Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
There were a handful of favorites heading into DreamHack Masters Stockholm. But even with some strong finishes over the last year, North was hardly considered among them. On Sunday, North made a convincing case that they belong among Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's elite teams, knocking off Astralis in convincing fashion to win DreamHack Masters Stockholm.
North shocked Astralis early, completing dismantling the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier champions on Dust II with a lopsided 16-1 win. Astralis entered with a degree of confidence with this acting as their map pick, but Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen systematically wrecked it, outplaying the Astralis roster at every turn.
Astralis recovered on Train with a 16-6 win there, but North was prepared for the decider map on Overpass. They came out firing in the second half and didn't look back, with North meeting Astralis on the B-side in the deciding round and completing an incredible upset.
North's last CS:GO premier outing saw them miss the Top 8 at ESL One: Cologne. This victory comes nearly a full year to the day that North put up its previous best premier placement, having finished runner-up at DreamHack Masters Malmo.
For Astralis, it misses another chance to take a step closer to completing the Intel Grand Slam. Another team has seen its window close it FaZe Clan, who bowed out to mousesports in the quarterfinals. Both Astralis and FaZe Clan must now win two of the next five Intel Grand Slam events to take home the attached $1,000,000 prize.
For their victory, North takes home $100,000, with Astralis reeling in $50,000. The next tournament in the Intel Grand Slam is ESL One: New York, which takes place at the end of September.