The good, bad, and ugly of DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020

DreamHack Open Anaheim 2020 has come and gone, leaving us with a lot of new insight into some of the top teams in CS:GO. We saw heartbreaks and upsets, but we also saw extreme prowess and pleasant surprises. What teams performed above expectations? And, what teams continued to struggle? 

The good

Gen.G

Gen.G came out and surprised everyone with their insanely dominant performance, not losing a single map throughout the entire tournament. This was Gen.G's first LAN as a squad, and they came out like it was their 100th. They raised the DreamHack Anaheim trophy as a North American squad for the first time after a hard-fought victory against FURIA. Sam "s0m' Oh was unstoppable for the entire event, earning my MVP of the event. But, even though s0m performing like a madman is exciting, it is even more exciting for Gen.G fans that the entire team played consistently. Hansel "BnTeT" Ferdinand came up clutch in crucial moments. And, watching Timothy "autimatic" Ta back in the main AWPer role is a treat. It's going to be exciting to see how much better this roster gets going deeper into 2020.

FURIA

FURIA performed well above my expectations at DreamHack Anaheim. I didn't have them coming in last, but I definitely didn't have them placing second either. Their journey to grand finals wasn't an easy one either, with the exception of Endpoint. FURIA took down Complexity in a tight series and blew North out of the water. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato and Yuri "yuurih" Santos showed up for Brazil with insane performances and watching Henrique "HEN1" Teles' aggressive AWP play was quite the spectacle.

Complexity

Complexity continues to come out and prove their doubters wrong. I will say that they didn't place where I had them, but they didn't do terribly either. They did perform just above the "bad" category as their only two wins were to a weak MIBR, but their losses to Gen.G and FURIA were at least very close. One thing I noticed during the FURIA game was that the Brazilians abused sites where Owen "oBo" Schlatter was playing. oBo is an extremely young player, maybe even the youngest playing at this level and FURIA saw that as a pain point to exploit. Complexity, I'm sure, are aware of this and need to address it before their next showing.

Endpoint

I am aware that I have put Endpoint in the good, but it's hard not to. Everyone had them coming in dead last at DreamHack Anaheim if they even won a series. But, they did at least show some semblance of good Counter-Strike and competed against teams that were supposed to be well above them. They eliminated forZe from the tournament and had a reasonably close series against North. No, they did not place well, but they placed well above expectations. 

The bad

MIBR

MIBR's struggles continue in the second month of the 2020 season. I want so badly to see Gabrielle "FalleN" Toledo and crew back on top again, but as time presses on, that becomes more and more unlikely. Their only win at this tournament was to ENCE, which isn't saying much, and it wasn't even a convincing win. I'm not sure what the next step is going to be for the Brazilians, but a roster shuffle may be on the horizon.

North

North is continuing to put up dissatisfactory results. The acquisition of Mathis "MSL" Lauridsen is still fresh but even considering that they should be doing much better than they are. Their only wins at this tournament were to very weak forZe squad and to a team everyone expected to bottom out of the event in Endpoint. I am hoping North will become better given a bit more time, but I'm not convinced that they will. 

The ugly

forZe

forZe did not look like themselves at DreamHack Anaheim. They lost to an underperforming North squad and a written-off team in Endpoint. The worst part about this loss is the inability to point the finger at an underperforming player as they all underperformed, with a possible exception to Bogdan "xsepower" Chernikov. There isn't much to say other than, this is not the forZe we are used to seeing and I'm not sure what happened to them.

ENCE

EZ4ENCE is no longer a valid slogan given their recent performances. Saying ENCE is underperforming is an understatement. This squad looks wholly lost and disjointed a majority of the time, with small crumbs of viability here and there. I will say though that they had decent round counts in their two series against the champions in Gen.G and the runner-ups in FURIA. But, round counts don't matter too much when they don't translate into series wins. I'm not too sure what the future looks like for ENCE, but I have a feeling that a roster change is almost imminent for the Finnish squad.