DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015: Team EnVyUs' path to Major glory

Countdown to the Major!

We are less than one week away from the start of the last ever Major in CS:GO history. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 18 Majors. Today we have reached DreamHack Winter 2014.

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015

Date: Oct 28th – Nov 1st 2015

Number of teams: 16

Prize Pool: $250,000

Winner: Team EnVyUs

MVP: Kenny “kennyS” Schrub

Map pool: Cache, Cobblestone, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Train, Overpass.

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 was the seventh CS:GO Major tournament in the history of the game and was held from October 28 – November 1, 2015 in the Polyvalent Hall venue in Cluj-Napoca Romania. Like the previous Majors, this one also featured a total of 16 teams and a total prize pool of $250,000.

The final Major of 2015 came to an end with Team EnVyUs claiming the title on Romanian soil. It was the first ever Major final to not feature either Ninjas in Pyjamas or fnatic. The Frenchmen from Team EnVyUs defeated Natus Vincere in the grand final and took home the $100,000 first place prize.

Roster changes paid off

Results for Team EnVyUs weren’t satisfying for the organization in the period 2015, so they decided to release Richard “shox” Papillon and Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux to sign Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and Kenny “kennyS” Schrub from Titan.

It turned out to be a great roster move from the organization as the new roster went on to win IEM Season X – Gamescom right after the change was made. Additionally, NBK, Happy, kioShiMa, apEX, and kennyS reached the Grand final of the following Major in Cologne but lost to fnatic. Nevertheless, the rest of 2015 ended up being a success for the Frenchmen.

They became champions in two big tournaments (DreamHack Open London and Gfinity Champion of Champions) before winning the Major in Cluj-Napoca. There, the Frenchmen from EnVyUs had to defeat some really strong teams such as fnatic, Team Dignitas, G2, and NAVI on their path to the title.

Team EnVyUs’ path to Major glory

apEX and company from EnVyUs started off their playoffs run with a 2-1 victory over the Swedes from fnatic in the Quarter-finals, eliminating them out of the tournament. Next up, Team EnVyUs would take upon their fellow countrymen from G2, who secured their semi-final spot with a 2-0 victory over Virtus.pro. In the other quarter-finals, TSM lost 0-2 to Ninjas in Pyjamas, while NAVI defeated Luminosity Gaming with a 2-0 result.

The first semi-final match of the Major began with a victory for G2, who took down kennyS and company on Dust2 with a 10-16 scoreline. EnVy came back on Inferno after three overtimes, closing out the map 25-21 to force the decider. The decider of Cache saw apEX’s troops confidently close out the map 16-7 to secure themselves a spot in the Grand final, where they would face off against NAVI who came out on top with a 2-0 victory over NiP in the second semi-final.

The Grand finalists were chosen and it was time to find out who would claim the title as Major champions. The first map of the series was Train, where NAVI started off miserably and found themselves behind 0-7 on the scoreboard. NAVI managed to pick themselves up and added six rounds of their own on the scoreboard, before EnVyUs went to halftime with a 9-6 advantage.

In the second half, NAVI finally found their footing and moved ahead to a 10-11 lead before kennyS and company answered back. The remaining rounds on the map were fiercely contested, with rounds going back and forth. However, it was EnVy who took the first map 16-14.

Cobblestone was EnVyUs’ map pick and the Frenchmen started things off strongly, cruising to a 7-0 lead with full momentum. In a similar fashion to Train, GuardiaN and company from NAVI woke up after being down 0-7 and fought to get five rounds on the scoreboard before halftime.

The second half ended up being even worse than the first for NAVI, as the Frenchmen went on to just bulldoze every attempt NAVI made to take either of the sites. A few rounds came close, but the sheer pressure of EnVy’s lineup proved to be great, and the Frenchmen managed to clinch the map 16-5 to claim the Major trophy. EnVyUs’ AWPer,

Tournament results:

1. Team EnVyUs - $100,000
2. NAVI - $50,000
3-4. G2 - $22,000
3-4. NiP - $22,000
5-8. TSM - $10,000
5-8. Virtus.pro - $10,000
5-8. Luminosity - $10,000
5-8. fnatic - $10,000
9-12. CLG - $2,000
9-12. Cloud9 - $2,000
9-12. MOUZ - $2,000
9-12. Titan - $2,000
13-16. FlipSid3 - $2,000
13-16. Liquid - $2,000
13-16. Dignitas - $2,000
13-16. Vexed - $2,000

Highest rated players at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015:

1. Philip “aizy” Aistrup (Dignitas) – 1.55 Rating

2. Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs (NAVI) – 1.30 Rating

3. Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski (Virtus.pro) – 1.29 Rating

4. Kenny “kennyS” Schrub (EnVyUs) – 1.23 Rating

5. Georgi “WorldEdit” Yaskin (FlipSid3) – 1.22 Rating

6. Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen (TSM) – 1.18 Rating

7. Marcelo “coldzera” David (Luminosity) – 1.18 Rating

8. Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad (G2) – 1.16 Rating

9. Nikola “NiKo” Kovac (MOUZ) – 1.16 Rating

10. Robin “flusha” Rönnquist (fnatic) – 1.15 Rating

Tomorrow we take a look at the MLG Columbus 2016 Major.