Live Blog: DreamHack Winter 2012

DreamHack has once again returned to Jonkoping and with teams flying in from all over the world and with impressive prize purses for every tournament, the scene is set for yet another top notch event hosted by the experienced DreamHack organizers.

For the Counter Strike: Global Offensive tournament, €35,000 is on the line.  Straight off from victories at ESWC and DreamHack Valencia, the Swedes of Ninjas in Pyjamas will be looking to take their third title in a row.  Although the Swedes are looking very strong as of yet, teams such as VeryGames, Copenhagen Wolves, Curse and Dynamic will all be looking to dethrone the World champions from Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Almost taking up all the space in the majestic Elmia arena is the StarCraft II tournament which offers a whoopering €64,000 prize purse.  With more than €29,000 for the champion and with players such as Stephano, Nerchio, ThorZaIN and more in attendance, the competition will be stiff.

ESPlanet.net is on-site and will blogging live from the event.

Saturday - November 24

All times are CET

23:27: We just got back to our hotel after an amazing final between TaeJa and HerO, where the latter won with ease, 4-0. That's the final update for our liveblog from DreamHack Winter 2012 - we hope you enjoyed our coverage!
19:06: Sorry for the lack of updates, but there wasn't any internet available in the DreamArena.  Nevertheless, NIP-Gaming are the DreamHack Winter 2012 champions after besting VeryGames on de_dust 2 (16-9) and de_inferno (16-1)
15:02: Aaaand NiP just won the second map against mousesports, and they are now through to the grand final, where they will meet the French VeryGames.
14:51: In the other semi final, NiP just secured 13 rounds in the first half as T on de_nuke, making the current score 13-2. Can mousesports come back from this?
14:44: VeryGames just won against Lemondogs, with a convincing 2-0 win with the map-results, 16-5 and 16-9, and they are now going to the grand final.
14:01: NiP and VeryGames just won the first map in their matches. Great play from both NiP and mousesports resulted in a very close match, which ended 16-14 for NIP.
13:40: TaeJa just beat EG's ThorZaIN in an exciting best-of-five series 3-2, and he now moves on to the semi-finals where he will face off against Nerchio.
13:38: Wow! First half of the match between mousesports and NiP just ended 9-6 in mousesports' favour. Will this be the first lost map for NiP, or will they come back in the second half?
13:16: The semi-finals in the CS:GO-tournament has just started!
13:10: MaNa, who won ESWC earlier this month, is out of DHW12 after losing 3-0 to Nerchio in the quarter-final.  Meanwhile, the match between TaeJa vs. ThorZaIN is going into its fourth map.
12:54: LiquidTaeJa takes game two, so the score between him and ThorZain is now 1-1.
12:30: VeryGames also won the series against Dynamic 2-0. Lemondogs and VG will now proceed to the semifinals together with NiP and mousesports. The games will start at 13:00. 
12:00: Lemondogs just beat absolute Legends 2-0, with the scores 16-13 and 16-7 - very well played by the swedish underdogs!
11:20: The second map has now started in both of the remaining quarter-finals
11:09: Lemondogs also just won the first map, inferno, versus absolute Legends, 16-13
10:56: VeryGames won the first map of the series against Dynamic 16-6
10:43: First half of the first map in the match between Absolute Legends and Lemondogs ended 11-4 in favour of the latter.
10:40: In the first map of VeryGames vs Dynamic, VG is currently leading 10-5 at half-time.
10:10: We have arrived to the venue, and the two remaining quarter-finals have just started.

