Rugratz, Whalers, Russian Canadians and Secret Club through to DreamHack Masters Winter Closed Qualifier
The open qualifier for DreamHack Masters Winter 2020 has concluded, seeing Secret Club, Rugratz, New England Whalers, and Russian Canadians advance to the Closed Qualifier.
Secret Club were the first to secure their berth as they made short work of ex-Warriors International in a two-map series. Despite Veritgo kicking off as a keenly contested affair, it was Secret Club who prevailed by stealing their opponent's map pick with a 16-12 victory.
Derek "Hendy" Hendrixson and company were then left reeling as were on the receiving end of a battering on Overpass, a map on which they were unable to muster a single round as Jordan "jitter" Ruggiero and Ethan "reck" Serrano led their side to swift victory with 2.08 and 1.96 ratings, respectively.
Secret Clubex-Warriors International| Secret Club |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jordon 'jitter' Ruggiero |
36 - 19 | +17 | 87.2 | 84.1% | 1.44 |
| Collin 'wrath' McSweegan |
39 - 24 | +15 | 89.7 | 70.5% | 1.37 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
39 - 26 | +13 | 87.3 | 68.2% | 1.34 |
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
29 - 23 | +6 | 72.9 | 77.3% | 1.17 |
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
26 - 25 | +1 | 74.2 | 77.3% | 1.17 |
| ex-Warriors International |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armen 'armen' Fesliyan |
33 - 36 | -3 | 93.3 | 59.1% | 1.06 |
| Eric 'Ryze' Brown |
25 - 31 | -6 | 56.7 | 61.4% | 0.83 |
| Derek 'Hendy' Hendrixson |
27 - 33 | -6 | 60.6 | 59.1% | 0.76 |
| Andrew 'vein' Lindeman |
21 - 37 | -16 | 67.2 | 56.8% | 0.69 |
 Walker 'walker' Harris |
10 - 34 | -24 | 37.6 | 52.3% | 0.45 |
A Rugratz mix featuring Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk, Justin "FaNg" Coakley, and Koby "kobruh" Higgs was the next to qualify for the closed stage, dispatching of GGPR in fast fashion.
Although the ESEA Advanced competitors were initially able to take the lead on Vertigo, they were quickly left in the dust as Rugratz took control, securing the first map win 16-11. Nuke was far more one-sided as FaNg and cxzi were at the forefront of a 12-3 T-side effort, with the team wasting little time in closing out the series in the second half.
RugratzGGPR| Rugratz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
44 - 26 | +18 | 98.6 | 87.2% | 1.63 |
| Adam 'mada' Pampuch |
42 - 25 | +17 | 91.2 | 80.9% | 1.48 |
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
38 - 25 | +13 | 79.4 | 83.0% | 1.34 |
| Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
37 - 28 | +9 | 83.7 | 70.2% | 1.25 |
| Koby 'kobruh' Higgs |
28 - 25 | +3 | 67.4 | 74.5% | 1.10 |
| GGPR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
31 - 39 | -8 | 80.9 | 74.5% | 0.87 |
| Victor 'v1c' T. |
30 - 34 | -4 | 69.7 | 51.1% | 0.81 |
| Evan 'Creed' Dao |
28 - 41 | -13 | 65.0 | 68.1% | 0.74 |
| Justin 'jsfeltner' Feltner |
18 - 36 | -18 | 58.5 | 55.3% | 0.62 |
| Chase 'lowrider' Releford |
20 - 39 | -19 | 51.6 | 61.7% | 0.59 |
New England Whalers also faced initial contention from Kinship in their qualification series, with Brennan "grape" Greer aiding his side to a 9-6 lead on the T-side of Train. However, the combined forces of Brendan "Bwills" Williams and Ramal "Rampage" Silva saw the Whalers fight back on their own offensive effort, rallying back against Kinship to secure a 16-13 map win.
Overpass was a slightly more one-sided affair as the Whalers were in control for much of the first half, with Kinship only piecing together six rounds by the end of their CT-side. The side swap was not favorable for Kinship either as the Whalers continued to run rampant, conceding only three rounds before bringing about an end to the series with a 16-9 scoreline.
New England WhalersKinship| New England Whalers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramal 'Rampage' Silva |
43 - 41 | +2 | 94.7 | 70.4% | 1.24 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
42 - 36 | +6 | 83.2 | 74.1% | 1.19 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
41 - 33 | +8 | 76.5 | 74.1% | 1.13 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
33 - 27 | +6 | 66.7 | 72.2% | 1.13 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
37 - 36 | +1 | 70.6 | 70.4% | 1.01 |
| Kinship |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brennan 'grape' Greer |
39 - 38 | +1 | 80.3 | 64.8% | 1.07 |
| Christopher 'Swahn' Swahn |
39 - 36 | +3 | 72.2 | 72.2% | 1.02 |
| Troy 'ara' Pollock |
36 - 41 | -5 | 67.8 | 66.7% | 1.00 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
29 - 40 | -11 | 74.2 | 79.6% | 1.00 |
| Sean 'naes' Fontaine |
29 - 42 | -13 | 68.4 | 64.8% | 0.80 |
It seemed as if Russian Canadians would waste little time in closing out their match against Revenant as they opened their series with a dominant 16-4 victory on Inferno, carrying the momentum of the map win into their own pick of Overpass as they took a 10-5 lead at the break.
However, Ernie "amen" Yokley and Ryan "notorious" Gordon stepped up to bat for Revenant as they fought back into the map, pushing it all the way to overtime. There, the teams continued to lock horns, but ultimately Revenant emerged victorious 25-21 to keep themselves in the running heading into the decider map, Nuke.
Unfortunately for Revenant, that was where their Cinderella run came to an end as Russian Canadians once again mustered a 10-5 lead on the T-side to open the map. This time, Ian "battery' Yates and company refused to let their edge slip away as they only gave up two more rounds en route to a 16-7 finish, earning themselves a spot in the closed stage.
Russian CanadiansRevenant| Russian Canadians |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ian 'battery' Yates |
78 - 54 | +24 | 81.6 | 74.2% | 1.28 |
| David 'J0LZ' Jolin |
59 - 53 | +6 | 84.3 | 73.0% | 1.17 |
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
64 - 54 | +10 | 77.3 | 74.2% | 1.09 |
| Wayne 'castro' Einarsson |
55 - 63 | -8 | 72.9 | 69.7% | 1.05 |
| Alex 'vek' Voynov |
63 - 66 | -3 | 74.3 | 69.7% | 1.02 |
| Revenant |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dylan 'SATURN' Finch |
71 - 64 | +7 | 92.5 | 69.7% | 1.21 |
| Josh 'Spoice' Betters |
60 - 62 | -2 | 73.9 | 66.3% | 0.98 |
| Ernie 'amen' Yokley |
56 - 70 | -14 | 67.1 | 73.0% | 0.94 |
| Ryan 'notorious' Gordon |
52 - 59 | -7 | 61.1 | 66.3% | 0.91 |
| Austin 'AJaxz' Janocha |
44 - 65 | -21 | 61.8 | 66.3% | 0.79 |
The matchups for the DreamHack Masters Winter 2020 Closed Qualifier look as follows:
 TeamOne |
vs. Rugratz |
| paiN |
vs. Secret Club |
| Yeah |
vs. New England Whalers |
| Triumph |
vs. Russian Canadians |
The quarterfinal round of matches are set to get underway at 6 PM EDT tomorrow, with the semifinal qualification round taking place immediately after at 9 PM EDT.
