Denial and Envy, with a tense first two maps giving way to a landslide victory for the South African side on the decider of Cache.
Train saw contention in the first half between the two teams, with Denial initially up 4-0 before Envy fought back to edge out an 8-7 lead at the half. Although the North Americans extended their lead to 13-8 with a string of rounds at the start of the second half, they were unable to cross the finish line as Denial won eight rounds straight to snatch away the map 16-13.
Envy immediately and assertively answered back in the second map, crushing Denial's defense on Inferno for a 12-3 lead at the half. Denial managed a string of four rounds in the second half before Envy swiftly shut them out, taking the series to Cache to decide which team would live to fight another day.
That question was answered almost immediately as Envy won the first two rounds on the T side of Cache, but were shut out for the remainder of the map. Sixteen rounds in a row went the way of Denial to send Envy packing, with Denial advancing to the consolidation final, where eUnited await.
Just two matches remain in the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier, with FURIA having secured a spot in the grand finals with a one map advantage. They will face off against the winner of the consolidation final, which is set to begin at 6 PM EDT tomorrow.