AVANT and The Chiefs reign supreme in DreamHack Spring Qualifier

AVANT Gaming and The Chiefs Esports Club have emerged from an action-packed DreamHack Masters Spring qualifier, joining Renegades and ORDER for the June 2-7 event. While AVANT’s purple patch of form has continued following clean 2-0 wins in the upper bracket, Chiefs went the distance twice against rivals Rooster to progress to the four-team Masters event.

AVANT have struck gold at just the perfect time; their 2-0 wins over Ground Zero Gaming and The Chiefs have improved their monthly record to 16-5 in the region, their only losses coming to an ORDER squad they finally overcame 3-1 in an intense ESL ANZ Championship grand final.

Euan ‘sterling’ Moore (1.36 rating, +37 K/Diff, 65 AWP kills) led the way for the top qualified squad, maintaining his spot as HLTV’s top rated player in the OCE region in the last three months, while teammates Jared ‘HaZR’ O’Bree (1.32 rating, +24 K/Diff, 57 multikill rounds) and Chris ‘ofnu’ Hanley (1.20 rating, +12 K/Diff, 2 clutches) played huge parts in AVANT’s success this past weekend.

While AVANT went close once in each series in the upper bracket, Chiefs would need the lower bracket final to lock in their spot at DreamHack Spring. Dropping to AVANT in the upper bracket, Chiefs found themselves against Rooster in a rematch of their opening series win and initially struggled, dropping Mirage 16-12.

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Chiefs would bounce back quickly on Nuke 16-4; an 11-4 T half all but locked up the second map with Rooster unable to find a T round of their own, forcing the third map on Inferno. A blistering opening half from Michael ‘chelleos’ Hawkins (40-26, 90 ADR, 1.37 rating) kept Rooster in the hunt at 8-7 before stringing together multiple T rounds to keep the Chiefs economy low.

Rooster found themselves in the box seat at 15-13 but Chiefs held on to deny the two map points and force overtime, where the trio of Chris ‘Jinxx’ Moseley (34-13, 1.29 rating), Jordan ‘SkulLhunter’ Newland (31-26, 1.23 rating) & Hugh ‘HUGHMUNGUS’ Anderson (30-27, 1.11 rating) dropped 30 kills each to outlast the spirited Rooster outfit 22-19.

Qualification for DreamHack Spring was crucial for this Chiefs lineup following a turbulent month on the server. However, solid team fundamentals combined with the prospect of improvement under new head coach Yaman ‘yam’ Ergenekon are strong signs for the Chiefs in their hunt to remain in the top four in the region.

A top four that, given the narrow gap between each team and the current landscape that has been forced upon the scene, could very well be shaken in the coming months.

DreamHack Masters Spring begins in early June – stay tuned to Here’s The Thing for news, updates, and more ahead of a jam-packed two months of Oceanic CS:GO.

DreamHack Masters Spring - Oceania Qualifier

1: AVANT Gaming - DreamHack Masters Spring

2: Chiefs Esports Club - DreamHack Masters Spring

3: Rooster

4: Ground Zero Gaming

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Credits:

• Written by Nicholas Taifalos
• Edited by Adam Taylor