The second DreamHack event of the year is set to take place in Tours, the largest city in the centre region of France and the city which DreamHack has visited four times previously. There we will get to see eight of the strongest CS:GO teams fighting for the title of the champions and the lion's share of $100,000 prize pool.
DreamHack Open Tours 2019 is set to take place in Tours, starting on May 17th and lasting two days, until May 19th. The event will feature 8 teams, 6 of which were invited, while the remaining 2 had to qualify. One team had to go through European Qualifiers, while the 2nd spot belonged to the winner of French Qualifiers. As it stands now, the teams who will appear at the DreamHack Open Tours 2019 are as follows: AVANGAR (invited), FrenchFrogs (invited), G2 Esports (invited), Ghost Gaming (invited), mousesports (invited), Valiance (invited), Windigo Gaming (EU qualifier), Instinct Gaming (FR qualifier).
The tournament will be split into two stages - group stage and playoffs.
The group stage will feature two groups, each with four teams. The matches will be played in a double-elimination Bo1 format, with the exception of elimination & decider matches, which will be played in Bo3. After the group stage finishes, only the top two teams will advance into the next stage.
Group A: mousesports, Windigo Gaming, Valiance, Instinct Gaming
Group B: G2 Esports, AVANGAR, Ghost Gaming, French Frogs
Playoffs, unlike the group stages, will be played in a single-elimination bracket Bo3 format. The semi-finals and grand final matches will both be played on May 19th.
G2 Esports priced at just $4.00 at BetEasy is baffling to me. Sure, they are a team with two great star players, but both are nowhere their peak form and I am quite sure AVANGAR can give them a run for their money. They do have the home advantage, but at these odds they are not worth a bet. G2 can get out of their group as beating Ghost Gaming and French Frogs should not be too hard, but anything else does not seem likely, if their stars fail to reignite their form.
We will not beat around the bush here and just go ahead and say it. There is no point in betting on FrenchFrogs, Ghost Gaming and Instinct. They are all of similar calibre and way behind all other teams. Ghost Gaming might be able to win a match, as they look better than the other two, but asking for anything else might be too much for them.
We can probably lump Valiance and Windigo into the same tier, as they can be categorised as teams with an upset potential and at least one of these two should be able to get out of their group, but anything after that remains a mystery. If they get G2 in the semi-finals I could imagine them advancing into the finals, however winning it all is out of the question.
Avangar are coming into the tournament after a winning WePlay! Forge of Masters Season 1, where they displaced HellRaisers 2-0 in a Bo3 finals. Looking at their group, they can pretty much win against anyone and progress to the semi-final. I do believe they can make it to the finals and the odds of $2.50 on them reaching the finals are definitely worth a bet.
Mousesports are priced just around $3.00 to win the trophy, which is reasonable, as they are at least one tier better than all the other teams. If the format was Bo3, they should be able to win their group with relative ease, but with so many Bo1 matches, I am sure Windigo and Valiance can cause an upset. Still, they are the better team with an amazing In-Game Leader “karrigan”, who will surely want to win his second LAN event with his new team.
Avangar to reach finals
$2.50
