Extra Salt finishes third at DreamHack Open Jan 2021 NA
We’ve been following the story of the ex-Cloud9 CS:GO players all the way. In December 2020, we reported Johnny “JTâ †Theodosiou, Aran “â Sonicâ †Groesbeek and South African coach Tiaan “â T.câ †Coertzen were picked up by esports organization Extra Salt, alongside their international teammates.
Their first official tournament after Justin “â FaNgâ †Coakley, signed to the roster was DreamHack Open 2021 North America, where the team put up an admirable performance.
Extra Salt at DreamHack Open 2021 NA
Over the weekend, the playoffs of the DreamHack Open 2021 North America tournament took place. There was a prize pool of $30,000 on the line (and ESL Pro Tour points), which is roughly R450,000 at the current Dollar to Rand exchange rate.
With a new player on their squad, Extra Salt looked strong in the closed qualifier. Unfortunately for the team, they couldn’t replicate their success in the main event.
Extra Salt lost their first match against Rebirth Esports with a 2-0, getting knocked down to the lower bracket. The team recovered, beating Triumph with some relatively clean maps. To get to the finals, Extra Salt had to face Rebirth Esports once again.
Extra Salt took down the first map, Vertigo, with ease in a 16-6 victory. However, Rebirth Esports came back swinging in the next two maps, knocking out Extra Salt with a 16-11 win on Inferno, followed by a 16-10 win on Dust II. With the loss to Rebirth Esports, Extra Salt finished in third place.
Final standings and winnings:
- 1st place – paiN Gaming wins $16,000 and 60 ESL Pro Tour points
- 2nd place – Rebirth Esports wins $8,000 and 40 ESL Pro Tour points
- 3rd place – Extra Salt wins $4,000 and 20 ESL Pro Tour points
- 4th place – Triumph wins $2,000
As the first tournament for their new squad, Extra Salt did put up a great performance. We are excited to see how the team will evolve and improve in the future, as we will continue to follow these South African players and their international teammates.
Header image via DreamHack.
