Gambit survive double OT vs. Torqued; North with great comeback vs. Imperial

Gambit and North have moved on to their respective groups' upper bracket finals following hard-fought wins over Torqued and Imperial, respectively.

The opening match of the day, on Overpass, began with a dominant start from Gambit on the Terrorist side as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Torqued responded on a very weak buy thanks to three kills from Braxton "⁠swag⁠" Pierce, with that round sparking a great run from the North Americans, who constantly held off the Kazakhstani side's B executions and closed out the half with a dominant 10-5 lead.

Torqued, now playing on the Terrorist side, almost came out on top of a scrappy pistol round before Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov turned the hero with a 1v2 clutch. The PGL Major Krakow champions rode that momentum and strung eight rounds together, but then Matt "⁠Pollo⁠" Wilson then kept Torqued in the game with two key rounds, one of them in a 1v2 situation.

Gambit survived a long Overpass game against Torqued

With the scored tied at 14-14, Gambit bagged the following round to hit match point, but Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan carved the equaliser for the North Americans by finding an opening on the B site with two key frags.

The first overtime did not determine a winner as both teams won two rounds on the offensive side, but then Gambit took control of proceedings, taking three Terrorist rounds before sealing the deal two rounds into the second half.

DreamHack Open Tours 2018Best of 1 GambitMatchpage 22 19 19th May 2018 Torqued 22Overpass 19

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Next up was the Dust2 clash between North and Imperial, which quickly spiralled out of control for Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen's side. The Danish team did win the pistol round, only to be caught off-guard in the next round, in which Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković found three kills with a tec-9.

With Žygimantas "⁠nukkye⁠" Chmieliauskas in great form on the AWP, Imperial rallied to an 8-1 lead as North simply could not keep up with the pace set by the European mixture. MSL's team then won back-to-back rounds, but Imperial showed no signs of slowing down and regained control of the game to secure a 12-3 lead.

North fought back from a 3-12 deficit

And then the North show began. The Danish side came out of the break a different side and shut down any chances of Imperial stringing rounds together or getting any economic development. With a seven-round streak, North sealed the win in the 30th round, a result that gives them a massive mental boost after a lacklustre first half.

DreamHack Open Tours 2018Best of 1 NorthMatchpage 16 14 19th May 2018 Imperial 16Dust2 14

North	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangsåvalde	35 - 14	+21	113.1	1.71
Daniel 'mertz' Mertzmertz	19 - 18	+1	87.5	1.35
Mathias 'MSL' LauridsenMSL	23 - 17	+6	79.6	1.27
Markus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeKjaerbye	23 - 20	+3	74.4	1.21
Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy	15 - 23	-8	54.1	0.83

Imperial	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Žygimantas 'nukkye' Chmieliauskasnukkye	24 - 20	+4	75.1	1.14
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	19 - 24	-5	80.3	0.96
Kevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendkRYSTAL	18 - 22	-4	70.3	0.91
Rokas 'EspiranTo' MilasauskasEspiranTo	16 - 24	-8	65.6	0.86
Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannTENZKI	15 - 25	-10	58.5	0.75

Matt 'Pollo' Wilson Age: 20 Team: Torqued Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 212 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.72 Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 21 Team: Imperial Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 372 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Torqued #41 Braxton 'swag' PierceJoshua 'steel' NissanKeven 'AZK' LariviereKenneth 'koosta' SuenMatt 'Pollo' Wilson Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen Age: 23 Team: North Rating 1.0: 0.91 Maps played: 1267 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.72 North #14 Mathias 'MSL' LauridsenPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåDaniel 'mertz' Mertz Joshua 'steel' Nissan Age: 28 Team: Torqued Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 242 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Gambit #10 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovDenis 'seized' KostinAbay 'HObbit' Khassenov Imperial #29 Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannNemanja 'nexa' IsakovićRokas 'EspiranTo' MilasauskasŽygimantas 'nukkye' Chmieliauskas Braxton 'swag' Pierce Age: 21 Team: Torqued Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 314 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 Žygimantas 'nukkye' Chmieliauskas Age: 20 Team: Imperial Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 185 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.62 Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov Age: 29 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1244 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66