Day 1 of DreamHack Malmö goes mostly as you'd expect

The first day of the $250,000 Counter-Strike tournament DreamHack Masters Malmö went mostly as you'd expect, with a few exceptions. The top teams performed well, the struggling teams kept struggling, and everything was more or less on schedule - which isn't exactly the norm for these types of events.

MLG Columbus champions Luminosity Gaming kicked things off against Chinese team TyLoo, who had their first official match against a team not from the Asia-Pacific region. Luminosity built a commanding 11-0 lead before the Chinese team found a response, but TyLoo did manage to put in seven rounds before Luminosity closed out the game 16-7.

Team Liquid made an impressive showing at MLG Columbus less than two weeks ago, but apparently the team had cooled a bit since then. Getting little practice and replacing stand-in adreN with the team's usual starter koosta meant that Liquid's form wasn't as strong as last time we saw them. Mousesports, on the other hand, were firing on all cylinders, with Spiidi in particular looking determined to prove that the team is more than just superstar NiKo and four other guys. Starting out on the T-side of Dust2, Liquid barely won the first half, but Mousesports held on and managed a 16-13 win despite Hiko's best efforts.

In group B, Na'Vi was facing Swedish team Godsent, lead by former Fnatic in-game leader Pronax. There'd been plenty of speculation beforehand about how Na'Vi would be playing, given that their star AWPer GuardiaN has been benched by a wrist injury and coach starix would be filling in for him. Though starix was a great player in his heyday, Na'Vi played a vastly different game in his time, and many observers were wondering how the team would have to adjust to accommodate him.

As it turned out, they didn't have to. Starix turned out to be a natural fit for the role that GuardiaN has built for himself, and not only led the game in AWP kills, but got the most kills overall and finished the game with an impressive 1.52 rating.

Though Na'Vi crushed in the first half, leading it with a 13-2 score on CT-side, Godsent turned things right around in the second half. They put another nine rounds on the board while only allowing Na'Vi to get two, but with the second-best team in the world sitting at match point it was only a matter of time before the game was over. Still, a 16-11 score against a team of that caliber is very respectable premiere tournament debut for Godsent.

In the other game of the group, Counter Logic Gaming completely destroyed G2 Esports with a 16-2 game on Dust2. It was a terrible defeat for the French-Belgian side, though they might be able to take some comfort in the fact that bodyy, who joined the line-up less than a week ago, led the team in kills and damage.

While Astralis pulled of a smooth and expected 16-9 win over Lounge Gaming, the Dignitas v Ninjas in Pyjamas game turned out a lot more surprising. Dignitas have looked uneven in the past weeks compared to the form that hurled them into the global top 10 a few montsh ago, while Ninjas in Pyjamas have been steadily improving under THREAT's leadership.

Last time the teams faced each other in an online match, Ninjas destroyed the Danes. Yesterday, Dignitas reversed that score and annihilated NiP on Overpass with a 16-2 score. GeT_RiGhT and f0rest, usually regarded as NiP's best players, disappeared completely as Dignitas steamrolled them. k0nfig was on fire, ending the game with a 1.85 K/D ratio and 24 kills.

Virtus.Pro continued their recent track record of grinding out wins in offline tournaments despite being terrible online. Going up against a hamstringed FaZe Clan, who added kioShiMa to their roster just days ago, the Polish team pulled a strong 16-8 win on one of their favorite maps, Train. Pasha couldn't get his game going, and TaZ is apparently hampered by a bite-mark from a German Shepard puppy on his hand, but the rest of VP where on point this match.

EnVyUs were looking to give Tempo Storm their comeuppance after the Brazilian team slayed the former Major champions at IEM Katowice. The game started off on the entirely wrong foot for the French team, however, as Tempo Storm built a 12-3 lead in the first half. Undeterred, EnVy fought back in the second half, tying the game at 14-14. But after giving up seven rounds in a row and going eco, Tempo took match point with a full buy and turned that into a 16-14 win.

Today's games and schedules are:

Wednesday April 13
10:30 - Pre-show
11:00 - Group A - Team Liquid vs TyLoo - BO1
12:30 - Group B - Godsent vs G2 Esports - BO1
14:00 - Group C - Lounge Gaming vs Ninjas in Pyjamas - BO1
15:30 - Group D - EnVyUs vs FaZe Clan - BO1
17:00 - Group A - Luminosity Gaming vs Mousesports - BO1
18:30 - Group B - Counter Logic Gaming vs Natus Vincere - BO1
20:00 - Group C - Astralis vs Team Dignitas - BO1
21:30 - Group D - Virtus.Pro vs Tempo Storm - BO1

All times CEST, so deduct an hour if you'r in the UK, Ireland or Portugal.