The final season of this year’s DreamHack Masters circuit is coming to an end in November, with the Winter season finals being played out from November 9-14.
This tournament is set to be one of the most important ones of the year, as it’s one of the last chances for players to obtain all important ESL Pro Tour points, which see the highest-placed players qualify for Starcraft’s World Championship. To add to that, there’s also a handsome $50,000 prize purse, meaning the players have a ton to play for and we’ll definitely see some exciting games.
Make sure to check out our guide on How to Bet on Starcraft 2 and let’s take a look at the event in more detail.
Who’s Playing at DreamHack Masters Winter Finals?
This event is set to be slightly different from the usual Starcraft tournament. With it being a finals, it will feature the best players from all the competitive SC2 regions, which includes six Koreans, four Europeans, two North Americans, as well as one player from each of Latin America, China, Taiwan/Hong Kong, and Oceania.
You can expect to see each region being represented by the best of the best and we’ll see usual favorites like Serral, Clem, Zest, Rogue, Neeb, and Special, as well as some underdogs like Cyan, Nice, Teebul, and many others.
Meanwhile, the event will be played in a standard Starcraft 2 format. First players will be split into four groups of four, with the top two players of each group advancing to an eight-player, single-elimination playoff.
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Serral | +350 |
| Trap | +375 |
| Maru | +375 |
| Rogue | +400 |
| Dark | +600 |
| Cure | +650 |
| Zest | +750 |
| Clem | +850 |
| Showtime | +6600 |
| Neeb | +6600 |
| Special | +10000 |
| Scarlett | +10000 |
| Nice | +25000 |
| MarineLord | +25000 |
| Cyan | +50000 |
| Teebul | +50000 |
Odds as of October 29 at Sportsbook
Serral Looks to Continue Impressive Resurgence
Serral was once considered to be by far the best player in the world, having won just about every tournament he played in 2018 and continuing that form into 2019. However, the last two years have been tough, with regional rivals Clem and Reynor upstaging him, both domestically and internationally.
Though, it does seem that Serral has finally figured things out, as he has managed to have an amazing few months, winning both the Fall Finals and the European Winter Regional DreamHack events.
Now he comes into the Winter Finals with two first-place finishes in a row, flying high and in hot form. As such, it’s no surprise that he’s one of the favorites and if he can keep up his form, he could very well claim another trophy here.
Is GSL Champion Cure Being Underrated?
One of the biggest talking points of this event will be how well can the Koreans perform. The region has historically been the strongest in Starcraft 2 and it’s no different now.
All six Korean representatives have what it takes to win, however, current GSL champion Cure comes in as one of the biggest underdogs, despite having just won SC2’s most competitive league.
Coming in at +650 on Betway, Cure seems to be a great value pick for anyone looking to take a somewhat calculated risk. Cure is arguably one of, if not the, best players in the world currently, so it wouldn’t be too shocking seeing him take the trophy here, especially considering he comes in hot off of a GSL title win.
Sportsbook
Do The Underdogs Stand a Chance?
The term underdog has a very wide range in this tournament. On one hand, we have some of the best players in the world and even ex-World Champions like Dark, Cure, and Zest coming in as quite heavy underdogs. Even European hopeful Clem comes in at +850, despite having taken down finals winners in the past.
Players like the ones mentioned definitely stand a chance to not only beat the favorites, but also convincingly take the trophy for themselves. Meanwhile, we also see very heavy underdogs like Nice, Marinelord, and Cyan, who have all been competitive regionally but have never won anything internationally, as well as Teebul, who makes his first international event appearance.
It’s difficult to see these heavy underdogs making an impressive run, as there is just a huge gap of skill between them and the favorites. With that being said, however, it is possible they could cook up some unique strategies and catch some players off guard, possibly taking a map or two off of the big players.
Overall though, there is a clear difference of skill between the favorites, the big-name underdogs, and the heavy underdogs. I’d definitely expect some of the big names to cause a few upsets, but it’s very unlikely we’ll see the heavy underdogs make it past the group stage.
