Violent Roses and Cyberstorm Blue qualify for DreamHack Showdown Winter
This past weekend the qualifier for DreamHack Showdown Winter was completed and earlier today DreamHack released the opening round matchups for the event. The higher seeded qualifier team, Violent Roses, will face Dignitas fe and the lower seeded squad from Cyberstorm Blue will face the defending champions, CLG Red.
Three of the four teams in the qualifier received first round byes, leaving goodjuju and Blackpink to square off for a semifinal spot. The first map, Dust2, went the full thirty rounds, but Inferno saw goodjuju dismantle Blackpink. They jumped out to an 11-4 halftime lead and conceded no second-half rounds to move on with a 2-0 sweep. Lily "ProMise9k" Chen led all players with 47 kills in the series.
In the first semifinal Cyberstorm Blue, formerly Able White during DreamHack Showdown Summer, got out to a quick 1-0 series lead after they doubled up goodjujus on Inferno. Julie "Bouchard" Bouchard and Somalie "smiLey" Audet each contributed 19 eliminations to Cyberstorm Blue's cause.
Things were closer in the second map, goodjuju forced Bouchard and friends to a full thirty rounds, largely thanks to a 30 kill performance from "elle". goodjuju came all the way back from 15-8 but couldn't deny Cyberstorm Blue their eighth match point and were unable to force a third map. Cyberstorm Blue punched their ticket to their second straight DreamHack Showdown event as a roster, but their first under their new banner.
In the second semifinal Violent Roses sneaked out an 8-7 lead after their T-side on Inferno and then won six of their first seven defensive rounds to jump out to a 14-8 lead. Stephanie "missharvey" Harvey and That's what she said battled all the way back to a 15-13 deficit but just couldn't find the last couple of rounds to force overtime. "RuNe" led Violent Roses with 23 kills in the win, but it was "Blender" for That's what she said who led the server with 28 frags in the loss.
Things didn't get better for That's what she said on Mirage, they snagged an early 3-0 lead but then fell apart and trailed 10-5 at the half. Violent Roses reached match point before That's what she said could tally a second half round and only needed two attempts to punch their ticket to the main event. Samantha "Samantha" M. led all players with 23 eliminations in the win while missharvey led her side with 15 kills in the loss.
A best-of-one was then played between Cyberstorm Blue and Violent Roses to determine seeding for the main event. Cyberstorm Blue watched their slim 8-7 halftime deficit spiral out of control as they only managed to stop the Violent Roses attack twice in the second half. Samantha led the charge for the victors once again with 27 kills to secure the top qualifier seed. Ashley "Giraffe" Kelly put up 22 frags for Cyberstorm Blue in the loss.
The final results of the open qualifier are:
1st - 
Violent Roses (RuNe, Andrea, ashe, kyler, Senna) - Qualified
2nd - 
Cyberstorm Blue (smiLey, Bouchard, Kimmy, Giraffe, Snowwi) - Qualified
3-4th - 
That's what she said (missharvey, minnieyo, Blender, Pinecone, Cirrus)
3-4th - goodjujus (cy, flora, elle, Moogs, ProMise9k)
5th - Blackpink (Sofia, vanessa, cara, Slayyyy, badbuhnny)
The full qualifier bracket can be found here.
DreamHack Showdown Winter will begin next Tuesday with Dignitas fe versus Violent Roses at 2PM EST. The event will feature a double-elimination bracket made up entirely of best-of-three series, you can find the full schedule here.
