Spirit dominate FPX to claim DreamHack Open January title

Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov put on a stellar display in the best-of-five grand final that Spirit won 3-0.

Spirit swept FunPlus Phoenix in a one-sided DreamHack Open January grand final to secure their first title of 2021, winning the series 3-0 without allowing the European combine to hit double digits on any of the three maps played.

The Russian squad were quick to set the pace in the final match, with degster putting on impressive performances on Dust2 (16-7) and Nuke (16-6), with 1.74 and 1.66 ratings, respectively, although the whole team stepped up throughout the one-sided series that concluded on Mirage (16-8).

Spirit didn't give FPX a chance in the best-of-five grand final series

The series started on Dust2, Spirit’s first map pick, and a brawl ensued as FunPlus Phoenix took a 6-5 lead on the attacking side before a late streak by the Russian squad brought them to a 9-6 lead before switching sides. Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev and company didn’t let up on the offensive, with all players firing on all cylinders, cruising to a 16-7 victory to take the lead in the series.

Following a slow start in the series, FunPlus Phoenix had a chance to revert the situation on their first map pick, Nuke, but a subpar T-side put Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk and company down 5-10 before going on the defense. Once again, however, Spirit took complete control on the attack, winning 6-1 to close the map out 16-11 and go up 2-0 ahead of the third map in the best-of-five series.

Spirit continued to display crushing superiority on the Terrorist side, this time on their second map pick, Mirage, where they once again reached double digits before switching sides, 10-5. FunPlus Phoenix cut their deficit early on in the second half, but were quickly overwhelmed as Spirit plowed their way to the title, winning the map 16-8 to secure the series.

DreamHack Open January 2021 EuropeBest of 5 SpiritMatchpage 3 0 31st January 2021 FunPlus Phoenix 16Dust2 7 16Nuke 6 16Mirage 8

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Abdul 'degster' Gasanovdegster	59 - 30	+29	73.9	1.50
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	64 - 38	+26	98.7	1.47
Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx	49 - 35	+14	80.2	1.33
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	47 - 42	+5	84.3	1.23
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	52 - 36	+16	72.8	1.21

FunPlus Phoenix	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	34 - 50	-16	61.6	0.83
Jesse 'zehN' LinjalazehN	41 - 55	-14	71.9	0.83
Asger 'Farlig' JensenFarlig	39 - 53	-14	58.8	0.79
Pavle 'Maden' BoškovićMaden	38 - 58	-20	66.4	0.72
Chris 'chrisJ' de JongchrisJ	29 - 55	-26	50.4	0.61

The final DreamHack Open January standings are:

1. Spirit - $35,000
2. FunPlus Phoenix - $15,000
3-4. Gambit - $6,000
3-4. BIG - $6,000
5-6. Sprout - $2,500
5-6. Evil Geniuses - $2,500
7-8. FORZE - $1,500
7-8. HellRaisers - $1,500

HellRaisers #34 Nikolaj 'kalinka' RysakovVadim 'Flarich' KaretinGuy 'anarkez' TrachtmanDmitriy 'ProbLeM' MartinovNikita 'JIaYm' Panyushkin BIG #4 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Spirit #20 Abdul 'degster' GasanovLeonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev FunPlus Phoenix #17 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaChris 'chrisJ' de JongMartin 'STYKO' StykPavle 'Maden' BoškovićAsger 'Farlig' Jensen Evil Geniuses #14 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Sprout #28 Timo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' HowellMarko 'kressy' ĐorđevićJosef 'faveN' BaumannFritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich Gambit #13 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov FORZE #22 Almaz 'almazer' AsadullinEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovAndrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Martin 'STYKO' Styk Age: 24 Team: FunPlus Phoenix Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1322 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Abdul 'degster' Gasanov Age: 19 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.20 Maps played: 441 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev Age: 17 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 395 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.63