paiN, Rebirth win DreamHack January NA openers
paiN Gaming rallied for a dramatic win while Rebirth Esports swept its match Wednesday as play opened in the DreamHack Open January 2021: North America.
The $30,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event features four teams competing in a double-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three until the Sunday final, which will be best-of-five with the winners-bracket team starting with a one-map advantage.
The champion will receive $16,000 and 60 ESL Pro Tour points. The runner-up will get $8,000 and 40 ESL Pro Tour points.
Triumph opened with a 16-11 win over paiN on Nuke, then jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Vertigo. paiN recovered to claim Vertigo 16-8, then sealed the series with a 22-18 double-overtime decision on Inferno.
Vinicios "PKL" Coelho and Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato each had 65 kills for paiN's all-Brazilian squad while Rafael "saffee" Costa produced a team-best plus-6 kill-death differential. Brendan "Bwills" Williams recorded 67 kills and a plus-7 K-D differential for Triumph's all-United States roster.
Rebirth cruised past Extra Salt 16-3 on Overpass, then sealed the match with a 16-12 win on Dust II.
The United States' Rahul "curry" Nemani amassed 45 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential for Rebirth. South Africa's Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek posted 30 kills and a minus-3 K-D differential for Extra Salt.
Rebirth and paiN will square off Friday for a berth in the final. Triumph and Extra Salt will meet Thursday in the losers bracket.
--Field Level Media
