STOCKHOLM — DreamHack, the premier gaming lifestyle festival, today announced its DreamHack Masters Winter tournament will take place online November 30–December 6, 2020. A prize pool totaling $250,000 will be split among four regional competitions in Europe (16 teams), North America (8 teams), Asia (4 teams) and Oceania (4 teams). The shift to an online format allows DreamHack to fulfill its promise of bringing the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) community the world’s best CS:GO action.
“Following the success of our online DreamHack Masters Spring, we’re very excited to bring our fans the DreamHack Masters Winter,” said DreamHack Chief Product Officer Michael Van Driel. “We’ve developed a structure to support teams, players and fans around the world with this format, and are looking forward to a great competition. All of us at DreamHack are proud to show the world of esports continues to grow and move forward, even as we continue adapting and finding solutions for this new normal.”
“Following the success of our online DreamHack Masters Spring, we’re very excited to bring our fans the DreamHack Masters Winter,” said DreamHack Chief Product Officer Michael Van Driel. “We’ve developed a structure to support teams, players and fans around the world with this format, and are looking forward to a great competition. All of us at DreamHack are proud to show the world of esports continues to grow and move forward, even as we continue adapting and finding solutions for this new normal.”
DreamHack Masters Winter will run between November 30 and December 6:
- Europe
- Group stage will take place during November 30 and December 3, featuring two groups of eight teams, running double-elimination to determine the top four ranked teams in each group. All matches will be played best-of-three.
- Playoffs will take place between December 4-6, using a single elimination bracket with eight teams. All matches will be played best-of-three, the final will be played best-of-five.
- North America
- Group stage will take place during November 30 and December 4, featuring two groups of four teams, running double-elimination to determine the top two ranked teams in each group. All matches will be played best-of-three.
- Playoffs will take place between December 5-6, utilizing a single elimination bracket with four teams. All matches will be played best-of-three, the final will be played best-of-five.
- Oceania and Asia
- Will begin on December 1 and run through to December 6 using a double-elimination format.
- All matches will be played best-of-three; the final will be played best-of-five with a 1-0 advantage to the team coming from the upper-bracket.
The total prize pool of $250,000 will be split between the four regions as follows:
- $150,000 for Europe
- $70,000 for North America
- $15,000 for Asia
- $15,000 for Oceania
Partner teams confirmed to date include:
- Europe — Astralis, G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Complexity
- North America —Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid
More confirmed teams will be announced shortly as teams will also have the opportunity to qualify via qualifiers. A total of four qualifier slots will be available to European teams, two slots for North American teams, and one slot for each of Oceania and Asia.
DreamHack Masters Winter is a part of the ESL Pro Tour and is the last Masters tier tournament awarding points towards the next Masters Championship, IEM Katowice in 2021.
Detailed information such as tournament format and participating teams are available on dreamhack.com/masters with more updates to come.
