Two of the favorites for the Flashpoint Season 1 crown – Cloud9 and MAD Lions, recorded victories in their Flashpoint playoff debuts. Both teams had a strong run in the two group phases and its good to see the higher stakes are not playing a negative role in their performance.
No one’s out yet, but some are closer to the exit than others
Cloud9 faced the tougher test as they entered the playoffs with a lower seeding. Gen.G Esports have been trying to establish a name for themselves on the CS:GO scene but hit a brick wall yesterday evening.
In what was one of the better 2-0 games we’d see this season, C9 won on pure clutch gene. They survived an OT on Vertigo and shut the door right in front of Gen.G’s faces on Nuke for the final 19-17; 16-13 result. This new Cloud9 roster was not seen as much of a threat before the beginning of Flashpoint, but slowly crept up to a position of power and now feel like one of the teams to strive for the gold medals.
Another squad that’s looking more impressive by the day is MAD Lions. Unlike their NA colleagues from C9, the Danes did go into Flashpoint Season 1 with high expectations. By virtue of holding the No. 1 seed, they faced a weaker opponent in their first playoff game, but hey, you beat whoever’s in front of ya.
MAD Lions faced more trouble than they anticipated on the first map vs. FunPlus Phoenix. The Danes’ pick of Nuke played well into FPX’s strengths and all 30 rounds were needed to break their will. That would turn out to be the highlight of FunPlus Phoenix’s day as they completely crumbled on their map choice Dust2 where only two rounds went into their column.
The Flashpoint Season 1 playoffs are a double-elimination, so no one is out of the fold just yet. Gen.G and FPX will move to the lower bracket where they will play each other in a win or go home game.
Before we get to that point there are two more first-round matches on the menu. HAVU meet Chaos Esports Club in the first Friday evening match, followed by Made in Brazil – Orgless. You can see how mibr did in the ESL Pro League while waiting for their Flashpoint Season 1 playoff debut.
