Day 2 of DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 is in the books and there have already been major upsets, with Astralis losing to North and Fnatic eliminated. But one team that’s been performing their best is FaZe – will FaZe win the Intel Grand Slam and get the $1 million prize?
Can @FaZeClan win their final tournament to take home the $1,000,000 for the Intel Grand Slam at CORSAIR DreamHack Masters Stockholm? #DHMasters
Guess we'll find out soon @FaZe_rainCS @karriganCSGO @fazeniko @guardiancsgo @olofmeister @FaZeRobbaN! pic.twitter.com/NGbL8kpas6
— DreamHack Counter-Strike (@DreamHackCSGO) August 10, 2018
The Intel Grand Slam is a competition run by ESL covering ESL, DreamHack, IEM, and EPL events. Any team who gets 4 wins in a 10 event span gets an extra 1 million dollars on top of the event prize pool!
FaZe already have 3 in the past year and had their chance to complete the grand slam at ESL One Cologne before being eliminated by BIG Clan. Is DH Masters Stockholm the one?
NiKo and GuardiaN Go Ham In FaZe Clan’s Group Stage
FaZe Clan is already one step closer to the million, and there are two key reasons why: NiKo and GuardiaN.
The $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam just got that much closer…
A undefeated Groups has us through to the Playoffs in Stockholm! #DHMasters #FaZeUp
🔺 FaZe Clan 2, OpTic Gaming 0 (16-6, 16-4) pic.twitter.com/fiVuqANAlP
— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) August 30, 2018
In FaZe Clan’s Bo1 against Heroic, GuardiaN went nuts, scoring 31-24 in a 19-17 overtime victory. NiKo was just behind with 26-24.
Although es3tag of Heroic was the best on the server, with a 34-24 score and 1.46 rating, FaZe did enough to secure the win and go on to the winner’s bracket.
FaZe next faced OpTic Gaming in a Bo3. This time, NiKo went insane, with 32-11 on Dust 2 and 22-14 on Train. GuardiaN was the second-highest rated player in both maps, showing just how much this duo want the Grand Slam.
And these wins weren’t against weak opposition. Both OpTic Gaming and Heroic beat Fnatic to eliminate them from the tournament, showing the strength of Danish Counter-Strike.
NiKo is currently the top-rated player at the event with a rating of 1.62 in 3 maps. GuardiaN’s in third with 1.39 and only MiBR coldzera is between them with 1.60.
The Rest of the Teams – MiBR, North, and NiP on Top
FaZe have impressed at DH Stockholm so far, but they have some tough competition to win the gold.
The newly formed MiBR lineup are surging. The new roster scored victories over Hellraisers and Mousesports without much resistance.
TARRRRRRIK OMFG!!! C O N T E N T K I N G @tarik! @mibr advances into the quarterfinals! #DHMasters pic.twitter.com/d0xuT3Vz4C
— DreamHack Counter-Strike (@DreamHackCSGO) August 30, 2018
North has truly been impressive. After taking out Tyloo, they managed to beat #1 team Astralis in a 2-1 Bo3 victory and top Group A.
.@TheNorthIsHere has just won their first series against @astralisgg on LAN ever, they also won their first map (Inferno) in regular time since April 2016 and it's first win for @MSLcsgo on LAN vs Astralis since 2015 in Bo3. #DHMasters #CSGO
— kiTTz (@ESPORTkittz) August 30, 2018
Another upset happened over in Group B, with the world #2 team beaten by unranked Ghost Gaming (led by former IBP IGL steel). NiP managed to top the group without facing NaVi.
With the #1 and #2 teams struggling and Fnatic eliminated, there’s a great chance that FaZe win the Intel Grand Slam. But with plenty of teams playing at their peak and scoring upsets, they have their work cut out for them.