100 Thieves drop out of DreamHack Open Winter

100 Thieves will not be attending DreamHack Winter 2019, as stated by the DreamHackCSGO Twitter account this week, with a stacked schedule possibly having an influence over the decision.

The top five team placed second at IEM Beijing earlier this month and qualified for the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals taking place in December a few days before the announcement, making a focus on this 'S-Tier' event a likely reason for their absence from DHW 19.

While previous years have seen DreamHack Winter as a Valve-sponsored Major event, it has instead become a tournament in which smaller teams seek to prove themselves and big teams attend to assert themselves as a top tier competitor.

It could well be a Swedish organisation or team filling the now-vacant slot in front of a home crowd. The revived GODSENT or Team GamerLegion could receive an invite if they choose to skip the online Qi Banja Luka 2019 Europe Qualifier that runs until 30th November.

Whichever team does get the opportunity to fill the former spot of 100 Thieves will face off against FURIA, Heroic, CR4ZY, forZe, ex-Tricked, SJ, and Swedish mix team Marskalk.

As one of the last events in the 2019 CS:GO calendar, a strong performance at the $100,000 event will help a team's position in the rankings heading into 2020 and the upcoming ESL Pro Tour.

Fans may well be disappointed by not getting to see 100T in Jönköping, given the amount of pressure that esports players are constantly under during these tournaments and the heavy scheduling many have criticised at this time of the year, there is likely to be legitimate reasons for the team's decision to miss the event.

DreamHack Winter 2019 will take place from 29th November - 1st December, broadcast live on the DreamHackCS Twitch channel.