Flashpoint 3 opening week closes with controversies, disappointments and surprises
May 17, 2021 | 0 | 168| Share | Tweet
May 10th saw Flashpoint kicking off its third season. The event is offering a prize poll of US $50,000 to sixteen participating teams, but most importantly, RMR points are also up for grabs.
RMR events, of course, are part of the Major circuit, and rewards points that will determine which teams will end making up to the Major, which will run later on this year. So, while Flashpoint 3 isn’t packing a massive prize pool, it’s still a prime tournament.
Moreover, Flashpoint 3 is going to be a long event as the grand-finals are set to be played on May 30th. Yet, the opening week of the event has been surprisingly eventful.
So, in order to fully catch-up in order to get ready for the remaining of the event, let’s get a quick rundown of what is newsworthy so far.
OG and FaZe are already out
Coming as a massive disappointment and surprise for both teams’ fans and followers, OG and FaZe are already out of Flashpoint 3. Alongside FNATIC, these teams lost two best-of-three games consecutively.
Leaving Flashpoint 3 this early certainly wasn’t among the plans for either of these two teams. OG came to the event after confidently fishing first in the closed qualifiers for IEM Summer, and starring two new players, including flameZ.
FaZe Clan, in the other hand, did changes to their roster earlier this year and brought “Karrigan” back to lead the squad. The roster definitely had more time to train and prepare than OG, so this came as an even bigger disappointment.
To make matters worse to FaZe, the team already had finished DreamHack Masters Spring in last place, making this the second last-place finish consecutively for the roster.
In OG’s case, one could argue that the squad still has time to prove themselves. FaZe, however, is starting to draw negative attention to their results. As for FNATIC, it’s clear that Flashpoint 3 might be one of the last events we see its current roster together.
HYENAS controversial place in the competition
After North left esports earlier this year, two players from that team started a new Danish project. Called “HYENAS” and featuring ex-North players “aizy” and “gade”, this squad managed to get in Flashpoint 3. However, some criticisms was directed to them for the way they claimed North’s spot.
This is how it went: in order to get the spot, the squad listed “CajunB” as part of their roster. Since CajunB was a North player back when the organization won their spot in Flashpoint, HYENAS is eligible to claim North’s spot. Following on, HYENAS listed their fifth player, “Fessor”, as a stand-in. So, when match time comes up, Fessor is, technically, subbing for an unavailable member. Since CajunB isn’t signed to any organization in Flashpoint 3, this “solution” has worked.
Of course, HYENAS hasn’t played with CajunB, and probably doesn’t plan to do so. The 31-year-old player is currently playing for AGF, and during HYENAS’s match against FunPlus Phoenix, CajunB was in the server with AGF in another event.
While HYENAS isn’t breaking the rules, it still brings up a matter about ethics – or the lack of them. FunPlus Phoenix’ STYKO didn’t hold his opinion back regarding the situation:
Astralis, DBL Poney and G2 are the teams to look forward at the moment
While FaZe, FNATIC and OG left Flashpoint 3 early, three teams in the competition are getting the spotlights.
Astralis definitely has some momentum going. Device or no device, gla1ve’s team is showing that they still are a roster that shouldn’t be underestimated.
DBL Poney also claimed the headlines in their opening match after convincingly taking Vitality down. During the French showdown DBL Poney were the ones that left with a win, and they did it confidently.
G2, in the other side of the competition, is one of the two international projects still in Flashpoint 3. The team faced FaZe Clan and took them down, and now is aiming to prove themselves against Heroic. This next game is going to be one of the best of the tournament, so make sure to tune up.
NiP vs Flashpoint: summing up the mess so far
May 14th saw two games running on Flashpoint 3, as usual: NiP vs Anonymo and FunPlus Phoenix vs HYENAS. While the latter went on well, NiP and Anonymo’s game didn’t ran without issues.
As soon as the match started, NiP’s players appointed technical issues with FaceIT’s Flashpoint’s servers. Device, NiP’s newest star, reported up to 40% packet loss in his connection. Such a high amount of loss would make playing any online match impossible.
Still, the match went on and finished with Anonymo beating NiP. Ninjas in Pyjamas players, and then the organization itself protested about the issues they had faced during the remaining of the week.
The aftermatch
Over the past few days, more claims have came up, thus various arguments are surfacing. Some argue that it was NiP’s duty to have moved in order to get a proper connection. Others believe that it was on Flashpoint’s administrators to provide a solution to the issue back when the match was still being played, or at least on the same day.
Of course this is not all, and the debate around this matter has became heated. Players, analyst and key persons in the scene all gave their input, but at the end, Flashpoint’s decision is final. And Flashpoint has announced it: the match will be replayed. This decision came shortly after a press release by Anonymo on Twitter.
In said press note, Anonymo claimed to be being pressured by both NiP and Flashpoint. They proceeded to accuse NiP of acting without fair play spirit. Anonymo also made clear that, for them, it’s too late to issue a rematch. Nonetheless, the dates for the rematch offered are not viable for them.
Of course, the discussion didn’t stop there. Besides a number of professional players giving their opinions on the matter, NiP answered Anonymo’s claims. The Swedish organization argues says Anonymo’s statement was “shocking misleading”. On the same note, it was revealed that the cause of the connection issue was found later on, and it was something that only Flashpoint could have addressed.
This whole situation will be discussed for a long time within the CSGO esports community. Clearly, Flashpoint will also be marked by the whole controversy.
Flashpoint 3 returns this week
As mentioned above, Flashpoint 3 still have plenty of matches to be played. The event returns this Wednesday, with two matches: DBL Poney faces Astralis, while BIG will take on Mousesports.
In order to make sure you get all information and predictions for all upcoming matches, make sure to follow us!
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