The final season of CS:GO in 2018 has arrived with DreamHack Masters Stockholm set to begin on Wednesday, Aug. 29.
From Aug. 29 to Sep. 29, DreamHack will host the first large international tournament since the August player break began. The $250,000 will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, where the next champion of Counter-Strike will be crowned.
Related: Astralis defeat Na’Vi to win DreamHack Masters Marseille
Per usual, there will be a GSL-style group stage consisting of 16 teams and four groups. Each group will have two initial best-of-one matches, a winners’ match, a losers’ match, and a decider match. Only two teams from each group will advance to the playoff bracket, where eight teams will fight in a single-elimination bracket for a shot at the trophy. Below is a tentative schedule of the group stage and playoffs.
Group A
| Astralis vs. Grayhound Gaming | Aug. 29 7am CT |
| North vs. TyLoo | Aug. 29 8:30am CT |
| Losers’ Match | Aug. 29 1pm CT |
| Winners’ Match | Aug. 30 5am CT |
| Decider Match | Aug. 31 5am CT |
Group B
| Natus Vincere vs. Ghost Gaming | Aug. 29 7am CT |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. NRG Esports | Aug. 29 8:30am CT |
| Losers’ Match | Aug. 29 1pm CT |
| Winners’ Match | Aug. 30 8am CT |
| Decider Match | Aug. 31 8am CT |
Group C
| FaZe Clan vs. Heroic | Aug. 29 10am CT |
| Fnatic vs. OpTic Gaming | Aug. 29 11:30am CT |
| Losers’ Match | Aug. 30 5am CT |
| Winners’ Match | Aug. 30 11am CT |
| Decider Match | Aug. 31 11am CT |
Group D
| Mousesports vs. Gambit Esports | (Aug. 29 10am CT) |
| MIBR vs. HellRaisers | (Aug. 29 11:30am CT) |
| Losers’ Match | (Aug. 30 8am CT) |
| Winners’ Match | (Aug. 30 2pm CT) |
| Decider Match | (Aug. 31 2pm CT) |
Playoffs
| Quarterfinal 1 | Sep. 1 5am CT |
| Quarterfinal 2 | Sep. 1 8am CT |
| Quarterfinal 3 | Sep. 1 11am CT |
| Quarterfinal 4 | Sep. 1 2pm CT |
| Semifinal 1 | Sep. 2 6am CT |
| Semifinal 2 | Sep. 2 9am CT |
| Grand Final | Sep. 2 1pm CT |
There are three heavyweights that are favored to win the Swedish event—Astralis, FaZe Clan, and Natus Vincere. But knowing how fickle professional Counter-Strike can be, other hungry teams like MIBR, Fnatic, NiP, OpTic, Mouz, HR, and NRG could definitely pull off the upset in crucial matches. There could also be potential upsets from Ghost, TyLoo, Heroic, North, and even Grayhound.
All of the action at DreamHack Masters Stockholm can be viewed on DreamHack’s primary and secondary Twitch channels, with eight other non-English streams available as well, including Russian, German, Turkish, Spanish, Czech, Portuguese, Polish, and Chinese.
