Pop Flash: Recap Day 1

On the first day of the Flashpoint-sanctioned event, the teams were already able to post some interesting results. The last event of RIOT’s IGNITION Series promises to shake up the North American scene.

GROUP A

Team SoloMid, the winners of the FaZe Clan Invitational, should have had an easy time with Dignitas. The organization had just recently signed a lineup featuring Rory “dephh” Jackson. While the analysts correctly predicted a rollover victory, they picked the wrong winning team. Dignitas got into the first half of Haven quite well and got 9 rounds for themselves. On the attacking side, they were quick to secure the map victory, with dephh leading the charge. The former Counter-Strike player managed to win 100% of his entry duels and with a 163 ADR, he was the biggest damage dealer on the server.

On Bind, TSM were met with the same fate. Dignitas dominated the first half, successfully winning the remaining defense rounds for a 13-4 victory. Their trial player, Ryan “Shanks” Ngo, locked in a 2.0 KDR against the arguably best team in NA. TSM were thus thrown into elimination territory at Pop Flash. Meanwhile, Dignitas have set their sights on a playoffs spot.

Before that could happen, however, Cloud9 first had to tackle Gen.G. With Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and Daniel “vice” Kim, C9 boasted enough individual talent to win this engagement. But actually, Gen.G managed to make a strong showing on Split. Particularly Danny “huynh” Huynh decimated the Cloud9 defense with his Operator. The Jett player amassed 23 kills and helped Gen.G win a 13-8 upset. On Ascent and Bind, however, vice and TenZ finally displayed some of their regular form. Even hyunh was unable to counter them as Cloud9 got two quick 13-5 and 13-6 victories.

Dignitas and Cloud9 are now one step away from playoffs. Gen.G and TSM, on the other hand, will have to fight for survival in the tournament. The latter team would be particularly disappointed with an early exit, making for a weak ending to an otherwise great tournament series as of late.

GROUP B

At least in the second group, the games went more or less according to plan. As the top favorites, Sentinels were able to easily best Envy. Jay “sinatraa” Wong, the former Overwatch star, climbed up to 24 kills and a legendary ADR of 200 on Haven. Pujan “FNS” Mehta and his squad had very little to say on the first map, and afterwards, Hunter “sick” Mims put on the carry pants. Even with a Sage pick, the player was able to comfortable get his 18 kills together, overshadowing the entire Envy team. After two quick maps, Sentinels were one step closer to the playoffs.

As the third-placed team of the FaZe Clan Invitational, Immortals hoped to lock in a quick victory against T1. Their biggest help actually came from the T1 camp in the form of Daniel “eeiu” Vucenovic, the substitute player. Following the sudden departure of Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, they team had to fill up their roster with an academy player on very short notice, ultimately going for eeiu. So far, his level seems to be insufficient for the top of VALORANT. But of course Immortals aren’t a great team to start your pro career against. On 13-3 and 13-7, the team of Yannick “KOLER” Blanchette made quick work of T1 for the match victory.

T1 are thus dropping into the Elimination Match. Hopefully, eeiu will have an easier time going up against Envy and maybe help his team avoid an early exit. The match between Immortals and Sentinels will surely deliver. At the FaZe Clan Invitational, the latter were able to achieve a decisive victory, but Immortals have only grown since then. This night, we can tune in to see the Winners’ and Elimination Matches take place, and tomorrow it’s already time for the playoffs of the last IGNITION Series event for North America.