This article is part of our CS:GO series.
DreamHack Austin kicked off with eight teams set to battle over the share of the $100,000 prize pool. Six invited teams along with the individual qualifiers from the European and North American regions took the stage, where the Turkish unit of Space Soldiers saw all three maps over Rogue to take home their first offline title in 2018.
Rogue punishes Fragsters, while Space Soldiers continued their march
The North Americans' of Rogue kicked off the semifinals in Austin up against the Danes of Fragsters, where Spencer "Hiko" Martin and company tossed and turned on Nuke, inevitably coming out on top of their dominating CT-side to take the series lead. Fragsters proved they weren't going to be eliminated easily and came back in the second half of Rogue's map pick Inferno to even the series. The decider came down to Dust2, where Rogue single-handedly threw the Danes to the side to take the 16-5 win to the grand final.
On the other side, Space Soldiers clashed with Heroic in a thriller on Cache, where neither team could establish a lead as Adam "friberg" Friberg and his men equalized the score to force overtime. From there, it was all Space Soldiers in the extra rounds to claim the map. The series then landed on Heroic's pick, Mirage, where Space Soldiers controlled the first half on the CT-side to take a 10-5 half in to the second. That's where things began to get tight for Space Soldiers as Heroic came thrashing back, but in the end, the Turkish team prevailed to secure a spot in the finals.
Space Soldiers slam Rogue on Inferno to secure DH Austin title
The grand finals in Austin kicked off on Space Soldiers' map pick, Mirage, where the Turkish side secured the pistol as well as the anti-ecos and rode on that momentum to claim a 5-0 lead. A timeout called by the North Americans enabled the team to win their first round of the half, but in the following round an aggressive play in middle from Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dortkardes stumped Rogue to put the Turks up 8-1. Rogue would not be silenced and managed to squeeze out three more rounds before Space Soldiers clinched the 11-4 half.
Rogue came out in the second half with fire, winning the second pistol as well as the anti-ecos and the full gun round to reduce the deficit to three rounds. However, it didn't take Space Soldiers long to recover with their first of the half, and the team then went on to win four in a row to secure the map win.
The series then landed on Rogues' pick, Overpass, where Hiko and company came out swinging in the first half to take a commanding T-side lead over the Turks for an 11-4 half. The second half started with a chaotic pistol round that saw Rogue pinch the offense of Space Soldiers to win the pistol. Rogue continued their dominance on the CT-side, whereas Space Soldiers were only able to put together one round in the second half for a 16-5 loss.
The decider came down to Inferno. Space Soldiers got things started on the offense with a quick 3-0 lead after winning the pistol with a clean B-execution. The Turkish team then further added to their lead, but Hiko managed to close out Rogues' first of the half on their CT-side. However, Space Soldiers marched on and gave Rogue no room for the remainder of the map in dominating fashion to claim their first offline title in 2018.
