1 Mio. USD price pool
RUSH. FRAG. REPEAT. The motto of Flashpoint 1, which was held in the North American region for the first time this year. With a prize money of 1 million USD and twelve teams in the main competition, it was probably the biggest tournament of this year from the point of view of prize money.
Only two top-20 teams were represented in the tournament and played from March 13 to April 19 for the enormous prize money. In total there were 12 teams which competed in two different group phases in 3 groups each.
Winner and tournament MVP
Winner of Flashpoint 1 & the 500.000 USD is MAD Lions. The Danes beat MIBR 2-1 in the final and lived up to their role as favorites. After the first map and the pick MAD Lions went to the Brazilians, they fought back on Mirage and Train and decided both games 16:13 in their favor.
Group stage
The group stage was divided into two stages, each with a new draw. MIBR and MAD Lions finished first in both groups, giving them the seeding advantage for the playoffs. In the third group HAVU and Cloud9 alternated for the first place, but in the end they were also qualified for the playoffs as third and fourth in the overall ranking.
Furthermore, the teams Orgless, FunPlus Phoenix, Gen.G and Chaos made it into the playoffs, but were all without a chance in the first round and fought from now on in the lower bracket to advance.
Playoffs
In the opening round of the playoffs, all the favorites prevailed. The semi-finals were MAD Lions vs Cloud9 and HAVU vs MIBR. While the Danes qualified clearly 2:0 for the Upper Bracket Final, MIBR had to fight against HAVU.
With 16:13 and 16:5 on Train and Dust2, MIBR managed to advance to the Grand Final against MAD Lions, while MAD Lions had to go the way via the Consolidations final.
Surprises and disappointments
There were no real surprises at Flashpoint 1. MAD Lions, who were seeded first, were able to decide the tournament in their favor and were completely convincing except for the upper bracket final. The only real disappointment was the performance of Gen.G, who were one of the three favorites for the title and ended up on fifth place and never really had a chance to reach the finals.
Performance of the individual teams
- MAD Lions: The good performance was rewarded with the title of Flashpoint
- Gen.G: Minimum goal of playoffs achieved
- MIBR: Strong performances, narrow defeats in the finals
- c0ntact: Playoffs missed, disappointing result
- Cloud9: Good run in the playoffs, satisfactory
- HAVU: Slight surprise, strong performance
- Dignitas: Third last, could not meet expectations
