On May 16, Flashpoint announced that the match between Ninjas in Pajamas and Anonymo esports within the RMR CS: GO series tournament will be replayed. The organizers did not reschedule the meeting when the Swedes announced problems on the FACEIT servers, but allowed the match to be replayed when it was already over. Some supported NiP in this situation, while others suspected that the Swedish club and the tournament operator had entered into an agreement. How it all started, how professional players and other representatives of the CS: GO scene reacted – we will tell you in this article.
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How Flashpoint was born and why the third season of the league is so important to the history of CS: GO
We first heard about Flashpoint in 2023. In the announcement of the league, it was said that it was founded by eSports leaders from various organizations – Cloud9, MIBR, Dignitas, Gen.G, c0ntact Gaming, MAD Lions, Envy Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix. At that time, there were even rumors that the clubs had to pay $ 2 million to participate in the tournament.
The league’s first season kicked off in March at FACEIT Studios in Los Angeles. It was then that the WHO recognized the outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 as a pandemic, and the teams had to continue the tournament matches online.
The second season of the league was held at the end of 2023. In addition to the prize pool, BLAST Premier points were raffled off at both tournaments. By the third season, the organizers of Flashpoint managed to gain the trust of Valve and get the opportunity to host the Regional Major Rankings tournament, in which teams earn points to advance to PGL Major Stockholm 2023 with a prize pool of $ 2 million. lagging behind other participants in the RMR system, the team may lose the opportunity to play at the main CS: GO championship of the year. And everything was going well … until May 16, when the tournament operator decided to go his own way and oppose the generally accepted rules of the competitive scene.
What happened?
On May 14, at Flashpoint Season 3, a meeting took place between Anonymo Esports and Ninjas in Pajamas. Prior to the start of the match, Nikolai device Ridts said that his team would have to play with a packet loss of up to 40%. As a result, the confrontation ended in favor of Anonymo Esports with a score of 2: 1, and NiP players criticized the organizers of the tournament for being unprofessional.
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The next day, the Swedish organization said that the Flashpoint organizers could not solve technical problems with the squad and find a way out of the situation. NiP said they used several methods to fix the packet loss issue. They suggested that the organizers use the servers of other providers based in Germany. Anonymo players agreed to meet halfway, but representatives of Flashpoint refused all alternatives.
“We tried using a VPN, but it didn’t solve the packet loss problem. Then we tried to use FACEIT servers in other countries, but they still routed through Germany causing the same problems. Later we decided to try servers from other providers based in Germany – they worked flawlessly, so we offered to play with them. Anonymo showed real athletic behavior and was ready to take any action to solve the problem, however the organizers of Flashpoint refused all the alternatives that we provided. The administrators decided to oblige us to play no matter what, so we played all three maps of the series with a constant loss of packages. “
On May 16, a statement by Anonymo appeared online, in which the club announced that Flashpoint and NiP were insisting on a replay of the match. Anonymo representatives explained that during the first technical break, they offered to postpone the game to another day, but the Swedish roster refused. The team was also willing to play on any of the official servers other than Swedish to help the opponent avoid connection problems, but the idea was rejected. Representatives of the Polish organization noted that they consider the result to be fair and do not intend to replay the match.
In a statement, Anonymo also indicated that she had suspicions of collusion between NiP and FACEIT (the organizer of Flashpoint). The Polish club suggests that NiP could have put pressure on TO.
The day after the accusations from Anonymo, Ninjas in Pajamas COO Jonas Gundersen said that the players did not insist on a re-match, it was done at the initiative of the organization. He also noted that “the lies in Anonymo’s statement are simply outrageous.”
Flashpoint had the last word
On the evening of May 16, the organizers of Flashpoint published an official statement clarifying the current situation. They said that they tested servers in different regions, but this did not help solve the problem of the Swedish team. Neither side expressed their desire to postpone the match, so the game continued on the German server. According to the organizer, on the third map, NiP’s server problems were resolved, but after the match, the Swedes again turned to Flashpoint and reported that packet loss continued.
