Exceeding Expectations, Team Dignitas at Copenhagen Games

Introduction

The 2015 Copenhagen Games was a large LAN tournament situated in the capital of Denmark. It boasts a bracket of thirty two teams both invited and qualified fighting it out over the course of two days for a share of a €26,000 prize pool. The tournament plays host to a huge variety of teams from across the world, from a well known Virtus Pro or Team Solo Mid to mixed teams of players joined together specifically to compete in Copenhagen. Having reached its conclusion now, this article will look back over the fantastic run of Team Dignitas, highlighting some of the more notable games and picking out a few things we can learn from their first LAN performance.

 

The Build Up

Team Dignitas had a series of good results online with a new roster and their new in-game leader Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen. The weeks building up to the Copenhagen Games unfolded nicely for the Danish squad, with twelve online map wins and only three maps dropped by the new team. Amongst these results are some notable wins against well established teams; HellRaisers, FlipSide3 Tactics and Penta were all taken down by the Danes in the CS:GO Champions League for example. Good results, a new in-game leader and a lack of overhanging expectation set the stage nicely for Team Dignitas to make a meaningful impression in their first LAN tournament, with sights set firmly on a top ten placing or better.

Group Stage

Inferno
Team Dignitas [16 – 10] Copenhagen Wolves

After a fairly simple opening group game for Team Dignitas, the first real test came in the second match where they found themselves up against a stubborn Copenhagen Wolves. Being another Danish team and all very familiar with one another a certain level of pride was at stake for whichever team could overcome their compatriots. 

(Image courtesy of HLTV.org)

The first game of the best of three was on Inferno but despite starting on the favoured counter-terrorist side and winning the pistol round Team Dignitas still found themselves shaken early on. Copenhagen Wolves took the second round on an eco and strung a few more together on the back of it. However, Team Dignitas stabilised well in the gun rounds with a combination of early AWP picks by Nicolaj 'Nico' Jensen and good B-Site holds by Philip 'Aizy' Aistrup and MSL. The first half played out in a similarly even fashion, with a lot of back and forth between the two teams. The half ended with the Copenhagen Wolves leading by one with a score of eight to seven, a good result for them on the harder side.

The second half is where Team Dignitas really began to shine, but started off slowly losing the pistol round and following eco. However, from a losing position with only seven rounds on the board to Copenhagen Wolves' ten, Team Dignitas picked themselves up and didn’t drop another round, winning nine in a row to close out the game. MSL was a large factor in this turn of events; he repeatedly opened up the both bomb sites with one or two entry frags, shattering the counter-terrorist defence every time. A few individual moments of brilliance also helped in the closer rounds, with Nico winning a one on one situation to close out the game.

 

Cobblestone
Team Dignitas [19 – 16] Copenhagen Wolves

The real test of this best of three came in the second game on the map Cobblestone. Once again Team Dignitas found themselves slow to start, losing four rounds in a row including a devastatingly close one on one situation for Pimp. Eventually a good entry frag at the B bombsite by MSL followed by a fake A site take and flank allowed Team Dignitas to take their first round. Despite doing well to get on the board the minor victory was short lived as Copenhagen Wolves took a commanding lead with three more rounds in a row. Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye showed his phsyical annoyance at the loss and was vocally spurring his side on. Nico’s AWP began to connect with some good opening picks and MSL continued gnawing away with the entries. Jacob 'Pimp' Winneche combined nicely with MSL to mow down a frantic eco rush and this set the precedent. The combination of the two led to five rounds in a row before Copenhagen Wolves take back another and the split the final two. The half ended eight to seven in favour of the Copenhagen Wolves, a mirror of the score on the first map.

(Image courtesy of HLTV.org)

The lead in the second half jumped back and forth between the two teams for the entirety, with each team going ahead by one or two before losing the same in return. A couple of impossibly close rounds end up working in favour of either team, with a lack of kit punishing Team Dignitas and some failed holds undoing Copenhagen Wolves. Towards the end of the second half Copenhagen Wolves pulled away with a lead and found themselves in a situation with two map points. However despite a lack of full equipment Team Dignitas managed to rescue the final two rounds and tie the game at fifteen a piece, taking it to overtime.

In overtime Team Dignitas only dropped a single round, executing two perfect B site takes in a row with Nico winning an incredible one versus two for the first. They lose the final round in the first overtime half as Copenhagen Wolves came out on top of a one on one situation. The confidence shows again on the counter-terrorist side as Team Dignitas repelled the terrorist assault in the first round of the second overtime half and finally closed out the map nineteen to sixteen.