Friday - November 23

All times are CET

23:41: We are currently uploading the last photos from today, before heading back to our hotel. This concludes our coverage of day 2 at DreamHack Winter 2012 - tune in tomorrow!
23:28: The last match of the first round in the StarCraft II playoffs has ended, sending ThorZaIN, Nerchio, NaNiwa and snute to the quarterfinals, where they will meet TaeJa, MaNa, monchi and HerO.
22:38: NIP best ProGaming 2-0 while mouz took care of Copenhagen Wolves. The CS:GO action continues tomorrow. Meanwhile, the SC2 Ro12 is still in full swing.
21.06: rizc here, iPad cant handle the formatting here on this blog, so follow me on Twitter @followrizc for liveupdates and pictures!
19:36: rizc will be covering NiP vs. ProGaming.TD live, stay tuned...
18:47: Sorry for the lack of updates. The CS:GO playoff match-ups have just been drawn, stay tuned...
15:46: Anexis just pulled an insane comeback against Lemondogs, being down 13-2 at half time and end up tying it at 15-15
13:45: Group C of the CS:GO main-tournament is now over with VeryGames coming out on top and surprisingly the team qualified from the BYOC tournament, absolute Legends. Group D will be starting shortly!
12:34: Hawks started to look like they could challenge VeryGames, but in the end, the French pulled through and secured a 16-12 victory.
12:23: 3DMAX just lost 16-8 against absolute Legends, the team qualified from the BYOC tournament, and they now have to beat VeryGames if they want any chance of advancing to the playoffs.
11:22: The Hawks! just won against 3DMAX. A very close match including a sick 1v4 clutch by socN in the 27. round and a last second defuse in the final round making it 16-14 for The Hawks!
10:51: The first half between 3DMAX and The Hawks! ended in favour of the fins, making it 10-5. 3DMAX will now have to get 11 rounds as T on de_inferno if they want 3 points in this game.
10:16: First game on the CS:GO stream is the Danish side of 3DMAX vs the fins from The Hawks! (Who love SteelSeries<3)
09:32: ESPlanet.net have arrived at the venue.  First games start in about 30 minutes.

Thursday - November 22

All times are CET

21:32: We are closing up the live blog for today.  We still have a couple of news to do so keep an eye on ESPlanet.net!
18:53: Copenhagen Wolves and ProGaming are through from group B.
17:29: Progaming.TD overcome Curse 16-11 on de_train
17:21: TaeJa takes yet another win, this time versus fraer
16:55: TaeJa is going absolutely mental in the SC2 tournament's group A!
16:19: Wow! Great comeback by Curse - being down 13-2 and in the end tying it up at 15-15!
16.10: The official DreamHack Winter 2012 opening ceremony is coming up! Watch it live here.
15:59: Copenhagen Wolves open group B with a 16:7 victory over ProGaming.TD.
15:46: The action is still going on and both the StarCraft II and Counter Strike: Global Offensive tournament are alive and kicking.
14:55: Group A has concluded with NiP and mousesports going through. Read about it here.
14:05: mouz is up 15:13 versus fnatic
13:48: The last game groupstage-game for NiP just ended with a 16-10 victory over ESC Gaming, making NiP first in Group A
13:10: The StarCraft II tournament just started with the first game between Stephano and TheStC being shown on the mainstream.
12:49: fnatic just surprised ESC Gaming and won the game 16-7!
12:46: Exciting match up till last round, where NiP took over and won 16-14. Close game!
12:25: NiP managed to secure 11 rounds against mousesports making it 11-4 for NiP after the first half.
11:50: mouz clinched the event over ESC Gaming 16-6.
11:30: mousesports just won first half 10-5 against ESC Gaming.
11:14: NiP take a 16-6 victory in the opening game versus fnatic. ESC vs mousesports is also live after some delays
10:55: First half of the NiP vs fnatic game has just finished, and ended in NiP's favour 10-5 as T on de_nuke_ve - second half starting now!
10:15: Want to watch some great CS:GO action? Or do you prefer SC2? We got you sorted out with livestreams.
10:09: NiP vs. fnatic will go live any minute now...
08:34: Good morning World! First matches start in 1½ hour with NiP facing Fnatic and ESC taking on mouz, all in group A. Keep an eye on the match for more match details.

Wednesday - November 21

23:42: We are right now at the hotel, preparing tomorrow's coverage. We'll be back tomorrow around 09:00 CET - take care!