North Academy defeat Space Soldiers; qualify for DH Winter

North Academy scrape by Space Soldiers in two maps (19-15 Cobblestone, 16-14 Train) to earn a spot at the final DreamHack stop of the year, DreamHack Open Winter.

Sixteen teams competed in the European Closed Qualifier for DreamHack Open Winter, with some of the bigger names, such as FlipSid3, Kinguin and Vega Squadron, being eliminated in the first round of the single-elimination BO3 playoffs. A new European mix named MANS NOT HOT made it fairly deep into the qualifier, losing to Space Soldiers in the semi-final, while the other semi saw North Academy beat AGO despite the Danes being 1-0 down after their map pick, Overpass.

North Academy earned a spot at DreamHack Open Winter

In the final, Space Soldiers started strongly on their map pick, Cobblestone, winning five out of the first seven rounds, but that is when North Academy turned it around by bringing out the double AWP on Daniel "⁠mertz⁠" Mertz and Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand. The duo really started firing up as the Danish side swiftly took back the lead with a five-round winning streak.

Switching to the T side with a 9-6 lead, North Academy were able to extend their lead to 13-6 shortly by winning the second-half pistol round. Space Soldiers were able to claw back into the game by winning a low-buy round, starting a streak of their own. Çağatay "⁠DESPE⁠" Sedef, who stepped into the first squad in place of Ahmet "⁠paz⁠" Karahoca, was crucial for his side, picking up AWP kills round after round.

Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın added two clutches that got his side to 14-14, but Space Soldiers fumbled the following anti-eco that would earn them match point, and ended up economically reset. Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş pulled off a hero play in mid, acing the Danes in a matter of seconds to push the game to overtime, but the Turkish side was promptly stopped there and North Academy closed out Cobblestone 19-15.

A back-and-forth first half on Train was pulled in Space Soldiers's favor when Calyx added another clutch to his name, resolving a 2v2 after plant on A to make the score 7-6. Just when it seemed that the Turks were set for a 9-6 Terrorist half scoreline, acoR pulled out a 1v2 of his own to make the deficit moving into the second half minimal.

North Academy faked out Space Soldiers in the second pistol round and went on to win five rounds in a row, but struggled to break through the CT's defenses when Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli and co. could finally afford full buys. From a 12-8 deficit, Space Soldiers were able to come back to a 14-12, but the Danes woke up at the end of the game, threw in fast A fake that got them to match point and closed the series on Train with a 16-14 scoreline.

DreamHack Open Winter 2017 Europe Closed QualifierBest of 3 Space SoldiersMatchpage 0 2 12th November 2017 North Academy 15Cobblestone 19 14Train 16

DreamHack Open Winter 2017 Europe Closed QualifierBest of 3 Space SoldiersMatchpage 0 2 12th November 2017 North Academy 15Cobblestone 19 14Train 16

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With North Academy earning a spot at DreamHack Open Winter, this is how the team list for the event looks:

Envy	Gambit
HEROIC	MOUZ
Natus Vincere	BIG
North Academy	NA Qualifier

HEROIC #14 Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferPatrick 'es3tag' HansenJakob 'JUGi' HansenNikolaj 'niko' Kristensen Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Age: 22 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 1.25 Maps played: 626 KPR: 0.89 DPR: 0.69 Vega Squadron #27 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovDmitriy 'jR' ChervakSergey 'keshandr' NikishinNikolay 'mir' BityukovPavel 'hutji' Lashkov Daniel 'mertz' Mertz Age: 19 Team: North Academy Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 290 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.65 Ahmet 'paz' Karahoca Age: 20 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 466 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 AGO #25 Damian 'Furlan' KislowskiDominik 'GruBy' SwiderskiMichał 'snatchie' RudzkiMateusz 'TOAO' ZawistowskiTomasz 'phr' Wójcik Space Soldiers #19 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor Çağatay 'DESPE' Sedef Age: 24 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 440 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.64 Gambit #10 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovAbay 'HObbit' KhassenovBektiyar 'fitch' Bahytov Natus Vincere #15 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov North Academy #52 Nicklas 'gade' GadeDennis 'sycrone' NielsenDaniel 'mertz' MertzJohannes 'b0RUP' BorupFrederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand MOUZ #12 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýChris 'chrisJ' de JongMiikka 'suNny' KemppiMartin 'STYKO' StykRobin 'ropz' Kool FlipSid3 #28 Yegor 'markeloff' MarkelovAndrey 'B1ad3' GorodenskiyDenis 'seized' KostinGeorgi 'WorldEdit' YaskinJan 'wayLander' Rahkonen Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli Age: 26 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 414 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.67 BIG #18 Fatih 'gob b' DayikNikola 'LEGIJA' NinićJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKevin 'keev' BartholomäusJohannes 'nex' Maget Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand Age: 20 Team: North Academy Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 253 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 MANS NOT HOT Envy #13 Christophe 'SIXER' XiaCédric 'RpK' GuipouyAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomVincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerAlexandre 'xms' Forté Buğra 'Calyx' Arkın Age: 19 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 451 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.61 Kinguin #30 Grzegorz 'SZPERO' DziamałekKarol 'rallen' RodowiczMichał 'MICHU' MüllerMikołaj 'mouz' KarolewskiKacper 'kaper' Słoma