Flashpoint’s Group B stage, titled Demo-lition Men by the players themselves, has concluded. BIG and MiBR will advance to playoffs with the first and second spot, respectively, while forZe heads to the Last Chance stage with a third place group finish. Envy, despite finishing fourth, will join the other third place teams in the Last Chance stage.
BIG comes up big in Flashpoint Season 2 Group B. (Photo courtesy Big)
BIG’s best year yet continues
The BIG swap of syrsoN and k1to for smooya and nex has proven to be just the catalyst that the German side needed heading into 2020. This year they’ve taken home a treasure trove of trophies, including cs_summit6 and a staggering three pieces of DreamHack hardware (Leipzig, Masters Spring, and Open Summer). During the summer, BIG reached the mountaintop of Counter-Strike with the number one world ranking, and went in Flashpoint ranked fourth (behind Vitality, Heroic, and Astralis).
This year, BIG has almost twice as many map wins as losses (160-85), and new addition syrsoN has led the way towards those wins. In 2020 he’s posted a 1.21 KD and a 1.16 player rating, and excellent play from both XANTARES and tabseN has boosted the team’s overall performance.
BIG and MiBR eventually met in the Group B final, but opened up Flashpoint play against each other first. It was as one-sided as a three map series could be, as BIG won both Mirage and Dust2 with 16-2 scorelines, and MiBR needed 29 rounds to win Vertigo 16-13.
ForZe made it interesting against the top-5 ranked BIG in their second map, pushing them to 30 rounds. But BIG outlasted them 16-14, as tiziaN stepped up with 28 kills for his team. With a playoff spot secured for both of them, MiBR and BIG faced off again in the group final, and after a 16-13 win on Nuke, it looked like BIG would run away with it again. But a dominant T-side from MiBR on Dust2 pushed the series to a third map on Vertigo, and BIG needed all thirty rounds on Vertigo to get their revenge on MiBR, and secure the top spot out of groups.
MiBR entered Flashpoint with the most unanswered questions by far, with the core of their roster in FalleN, fer, and TACO moving to the bench after coach dead was benched in the coaching spectator bug controversy. MiBR signed LUCAS1 and brought in leo_drk and v$m on loan to fill in the gaps, and thoroughly proved they were the best team (other than BIG) in group B.
forZe and Envy stumble, but haven’t surrendered
forZe initially showed their mental toughness in their opening series, responding to a dominant map one from Envy with two wins themselves on Mirage and Nuke. But they were unable to carry the momentum with them into the next series, falling to BIG and then MIBR to finish in third place, ensuring them only a spot in the Last Chance bracket against Dignitas.
Envy are still in the process of establishing their identity, as four of their five players joined just this year, with LEGIJA and thomas having just joined a few months ago. On the positive side, despite finishing last in the group, they were competitive in all their maps played, and have slithered into the Last Chance bracket alongside the third place teams. They can sneak into the playoffs with a win against Gen.G.
Both Envy and forZe will play their Last Chance matches on Saturday, November 22nd. BIG and MiBR will join FNATIC, MAD Lions, OG, Virtus.Pro, and the winners from Envy/Gen.G and forZe/Dignitas in the double-elimination playoffs bracket.
