With over 40 maps played already and many more to come, let’s recap the first RMR’s main storylines so far and get up to date with the event before the start of Flashpoint 3 Upper Semi-Finals.
Upsets in opening games
The event kicked off with the opening round matches. The games generally played out as expected with the exception of Vitality’s loss to french mix team DBL Poney and Complexity defeat at the hands of BIG. Vitality has had a shaky start to its new roster with kyojin and the same form continued in their opening game as they were upset by their fellow countrymen.
Complexity too had a poor showing in their match against the German squad of BIG where IGL Tabsen not only had a great fragging game but also out called Complexity’s leader blameF. In a later interview, blameF stated his dissatisfaction with his calling in their matchups against BIG and said that BIG has a good read on them.
OG, FaZe go out in last place
karrigan’s new FaZe project failed to impress as they went out in the last place in the event. The 13th-16th finish nets them only 250 points on the road to Stockholm major. After a close loss to Niko-powered G2, Faze went down to the lower bracket. What was on paper an easy match-up against Germany’s second-best, became a nightmare scenario for Faze as they lost in a 2:1 series to Sprout. Rain’s underperformance played a big role in this game and led to their eventual elimination from the event.
OG continues to have disappointing finishes despite the team looking good on the server. They joined the likes of Fnatic and Hyenas in the last place, after losing quick 2:0 games to Astralis and Vitality.
Upper Quarter-Finals: Mouz and Astralis continue good form
Mousesports and Astralis are both teams that have had issues surrounding major roster changes. Coming into this tournament neither was expected to make a very deep run though some, including myself, had suspicions that Astralis might overperform.
Ever since the Dexter addition, Mouz has been a shell of even their weakened former self. But ever since their massive set of qualifier games for Flashpoint 3 and IEM Summer (where they played 29 maps in 3 days) the team seems to have finally clicked. With great performances from the likes of ropz and frozen, the team looks in good form to make a deeper run than previously expected which would be an important step in their journey to the major.
Many would have expected Astralis to go into a downwards spiral after device went to NIP, but the team looks like it has stabilized. Their victory over OG looked promising and their follow-up game vs DBL Poney had them looking a class above despite the scoreline ending up quite close. They still have some issues to sort if they wish to reach the finals of this event, but they look in good shape to make a deep run.
Upper Quarter Finals: G2 upset Heroic, NiP get a close win over FPX
G2 had a bad 2020 as they struggled to integrate NiKo with the roster. After the benching of kennyS, the international roster has looked promising with both the Kovac brothers putting up big numbers. AmaNEk’s impact with the AWP is undeniable and he has been key in pulling miraculous clutches out of thin air.
The team has had lights-out games from NiKo in the tournament so far as they moved past Faze and even managed to upset Heroic, who are by far the favourites for the tournament. The Heroic game, in particular, had NiKo and huNter- fragging out with 1.53 and 1.29 ratings respectively. If they can maintain this form they have a solid chance to place in the top 3 of the event and could even make a run to the trophy considering how they knocked out Heroic.
NIP’s journey so far has been full of controversy after the poor handling of the NIP-Anonymo game. On the server though, NIP has had good results of the back of REZ and Plopski looking in form as they took down Anonymo and FPX. device hasn’t shown his value just yet only putting up 1.06 ratings in both games. He’ll want to step up in a big way to take NIP to the top.
Lower Bracket Round 2
In the lower bracket Vitality took down FPX to remain alive in the tournament, after a poor showing on the first map of Dust2 which went the way of FPX after a big comeback. Mirage was a much easier battle for Vitality after IGL apEX rolled back the years and dropped 30 kills with a 1.46 rating. Notably, world no.1 ZywOo remained quiet on both maps and only had 30 kills across both maps going into Vertigo, where he came alive at the right moment to power his team to the victory, as he managed to double his total kills in the last map alone.
The other game of the lower bracket saw Heroic taking down Complexity. The teams had an overtime affair on Mirage that eventually went the way of Heroic after 40 rounds of play. Teses started the match off strong with 35 kills in the first map and managed to secure the win despite blameF’s best attempt. The second map saw a dominant performance by cadiaN on Nuke as he carried his team across the finish line.
Coming up in the lower bracket, we’ll have Anonymo taking on DBL Poney. Both teams have had close losses versus the top teams they faced but have played well and had good tactics and we can expect a close game from them to maintain their tournament life. The game will go live tonight at 9 PM CEST.
The final game for this round will be a german battle between BIG and Sprout, BIG are the clear favourites for the match and Sprout will have to have a massive overperformance to beat their domestic rivals. The game goes live at 6 PM CEST.
Upper Semi-Finals
The upper bracket will continue on Sunday with Astralis taking on Mousesports. Both teams have had inspired performances so far and a win in the Semis will guarantee a top placing in the tournament. The stars on both sides will need to bring their A-game as any slow starts might send your team down to the lower bracket. Astralis come in as the favourites but anything can happen in such a close game.
G2 will take on NIP on the opposite side of the bracket. device will need to show why he’s the biggest signing in CSGO if NIP stands any chance to beat the Franco-Serbian unit. If NiKo can continue his domination in the server, G2 are in good stead to get to the Finals.
Flashpoint to continues at 6:00 PM CEST with Lower Bracket Round 2, watch the games live on their Twitch channel.
