by Sören “Fantasy” Vendsahm
One of the biggest LAN events in the yearly calendar for the esports circuit has come to an end, as the Elmia closed it’s doors on Sunday morning to conclude their winter festivities. For compLexity Gaming the doors were also closed on a successful weekend for two teams, as coL.Hearthstone and coL.Overwatch had journeyed to the heart of Sweden to compete at the prestigious event.
For Overwatch it was a bag of mixed emotions that had every up and down a tournament could possibly offer. After a solid start to the competition on Friday afternoon against Penta, the squad was matched up with the tournament favorites of Ninjas in Pyjamas – a clash that even tested the Blizzard server structure. A hidden Sombra pick pushed the game to, and over, the brink on several occasions, many times placing coL in an advantageous position. Six restarts of the maps later and midnight was closer in Sweden than the conclusion of the game. Anticlimactically, the bout was finished off-stream and off-stage with NiP taking the win and securing the top spot in the group.
After a good night’s sleep, it took Harbleu and the guys a bit of warming up to get back in their groove for the rematch with Penta – a task they mastered with tenacity, showing no nerves after falling early in the series.
Misfits was up next in the Semifinals, in the second back-to-back elimination game the boys in red and black had to face. Misfits, with their use of snipers, proved to be a mismatch, ending the tumultuous run of coL.OW on the DreamHack Winter 2016 stage.
Away from the fast-paced action of Overwatch in Hall D, the Auditorium area was the place for the slow and methodical grind of the DreamHack Grand Prix in Hearthstone. On thursday, one hundred ninety ambitious cardslingers from all parts of the globe gathered to start the long journey through nine Swiss rounds to make the Top 16 cut. With six players competing, compLexity Gaming was one of the largest teams there, with new recruits Tyler and Casie making their open tournament debut.
Through Day 1 the story was focused on two of the coL players retaining a spotless record of 6-0, with superjj and Loyan both getting off to fantastic starts. Next to them it was DreamHack Valencia 2016 runner-up Crane ending Day 1 with a 4-2 record and chances to reach the playoffs still intact. The rest of the bunch couldn’t avoid three losses in the first six games, putting an end to their run at DreamHack – alongside more than 60% of the field.
Day 2 started like Day 1 ended – with superjj winning again and clinching the playoff spot as the first player of the entire tournament – the last undefeated player after seven rounds were in the book. Loyan on the other side took a little hit to drop to 6-1, but rallied back to 7-1 in the next matchup to also secure a Top 16 spot.
The intriguing setup of two coL pros reaching the Top 16 and being seeded opposite of each other in the bracket had dreams of two deep runs sparking – unceremoniously crushed as saturday rolled around and reaching the Top 8 marked the end of the line for both. First it was superjj being swept by the ZooLock of Weghuz, and then it was Loyan getting out-tempoed by TheFallen and his Mage every step of the way. Still, both players accomplished an incredible feat, surviving three days in the fierce competition, walking away with money and the first valuable HCT points for the new season.
The shining end of a successful DreamHack tournament was created by German player Mryagut in the ultimate redemption story. On thursday his dreams of making a deep run through the main event went up in flames, with Tempo Mage letting him down in three rounds – eliminating him early. Around came the side event, lineup adjustments, and suddenly the young player was unstoppable. 8-0 through Swiss, 3-0 through the bracket stage, 11-0 to a DreamHack side event championship to redeem himself in a hurry.
At first it was almost too picture perfect, with the Grand Finals against Greek veteran player Dethelor going down 0-2 very early against Mryagut, but a rally back to even the score set up a Druid mirror match for all the marbles. In the end it was an unanswered Ragnaros burning the last remaining hopes of Dethelor – securing Mryagut the title and a nice chunk of money.
In the end compLexity takes home one championship, a 3rd/4th place in Overwatch, and two 5th/8th spots in the stacked Hearthstone Grand Prix event. A great outing all around at the last DreamHack of 2016 – a full season with three US events and Sweden, Germany, Romania, France, and Spain in 2017 is already waiting in the wing.