This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
DreamHack Bucharest kicked off Friday with the initial matches of the group stages. While the proceedings went pretty much accordingly to plan, there were still some surprises and excitement interlaced in there.
The day kicked off with Virtus.pro starting its campaign to regain a bit of the swagger it seemed to have lost following the conclusion of their ELEAGUE Season 1 championship win. The first game against Gambit eSports in the opening match of the tournament didn't do much to show the world that it was back, though. Since Gambit eSports is a team that hasn't placed above 5th-8th at a major tournament this year, one would think that the defending ELEAGUE champions would have done a bit better than a close 16-12 win. Still, a win's a win, as Virtus.pro will move onto the winner's match of Group A. Gambit eSports will have to try its luck in the loser's bracket Saturday.
Sticking with Group A, next up was Heroic and Team EnVyUs in what ended up being one of the longest professional Counter Strike: Global Offensive games ever. It was an extremely back and forth affair that ended up going to a whopping six overtimes before Heroic were able to outlast Team EnVyUs and get the 34-31 win. Team EnVyUs will now take on Gambit eSports in the Group A loser's match on Saturday.
Virtus.pro, having had a few hours to rest up before the winner's match of Group A, certainly benefitted from its oppositions lengthy match as Heroic looked to be completely exhausted against Virtus.pro, falling to the ELEAGUE Champions in a well-polished and crisp 16-6 win. With the win, Virtus.pro has now locked up its semifinal spot for this Sunday. Heroic will now have one last shot to get to the semifinals when they face the winner of the Group A loser's match between Team EnVyUs and Gambit on Saturday.
Group B, by comparison, was fairly straightforward. Cloud9 continued its extremely strong run of play lately with a convincing 16-4 win over FlipSid3 Tactics to open up play in the group. Jake "Stewie2k" Yip continues to impress and put up a 24/12 KD in the game to propel his team to victory.
The second match of the group was a bit more competitive, if not still wholly predictable. FaZe Clan, who are currently blazing the trails over in the EU ESL Pro League, took on Team Diginitas in their initial match. Håvard "rain" Nygaard led the charge for FaZe Clan in the 16-11 win with his stellar 34/18 KD. While FaZe Clan will now move on to the winner's match of Group B, Team Dignitas will be left to battle through the loser's bracket on Saturday.
The two favorites to make it out of the group, FaZe Clan and Cloud9, faced-off in the winner's match of Group B. Stewie2k once again posted a game-high in kills to get Cloud9 rolling with a 16-8 win. With the win, Cloud9 has secured its place in the semifinals this Sunday. FaZe Clan, on the other hand, will await the winner of the Team Dignitas vs. FlipSid3 Tactics match for its final shot at making it to the playoffs by way of the Group B decider match.
Day 2 will signal the switch to the best-of-three format for the remainder of the tournament, with the first loser's matches of both groups up first. The action will kick-off with Gambit eSports taking on Team EnVyUs at 3:20am EST on Saturday, September 17.
