BIG edge out Renegades in DreamHack Open Denver semi

BIG managed two tight map wins over Renegades (Cobblestone 16-11, Cache 16-14) to eliminate the Australian side and advance to the grand final.

In the first semi-final of DreamHack Open Denver, Renegades took on BIG, starting off on Cobblestone. Despite losing the Terrorist pistol, BIG were the team to get the early lead, going 3-1 up. However, Renegades stabilized after that as their A site defense, spearheaded by Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis, held strong round after round. BIG went down 6-3, pulled it back with some good B hits and managed to finish the half with just a single round deficit, at 8-7.

After the switch, Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz resolved a 1v2 on A and off the back of that pistol round win, his team got back into the lead. Being at an 11-8 deficit, Renegades went for a late A push and capitalized on Kevin "⁠keev⁠" Bartholomäus's aggression, but the German AWPer made up for it in the next round with a double opening on A. Rounds were traded back and forth from that point onwards, but Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik's team was able to edge out the first map 16-11.

BIG advance to the grand final in Denver

tabseN earned his team another pistol round with a triple USP-S kill at the start of Cache, but from a 3-0 lead, BIG struggled to do much on the CT side of their map pick. Renegades were quick to pull back the score into their favor, going to 7-4 while surviving some anti-eco scares. The Australian side continued their T side dominance, often punishing Nikola "⁠LEGIJA⁠" Ninić's attempt to hold on to mid control. At 10-4, keev got a double kill to allow his team to finish the first half with five rounds.

Renegades had a bait setup in mid on their pistol, but Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac failed to take advantage of it and BIG started their comeback, picking up the following two as well. After two rounds went the way of the Australian team, BIG were able to make the most out of their mixed buy and get the score to 9-12, forcing Renegades onto an eco as well.

As his team's lead came down to just one point (12-11), Nifty pulled off a hero-play with a saved AWP to get Renegades another round, only to get reset in the following one. BIG then took over the lead, utilizing their well-drilled A executes, and closed out the series with a B split to make it 16-14.

DreamHack Open Denver 2017Best of 3 BIGMatchpage 2 0 22nd October 2017 Renegades 16Cobblestone 11 16Cache 14

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Johannes 'nex' Magetnex	43 - 36	+7	80.1	1.20
Fatih 'gob b' Dayikgob b	38 - 36	+2	77.1	1.14
Nikola 'LEGIJA' NinićLEGIJA	37 - 41	-4	82.7	1.10
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	41 - 37	+4	78.6	1.09
Kevin 'keev' Bartholomäuskeev	37 - 36	+1	60.3	1.05

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	40 - 38	+2	74.3	1.15
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	35 - 39	-4	70.6	1.00
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	37 - 37	0	70.9	0.99
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	42 - 40	+2	70.6	0.98
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	32 - 42	-10	70.5	0.86

Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz Age: 22 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 916 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.72 Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac Age: 24 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 391 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.71 Nikola 'LEGIJA' Ninić Age: 27 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 760 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.71 Renegades #20 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardKeith 'NAF' MarkovicKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis Kevin 'keev' Bartholomäus Age: 25 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 552 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Age: 30 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.84 Maps played: 671 KPR: 0.56 DPR: 0.67 BIG #16 Fatih 'gob b' DayikNikola 'LEGIJA' NinićJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKevin 'keev' BartholomäusJohannes 'nex' Maget Noah 'Nifty' Francis Age: 19 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 406 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66