RENEGADES TO DREAMHACK OPEN LEIPZIG FINAL OVER MAD LIONS
Renegades have advanced to the DreamHack Open Leipzig grand final after beating MAD Lions 2-1 in the semi-finals.
Renegades‘ semi-final victory marks an important milestone in the team core’s history, who have now reached their first-ever grand final outside of Asian and Oceanic competitions at DreamHack Open Leipzig off the back of a lineup change, which saw Ollie “DickStacy” Tierney replaced by Jordan “Hatz” Bajic at the beginning of the year.
Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen‘s team will go home disappointed after they were unable to capitalize on a great start on the opening Dust2, which ended up going the other way and made the difference in the series, in the end, as Renegades did not leave any room for doubt on the deciding Nuke following a loss on Train.
The German event will go down as welcome experience for MAD Lions, nonetheless, as they have plenty of opportunities to improve on the result with upcoming participation at the ICE Challenge at the beginning of February and at IEM Katowice later that month.
MAD Lions, who had yet to lose a map throughout the tournament after winning Danish derbys against Heroic and North in the group stage, came out swinging on the Dust2, getting off to a 7-2 lead on the CT side despite a forcebuy victory from Renegades in the second round.
Although the Danes went on a six-round streak beforehand, one going the other way was enough to break their economy, and Christopher “dexter” Nong‘s squad closed the gap to just one round by the end of the half. With a 3v5 retake in the second pistol round, Renegades leveled the scoreline, and even though they conceded the following anti-forcebuy they managed to pick up the opening map 16-11 thanks to a seven-round run in a dominant defense.
The Australian side looked to end things as they started Train with a 4-0 advantage on the defense, but their lead was soon gone as MAD Lions responded with a variety of B hits. Things looked dire for Renegades, but heroics from dexter, who won a 1v2 clutch and put up a quad-kill, helped them switch over to the offense with just a one-round deficit. It proved difficult to break through HUNDEN‘s team’s defense, however, with MAD Lions rallying to a 16-11 win to equalize the series.
Once the series reached Nuke, it was a walk in the park for the Australians. A dominant CT side gave them a huge cushion as they secured a 12-3 half, and it didn’t take long for them to finish off the Danes once on the offense, advancing to the grand final at 16-6, 2-1.
Source : hltv.org