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Later, the organizers of the tournament examined NiP’s complaint and, after investigation, found out that the Swedes did indeed have problems connecting to the server. Flashpoint representatives suggested that the problems could have arisen due to some security settings on the server, which blocked the transfer of data from NiP, and the players, on their part, would not have solved the problem in any way.
In the end, Flashpoint insisted on a replay and scheduled this event for May 16, and then postponed the meeting indefinitely. NiP asked Anonymo to choose between a best-of-3 replay and the last map of the match.
How did the CS: GO community react to what happened?
Team Heretics Valorant Coach Ivan Johnta Shevtsov supported by NiP. He noted that this meeting could become key for the team, and the organizers treated the situation with disdain. Shevtsov also recalled that in the qualifiers for Flashpoint, “the cheaters beat Apeks and other teams, but the results of those matches were not canceled while there will be a replay.”
Danish esportsman joined the discussions Matthias MSL Lauridsen… He did not understand why Anonymo should now suffer because of the mistakes of the organizers. Lauridsen suggested that Flashpoint apologize to NiP and pay compensation rather than order a replay.
At the same time analyst Duncan Thorin Shields questioned the honesty of NiP and Flashpoint. It considersthat Ninjas in Pajamas did not reveal all the details of the story in order to present itself in the best possible light. According to Shields, representatives of the organization tried to pressure the league administrators to take their side.
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Ex-player Fnatic Robin flusha ronquest condemned the decision of the organizers of Flashpoint and joked that now, after each defeat, he would ask for a replay. Ronquest’s opinion shared by streamer Liquid Tarik tarik Whole… He noted that until Valve begins to intervene in such situations, chaos will be created on the stage. Commentator Vitaly v1lat Volochay asked if Valve could revoke the RMR status during the tournament.
What do representatives of other TOs think about the situation?
Epic Esports Events Product Director Mark March3llo Averbukh noted moments that confused him in this situation. He did not understand why the teams did not check the server before the start of the match and where “the mysterious server security settings came from, affecting only the players of one team.” He was also embarrassed that it was NiP that offered the opponent a choice – to replay all three maps or only the last one, because tournament administrators should do this.
“When you look at a European RMR sports project, the relaxed schedule immediately catches your eye, allowing you to calmly postpone matches (or replay them a few days later). Therefore, if the schedule allowed, and one of the teams had unsolvable problems, the match had to be postponed by the decision of the administration, and not after the request of one of the teams (which, according to the tournament, did not arrive, and according to Anonymo, they proposed a postponement at the first same technical timeout from NIP).
For Flashpoint, the situation is from the category – wherever you throw it, there is a wedge everywhere. If right after the match the situation could have been smoothed out with evidence of NiP’s technical problems, now this will no longer help. The community is seething and waiting for Valve to intervene, although it is not clear how this can help. “
StarLadder studio representative Yegor pANda Kolomiets condemned the decision of Flashpoint organizers. IN twitter he wrote that the match had to be rescheduled as soon as problems became known.
“In no case should you do this after the end of the match. The game was supposed to be rescheduled after the first complaints about problems with the FACEIT servers. Innocent, hold on, bro. This is the wrong decision. “
In a commentary for Cybersport.ru, Kolomiets clarified that all tournament rules contain a clause that if a team starts the game, it accepts the conditions that were provided to it. According to him, NiP should have abandoned the match before it started, or put up with it and not develop this topic after it was over.
What conclusion can be drawn from this situation?
The Flashpoint organizers had to follow the general rules from the beginning and, after problems arose, reschedule the meeting to another day, since the schedule allowed for this. NiP players could also insist on this, but for some reason decided to continue the match, despite the lags on the server.
Anonymo players tried to help the opponent solve the problem in any possible way and acted in a sporty way, but probably got excited about the secret collaboration between NiP and Flashpoint.
If Flashpoint decided to do a replay, why did they give NiP the right to determine the format? Such moments should be determined by the organizer himself, and not give freedom of action to the participants of the tournament. At the very least, the administrators could contact the Anonymo players themselves and offer them to choose one of the options, especially since we are talking about the official RMR championship.
Despite the backlash from the community, according to NiP, Flashpoint has settled the issue with Valve and the company has given the go-ahead for a replay. When exactly the second meeting will take place is unknown.
