Vitality and Complexity survive in the lower bracket as two high-profile teams go out early at the European RMR event.
OG disappoint again as vintage Vitality dazzle
Though it seemed like another upset elimination might be in the cards for Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and co. after their first-round defeat to DBL PONEY, the Frenchmen bounced back in impressive fashion by eliminating the new-look OG side from Flashpoint 3 in a clean 2-0 victory.
Their advantage was never in doubt as they flipped a 9-6 halftime lead on Dust 2 into a 16-7 map win off the back of an exemplary CT side, a feat they seemed to replicate on their opposition’s map pick as well as they raced to a 7-1 lead on the defense. Though the half ended 8-7 after a valiant comeback by Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen’s men, Vitality’s strong start to the T side gave them enough rounds to weather the storm and turn a corner in round 26.
The even scoreline of 13-13 didn’t tell the full story at that stage: the underlying economic issues in the OG camp made it impossible for them to secure the all-important AWP and the other equipment needed to mount a strong defense, and they lost each of the three subsequent three rounds, going out with a whimper instead of a bang.
It looks like the end of the road for Fnatic
Despite what seemed like a promising set of changes at first, the Swedish side’s awful showing at the all-important RMR event could very well mark the end of some players’ tenure in the side. In-game leader Maikil “Golden” Selim and wily veteran Jesper “JW” Wecksell both had an unacceptably low statistical performance at Flashpoint 3 and their disappointment at the conclusion of their run seems to suggest they may also feel like time is up to turn things around with the current core.
Complexity still remain in the pickle as their next lower bracket opponent will either be Heroic or G2, and either of those sides would be a significantly stiffer test than this iteration of Fnatic was.
Flashpoint 3 will continue with the next set of round one elimination matches. FaZe Clan will have to bounce back from a defeat to G2 against Sprout if they want to stay alive in the tournament – meanwhile, Ninjas in Pyjamas have the ex-North core (playing under the name HYENAS here) to take care of. Judging by the consternation caused by the tech issues in their match against Anonymo, it’d cause a volcanic eruption if anything similar happened this time around.
