DBL Upset, Fnatic Disappoint at Flashpoint 3

The first two match-days for the European RMR event are in the books and we have already witnessed some upsets taking place. The French mix team around Nathan” NBK-” Schmitt managed to pull through versus Team Vitality. BIG struck down Complexity. Even though mousesports were favorites going up against fnatic, the end results were still a shock for the Swedish team.

After all, the players have worked hard to integrate Jack “Jackinho” Ström Mattsson into the team. The Swede actually brought his talents to the server, but the rest of the team dragged him down. Jesper “JW” Wecksell in particular struggled with his form. After the Best-of-Three, he only had 16 kills to his name, whereas Chris “dexter” Nong recorded a whopping 41 kills and a phenomenal 1.52 rating.

After this quick 0.2, fnatic are heading to the Lower Bracket. There, they will square off against Complexity, which might force them to leave the event prematurely. However, dexter’s troops can enter the Upper Bracket fight against BIG, which offers them a chance to take another match victory home. BIG showed class against Complexity, but in recent months, they have shown little to no consistency.

BIG OVERWHELM COMPLEXITY

On their own pick, Nuke, Benjamin “blameF” Bremer felt confident of their eventual victory over the German team. Instead, they were met with a fantastic CT side and a T side that was just strong enough to carry BIG over the finish line. Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz turned heads not only in his role as the in-game-leader, but also as a competent fragger. On Nuke, he recorded a whopping 26 kills.

So now Complexity were in the hot seat going onto Dust2. However, BIG were even stronger on their own pick. After a close first half, they took their CT side and converted it into a rather quick victory. On a 16-8 scoreline, they forced Complexity down into the Lower Bracket, where they’ll have to contend with fnatic. This result may have come as a surprise to fans and analysts, but the other side of the bracket provided us with a real shocker.

DBL PONEY WIPE THE FLOOR WITH VITALITY

Every year, the French scene seems to be churning out some sort of prodigy player. In 2019, it was Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, in 2020 it was Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom, and now this appears to be Thomas “Djoko” Pavoni. With a roster that features ZywOo, Richard “shox” Papillon, and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, few players should be able to keep up a strong performance. However, Djoko effortlessly climbed on top of 40 kills and mounted a 1.55 rating against one of the best teams in the world.

Granted, things aren’t going too great for Vitality. Jayson “Kyojin” Nguyen Van has not yet integrated properly and the rest of the team suffers from a performance slump as well. This is true even for ZywOo. He still managed to collect his kills for a neutral KD, but usually, the French superstar puts up a much different kind of show. So after two quick maps, DBL Poney had achieved the perfect upset, are now going up against Astralis, and thus get the opportunity to really prove themselves. It stands to question whether the French mix-team actually has the guts and the strength to do that.

ASTRALIS TAKE REVENGE ON OG

At the BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown, OG first appeared with Shahar “flameZ” Shushan and recorded a perfect upset over Astralis. They announced themselves to the international stage and revealed the underlying problems of the Astralis roster. However, just a few weeks later, the Danes are already back in the driving seat and ready to tackle the big guys.

OG actually tried their best to contend with them. It was flameZ in particular who put up a monster performance, which still wasn’t enough. On Inferno, OG came back from a huge deficit, but messed up the last few rounds of overtime. After a 19-22 loss, they headed for Nuke, where Astralis were in control from start to finish. While OG did collect 11 round points, Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth was much too strong for them to handle.

So flameZ and his team are also down to the Lower Bracket. They still have it comparatively easy with their upcoming opponents, as the Frenchmen of Vitality appear to be in a real slump. If OG bring to the server what they already showed versus Astralis, they should be just fine going up against apEX’s troops. After Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen has proven his worth as Astralis’ new fifth man, they look to be the favorites against DBL Poney. However, NBK- and his team have the advantage of being unpredictable. There is hardly any material on them out there, so Astralis will enter this fight almost blind.

We’re still days away from seeing these matches unfold. First, the remaining teams will get to play their opening matches, after which the Lower Bracket teams will fight for survival in Flashpoint 3. The Upper Bracket will finally be back in a week’s time. Who will be able to make their way into the Grand Finals from there on?