DreamHack Austin 2017 was a video game convention and competition event. It took place in Austin, Texas, from April 28 to April 30, 2017. The event included the DreamHack Astro Open Counter Strike: Global Offensive tournament, as well as tournaments for Super Smash Bros., Street Fighter V, and StarCraft II.

Background

DreamHack Austin 2017 took place at the Austin Convention Center from April 28 to April 30, 2017. Asus Republic of Gamers had a booth at the event. Asus, Intel, and PC Gamer worked together to set up gaming laptops, desktops, and a virtual reality station in the "free-to-play" section. Austin was the first DreamHack event to be broadcast live on Twitter as part of a 2017 partnership between DreamHack and Twitter.

DreamHack Austin included major tournaments for Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and StarCraft II. The Street Fighter V tournament at this event was an important part of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour. Other smaller tournaments held at DreamHack Austin included Pokkén Tournament, For Honor, Guilty Gear Xrd, and NBA 2K.

Tournaments

The tournament named "DreamHack Astro Open 2017" was a Counter Strike: Global Offensive event held at DreamHack Austin. It included eight teams and took place over the entire weekend. Six matches were played on Friday in the "Group Stage," four playoff matches on Saturday, and the semifinals and grand final on Sunday. Teams such as Cloud9, Immortals, and Team Liquid competed at the event. G2 Esports had recently changed their team members, adding former Team EnVyUs players earlier in the year. A sports news website called FanSided reported that Gambit Esports performed well during cs_summit in the same month.

In the semifinals, the Immortals, led by Lincoln "fnx" Lau, defeated Heroic by winning 10 rounds in a row during the first half of their second match. After trading rounds at the start of the third game, the Immortals won 16–13 and advanced to the grand finals. In another match, Gambit and G2 faced each other. Three overtime sets were needed before G2 won their first game 25–22. G2 led 10–3 in their second game, but Gambit made a comeback and won 16–12, forcing a third game, which Gambit also won 16–14.

In the grand finals, the Immortals and Gambit played. The first game was on the map "Train," where the Immortals took a 3–0 lead but lost the game 16–12 after Gambit won five rounds in a row. The second game was on "Inferno," and Gambit led 9–1 in the first half. Gambit eventually reached a 14–7 lead in the second half, but the Immortals closed the gap by winning five rounds in a row. Gambit won the second game 16–12. At the end of the match, two Gambit players—Dosia and Mou—each had 46 kills, and four of their five team members had over 74 damage per round (ADR), while only two Immortals players had over 70 ADR.

Players complained about the noise during the event. All competitors were required to use Astro headphones, but they did not block outside noise effectively. G2 player Shox mentioned this issue during a post-match interview.

At the DreamHack Austin StarCraft II tournament, 80 players competed to qualify for the World Championship Series. Alex "Neeb" Sunderhaft won the tournament by defeating Artur "Nerchio" Bloch 4–2 in the finals. Neeb was a top contender before the tournament but struggled in the group stage, qualifying second in his group. Nerchio advanced through the group stage with fewer losses. In their first match, Neeb exposed his Mothership Core, allowing Nerchio to win the first game. Neeb then controlled the map’s pace and used stronger unit strategies to defeat Nerchio.

The Street Fighter V tournament at DreamHack Austin 2017 was the fourth Premier Event of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour. The event added $15,000 to the prize pool, and the winner likely qualified for the 2016 Capcom Cup. Victor "Punk" Woodley won the tournament despite being sent to the loser’s bracket early. Unlike his behavior at the 2017 NorCal Regionals, Punk teased opponents less, and a report described his actions as "polite." Punk faced Kun Xian Ho in the finals and defeated him by staying out of Xian’s range and punishing his mistakes.

During the tournament, several professional Street Fighter players used the character Ibuki, including Yukadon, GO1, and Xian. However, Xian switched back to his main character, F.A.N.G., before the final round due to Punk’s success. Despite F.A.N.G.’s low ranking in tier lists, Xian’s last-minute change led to a closer final match.

The Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament at DreamHack Austin 2017 included top players like Hungrybox, Mew2King, MKLeo, and ZeRo. Adam "Armada" Lindgren did not compete because his GameCube controller was not working properly. In the loser’s bracket, Mew2King defeated players such as Leffen, Plup, and Mang0 but lost to ChuDat in the loser’s finals. ChuDat then faced Hungrybox in the grand finals. ESPN described the early rounds as a "high-level spectacle" because ChuDat’s Ice Climbers fought Hungrybox’s Jigglypuff. In the final round, Hungrybox used Jigglypuff’s air time to avoid ChuDat’s attacks and won by time. ChuDat refused to shake Hungrybox’s hand after the victory.