DreamHack Summer 2017 started off with a bang as Immortals upset their big brothers and Counter Logic Gaming outlast the hometown heroes.
Group A
SK Gaming vs. 
Team Singularity
de_Cobble - 16:9 (8:7, 8:2)
The event kicked off with a match between SK Gaming, who are arguably the best team in the world and Team Singularity, an unknown, underdog team from Denmark. SK Gaming started on the CT side and picked up the pistol round as well as the following two anti-eco rounds. Starting with the fourth round, Team Singularity started putting a string of rounds together, taking the lead with a 3:6 score line. However, the Brazilians stroke back and ended the first half with one round lead, 8:7.
The second half started well for the Danes, for they won the pistol round. Unfortunately, they lost the subsequent anti-eco and lost their advantage to the Brazilians. Even when Team Singularity found advantages, SK Gaming cancelled it all with insane plays like Marcelo "coldzera" David's quad kill clutch. SK Gaming quickly closed out the map with 16:9 score.
mousesports vs. Immortals
de_Cobble - 6:16 (5:10, 1:6)
mousesports and Immortals faced off to fight for the Group A winners match spot. Immortals started strong on the CT side with the pistol round win. In the first gun round, mousesports found their first round win and started building their momentum. But it was cut short after only three rounds. Afterwards, not much went the way of mouz as the half ended with 5:10 score in favour of the Brazilians.
The second half started with a glimmer of hope for mouz but, like how it was for the map thus far, mouz's play was countered by Immortals and the map ended with 6:16 score. Vito "kNg" Giuseppe was the top fragger on the server, ending the map with 26 kills and only 9 deaths.
de_Cache - 10:16 (4:11, 6:5)
The Brazilian brawl for the semi-finals spot started with Immortals on the T side and SK Gaming of the CT Side. Immortals started well with the pistol round win, which lead to a 0:4 lead. SK Gaming were able to pick up the fifth round but the underdog Brazilians bounced right back and stretched the lead to 1:11. The big dogs of SK Gaming were only able to scoop out three more rounds and the first half ended with 4:11.
SK Gaming started the second half on a good foot and brought the score to 10:12, thanks to the efforts of Marcelo "coldzera" David. However, Vito "kNg" Giuseppe of Immortals was an utter beast, destroying the supposed big brothers of Brazilian Counter-Strike and dropping the 30 kill bomb. The map ended with 10:16 and Immortals advanced to the playoffs.
Group B
Gambit Esports vs. 
Counter Logic Gaming
de_Overpass - 16:19 (9:6, 6:9, OT1 1:4)
Gambit took the early lead with a pistol round win on the CT side. They seemed to be in good form after being on a hiatus for over a month, as they ended the first half with 9:6.
Counter Logic Gaming put a great fight against the CIS team in the second half as Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland continued to show up for his team. Coming back from his team's loss in the first half, Kenneth "koosta" Suen got a triple kill to earn his team the first map point. But Gambit Esports bounced back immediately and forced overtime.
In overtime, CLG continued to bring their A game while Gambit seemed to crumble. Ultimately, CLG took the map win and a spot in the Group B winners match.
de_Mirage - 16:12 (8:7, 8:5)
Fnatic commenced their first match in front of their home crowd against the North American superstars, Cloud9. Though the pistol round went the way of the Swedes, the first half turned out to be a back-and-forth brawl. A melee between the two teams which resulted in Robin "flusha" Ronnquist knifing Mike "shroud" Grzesiek and Jake "Stewie2k" Yip clutching 1v2, must be the perfect example of how the first half went.
The second half, however, was under the control of the Swedes and they took their first win in the tournament.
Counter Logic Gaming vs. 
Fnatic
de_Train - 31:28 (4:11, 11:4, OT1 3:3, OT2 3:3, OT3 3:3, OT4 3:3, OT5 4:1)
The Group B winners match started with Fnatic on the T side. The pistol round was a brawl but thanks to an incredible clutch by Freddy "KRiMZ" Johansson, Fnatic took the early lead. Fnatic successfully secured the first three rounds, before Counter Logic Gaming got their hands on rifles and stole the first gun round. The match proceeded to be back-and-forth, but Fnatic were the ones to keep a consistent lead in the half. After destroying CLG's economy, Fnatic strolled their way to a dominant end in the first half.
In the second half, Kenneth "koosta" Suen took things into his own hands and started the journey to lessen his team's seven-round deficit from the first half with a quad kill and a pistol round victory. CLG then proceeded to win the subsequent rounds, along with the first gun round, constantly wrecking Fnatic and their economy. With the score tied at 12:12, it was a do or die moment for Fnatic, as their economy was in shambles and if they were to lose with, CLG were almost locked to run away with the win. But to much of Swedish fans' relief, Fnatic managed to win the round and escaped an economy reset. Jesper "JW" Wecksell and Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer implemented a double-AWP set up and brought his team the map point. However, due to their failed attempt to be flashy with a double-shotgun set-up, Fnatic lost the subsequent round. CLG capitalized off Fnatic's economy wreck and forced overtime, as was gifted by Kenneth "koosta" Suen's insane AWP quad kill.
CLG started the overtime with a clean sweep in the first half, which was largely credited to a hero post-plant hold by Pujan "FNS" Mehta. After winning the fourth round of the first overtime, Fnatic sat in a 3v5 disadvantage. It seemed like it was over for the Swedes but Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer picked up three quick insane kills and took his team one round closer to forcing second overtime against Counter Logic Gaming. Fnatic successfully did so and it was time for overtime number two.
Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer continued to be Fnatic's hero in the second overtime, but CLG was just as nutty, putting up a great fight against the Swedes under mountain-like pressure. It was pretty back-and-forth but Fnatic managed to reach map point first. But CLG rose up to the task and forced overtime number three.
Just like how this entire game was, the tug of war continued between Fnatic and Counter Logic Gaming in the third overtime. But before I knew it, it was time for fourth. CLG took the first two rounds of the fourth OT but the third round was for Fnatic, as Jesper "JW" Wecksell denied CLG's attempt to retake the B Site with sick AWP kills. For the fourth time, Fnatic got their hands on match point but for the fourth time, CLG met them with tied score and forced overtime.
Reminiscent of the first overtime, CLG had a clean sweep in the first half of OT5. But this time, Fnatic weren't able to clean sweep on their side too and CLG ultimately ran away with the win and the playoffs spot.
Image courtesy of DreamHack
