They got the hardest possible start at DreamHack when they faced Fnatic in the first group round.
But 3DMax bounced back, made their way from the losers bracket to the semifinals – and now they wanna repeat what the Finnish hockey team did in Globen Arena 1995.
– When I was 10, Finland won the gold against Sweden in the hockey World Championships. We’ll try to repeat that gold, Joona ”natu” Leppänen says.

3DMAX, who until recently went under the name Encore, were invited to DreamHack Stockholm as the eight and final team of the tournament. Seeing which teams they would be facing, most people probably didn’t expect too much from them.
And when their first game against Fnatic ended with a 4-16 defeat, things looked grim for the fins who were now only one defeat away from elimination.
– The Fnatic game wasn’t the best for us, it just kinda slid out of our hands. It went back an forth until they could capitalize on their momentum and then they just wrecked us, natu says.

Next up were the Copenhagen Wolves, another tough opponent. But 3DMAX came together and managed to emerge victorious.
– I felt we had it all the way through, but we had trouble securing that 16th round.

”We were confident”

After that 16-13 win, the only thing in the way of 3DMAX playing on the big stage was danish team Dignitas. And right off the bat, the fins showed how hungry they are to make a name for themselves on the CS:GO-scene, when they quickly took a solid lead. But Dignitas refused to go silently into the night and managed to draw the game into overtime. But in the end, natu and his team could secure the win 19-17.
– We were confident in the last match. We’re slow starters and need a warmup before we start working well. But we played really smart and felt we controlled the pace of the game. The game is about self confidence really, and in the end we just did the right things.

Have you exceeded your expectations for this tournament now?

– There’s no reason to try and get an eight place. We aim to win every game we play and we go into them with a no fear mentality. We’ll take the game against LDLC just like that, and I feel we can win against any team we face. The goal is to make less mistakes than the opponents, because that’s usually the winner.

”Try to repeat the 1995 gold”

Playing in Globen will certainly have a special meaning for the finnish squad. Natu himself has childhood memories of a classic victory in the Swedish national arena.
– When I was 10, back in 1995, Finland won the World Championship gold in hockey against Sweden here. We’ll try to repeat that and win the whole thing.