 

Lower Bracket Final

Mirage
Team Dignitas [16 – 4] FlipSid3 Tactics

Team Dignitas dropped down to the lower bracket after losing to a dominant Team Solo Mid in the initial quarterfinal, here they brushed past three opponents who each failed to get more than six rounds against the Danes. Their opponents for the lower bracket final were Flipsid3 Tactics, a team who had just beaten LGB sixteen to three on Mirage and were high on confidence. However, Team Dignitas wasted no time in asserting their dominance as the better Mirage team as they took seven straight rounds in a row on the terrorist side before FlipSid3 could reply.

(Image courtesy of HLTV.org)

Aizy was the real star of the terrorist play this time around, working well with the entry kills and racking up an impressive tally of multiple frag rounds. Pimp also chimed in with multiple frag rounds and the first half of the lower bracket final ended eleven four in favour of Team Dignitas. The confidence continued on the counter-terrorist side as the second half quickly slipped away from their opponents. A few important kills on the terrorist planters and some aggressive counter-terrorist pushes resulted in Team Dignitas winning out and ending the game with a convincing sixteen to four score. 

 

Consolidation Final

Inferno
Team Dignitas [9 – 16] Team Solo Mid

After getting through the lower bracket with relative ease Team Dignitas found themselves facing the team that had put them there in the first place, Team Solo Mid. This time however in a best of one format on the map Inferno, with the reward of a place in the final to play against Virtus Pro for the victor. Naturally Team Solo Mid opted to start on the counter-terrorist side after winning the knife round, but it was Team Dignitas that got off to the better start. After winning the pistol round and following eco Team Dignitas ran into some problems as their opponents played an aggressive banana and managed to get three rounds in a row.

(Image courtesy of HLTV.org)

Adapting and fighting back however, Nico took advantage of these pushes and punished the two B site players, before taking the site and getting two more for the quad kill. They push on from here, winning five rounds in a row to take them to seven and already in a good position for the terrorist side of the map. Team Solo Mid found their rhythm towards the end of the half, possibly after shaking themselves out of the negativity they inherited from their defeat to Virtus Pro. Team Dignitas managed to get one more round to take the total to eight before their opponents held firm and won the remaining three rounds in the first half. There were a few rushed rounds against eco’s that didn’t work for Team Dignitas as well as a few scrappy rounds which with a bit more experience might have gone their way.

Team Solo Mid started the second half as they meant to go on, overwhelming the B bombsite and taking the round. They continued to win rounds, exploiting weakness in the Team Dignitas defence and coming to life with their excellent aim. It was five lost rounds before Team Dignitas picked up their only counter-terrorist win. It looked promising as they managed to hold without a single player dropping. However, the damage had already been done and Team Solo Mid pushed on from their thirteen rounds to win out with a score of sixteen to nine. The B bombsite proved to be too easy for Team Solo Mid to take and then hold in the after plant positions. They progressed through to the final and Team Dignitas claimed a respectable third place.

Terrorist Over Counter-Terrorist

One of the most obvious things that we can take away from the results that Team Dignitas produced over the course of the Copenhagen Games is the strength that they have found in their terrorist play. Taking eight rounds on the terrorist side of Inferno, a map that is notoriously counter-terrorist side, against an incredible defensive team like Team Solo Mid is hugely impressive. Couple that with the dominant terrorist halves against FlipSid3 Tactics on Mirage and Reason Gaming on Inferno and the strength in this element of their play is clear to see.

- MSL proved his worth as an addition to the side with his smart terrorist play and ability to get multiple entry frags round after round.

- Pimp remained true as an incredibly solid rifler, even opting to pick up the awp for a pick or two. He often found himself in good positions to back up his teammates and help secure rounds.

- Nico found some good form with the AWP and was a valuable part of their successful counter-terrorist rounds. In the rounds that Nico got the opening pick almost all of them were won.

- Aizy had some incredible games, top fragging on Inferno and Mirage with some fantastic team work and strong bomb site holds.

- Kjaerbye is an incredible young talent, he had a lot of big rounds with smart flanks and a lurking attribute to his play; he helped secure more than a few rounds in tricky situations.

 

(Image courtesy of HLTV.org)

In order to compete with the world's very top tier teams it is important to have a strong counter-terrorist side to compliment the terrorist play. This is especially important for the maps where the counter-terrorist side is favoured, as being unable to close out a game on the favoured side of a map will be a problem for any team. With some tweaking on the defensive side of things there is no reason why this talented young Team Dignitas squad couldn't compete for a place amongst the very elite in the world.

Final Standing

Team Dignitas placed third overall at the Copenhagen Games, taking €2,500 for their achievement. Only losing out to Virtus Pro and Team Solo Mid in the standings they dropped just three maps in total and showed throughout the tournament that they can compete at a very high level on LAN. Each player on the team fits well into a role and they complement each other well, with the progression of their counter-terrorist side they should be able to improve on this result and keep challenging in the future. It will be interesting to see how their results continue from here and where they place at the upcoming ESL Pro League Season One LAN Finals in Cologne from the 10th to 11th of April.