In one of the closest and most intense finals ever seen in CS:GO, LDLC took the title with a 2-1 over NiP to win their first major, and deny NiP’s second in a row.
NiP chose Dust II as their first map, with LDLC choosing to start as CT. NiP started well, ending the first half 9-6 in their favour, but they faltered in the second half and were unable to get themselves back into the match, managing to win only one round and losing the first map 16-10.
At this point many people, including myself, thought that it would be a 2-0 win for LDLC as they chose Inferno for their second map, however some incredible plays by the five man team of GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, friberg, Xizt, and their new man Maikelele, saw a very convincing NiP destroy LDLC 11-4 in the first half as CT, before quickly rounding it up with a final score of 16-4.
So as both teams went into the final map (Overpass), it was looking like it could go either way. LDLC had shown in their match against Fnatic that they could bring a lot to the table for this map, whilst not much was known about how much preparation this new NiP side had carried out. NiP had just smashed LDLC’s morale by defeating them so heavily on Inferno however, which gave them the advantage. In the end both teams played excellently, with Maikelele pulling off an incredible flick shot in the closing rounds, and GeT_RiGhT getting some brilliant multikills whilst playing Lurk. But as NiP got onto tournament point in the second half, they couldn’t seal the deal, and LDLC took the match to Overtime, where they won 3-2, as the combined force of NBK, kioShiMa and Happy, shox and SmithZz was just too much for the Swedish team to defeat.
Overall it was a brilliant match, and a brilliant tournament, with just over half a million viewers tuning in to watch the final, a new record for CS:GO. If you didn’t see it and you’re curious, I’ve linked a great Youtube video below that has some of the best clips from throughout the tournament in it.
Did you watch any of Dreamhack Winter 2014? And if so did you enjoy it? Let us know.
