Legion win DreamHack Stockholm MENA qualifier

DreamHack Stockholm 2025's MENA closed qualifier has concluded and it is Legion who took down the winner of the recently concluded Dust2 India 1XBET Masters 26, ScarX in the grand-final and survived the double-elimination bracket. True Thunder also took part in the closed qualifier with R2B2, Lonewolf and JaiHind serving as the prescribed UAE-based core for the event but unfortunately could not get past the second round. The winner, Legion will now battle it out on LAN at DreamHack Knockout Stockholm 2025, contesting for an ESL Pro League slot.

Eight teams cleared the open qualifier and lets take a quick look at how things went down at the DreamHack Stockholm 2025 MENA closed qualifier.

Upper-bracket (Bo1s)

Round 1

• True Thunder vs Pakboyz

True Thunder started their closed qualifier campaign against Pakistani team, Pakboyz. The bo1 took us to Mirage where True Thunder started on the T-side DayMake delivering a stunning 125-ADR half, posting 18 frags, fetching them a massive T-side lead. PARASYTE's individual brilliance fetched Pakboyz a couple of rounds in the first half as True Thunder secured a 10-2 half. Pakboyz showed some resilience in the second half but were quickly brought down once the gun rounds began. True Thunder closed Mirage 13-5, eliminating Pakboyz from the closed qualifier.

• ScarX, Legion and Monkeys in Pyjamas move forward

POWERmix pushed ScarX to their limits but the Iranian side emerged victorious with a 13-10 showing on Inferno off of a strong T-side. Monkeys in Pyjamas and Legion put up dominant performances against Mazoor and Blue Lock, advancing to the semi-final.

Rounds 2 and 3

• True Thunder vs ScarX

In the semi-finals, ScarX and True Thunder faced off on Mirage, where the latter had put up a strong showing in the first round. ScarX outplayed True Thunder, toppling their CT-defense to go up 8-4 at halftime. K1A and X1RON posted 13 frags a piece at ADRs in excess of 100 on ScarX's T-side. Switching over, True Thunder had to deliver a similar T-side showing to stay in contention but ScarX did not drop a single round in the second half, showing much more impressive CT-side, taking down True Thunder 13-4 to book a grand-final slot.

• Legion breeze past Monkeys in Pyjamas (Upper semi-final)

Starting on the T-side of Overpass Legion put Monkeys in Pyjamas at a 3-9 disadvantage. A map known for its lightening fast CT-side rotation routes, Overpass is not the map one would want to scale a T-side comeback on and it showed, when Monkeys in Pyjamas struggled in the second half, putting up just a couple of rounds before conceding the map 13-5 and crashing out of the closed qualifier in the semi-final.

• Legion go down to ScarX (Upper-final)

The grand-final was also played on Overpass and this time Legion were given a taste of their own medicine as ScarX bolted through, starting on the T-side. Legion struggled to keep up and ended up conceding a 4-8 disadvantage. Following pistol, anti-eco and bonus conversions, Legion fumbled the first gun round in the second half as their comeback attempt derailed and netted ScarX a comfortable 13-7 win. ScarX now head into the LAN stage of DreamHack Knockout Stockholm 2025 where the winner bags a coveted ESL Pro League slot.

Lower-bracket (Bo3s)

Round 1

• Blue Lock; POWERmix survive opening round

Blue Lock took on Mazoor 5 in the first lower bracket round. The UAE side started strong on the CT-side of the opening map, Dust2. With all of their individuals stepping up, Blue Lock secured a 13-9 win and followed up with a 13-6 on Ancient. Blue Lock took down Mazoor 2-0 to advance to round 2. On the other hand, Pakboyz, who were sent to the lower-bracket by True Thunder flunked out against POWERmix with a 0-2 series loss spanning across Dust2 and Ancient.

Round 2

• True Thunder vs Blue Lock

After going down to ScarX, True Thunder took on Blue Lock in the second lower-bracket round. The series started on Nuke with True Thunder on the CT-side. An aggressive T-side from Blue Lock saw True Thunder struggle and eventually concede a small 5-7 disadvantage at halftime. After a series of back and forth trades, Blue Lock emerged ahead and closed Nuke 13-10 as Lonewolf's server topping 24 frags went in vain. Plagued by tech issues, True Thunder could not complete the second map as per the organizer's records, netting Blue Lock a 2-0 win.

Rounds 2, 3 and 4

POWERmix took down Monkeys in Pyjamas 2-0 and then sent home Blue Lock in the third lower-bracket round to set up their lower-final clash against Legion, standing just a single bo3 win away from pulling off a flawless lower-bracket run and booking a grand-final spot. After splitting a 6-6 first half in the opening map, Dust2 against Legion, POWERmix gave Legion a run for their money in the second half but the latter survived and emerged ahead, winning Dust2 13-10.

The second map of the lower-final took us to Train where once again, POWERmix secured a 6-6 first half. Legion displayed a superior CT-side performance with soulM8 and hfst4r putting up ADRs of 141 and 107 in the second half. Legion took down POWERmix 2-0, to set up a rematch against ScarX in the grand-final.

Grand-final

Legion vs ScarX

After sending Legion down to the lower-bracket, ScarX faced the Pakistani side once again in the grand-final. The series started on Overpass and ScarX managed to secure a 7-5 lead on the T-side, before going into the map's more dominant side. Legion, toppled ScarX's CT-defense to put eight rounds in the second half with SultaaN and hfst4r posting 11 and 12 frags in the half, netting Legion a 13-10 win on Overpass. Legion bashed ScarX out of the game with a 10-2 T-side showing on Nuke. PokemoN and soulM8 racked up 100+ADR showings, taking Legion to a 10-2 lead. A flawless CT-side from Legion saw the Pakistani side close Nuke 13-2 and win the DreamHack Stockholm 2025 MENA closed qualifier.

Legion now head to the LAN stage in Stockholm. DreamHack Knockout Stockholm will host a single-elimination bracket with the winner bagging a coveted ESL Pro League Season 23 slot.