Esports
Amateurs were pitted against pros in the Red Bull Flick Copenhagen Invitational 2022, and only *one* team could emerge victorious.
Red Bull Flick Invitational returned for 2022, this time hosted in Copenhagen, Denmark. Over the past few days, 24 amateur duos faced off in the Closed Qualifier, but only the two best duos made it through to the final stage this past weekend.
Amateur Polish representatives Mateusz 'mati' Knapik & Oskar 'raks0n' Ludwiczak, a returning duo who placed third at last year's Red Bull Flick as team Swiiiry, and amateur Finnish players Alec 'Puteli' Koivanen & Juho '8Juho8' Kankaanpää, of team KUUSAMO.gg, were the two teams you didn’t want to underestimate this weekend.
The Red Bull Flick game mode differs from standard CS:GO. Teams of two face off in unique maps to capture and hold specific areas called Capture Points. Both teams start with 100 ‘tickets’, and both teams lose one ticket every three seconds. Dying will also incur a loss in tickets, whereas defending a Capture Point will freeze your ticket total. The trick to winning? According to our analyst desk, not merely superior gunplay, but also patience, communication, and strategy.
Eight professional duos were invited to Red Bull Flick, but they had to first fight each other for the privilege to face our two amateur duos. Here’s how it all went down.
The Pro Players Clash
The Sunday games started explosively as Red Bull Flick's reigning champions Team Spirit bested Big Equipa in a dominating display on the Sky Platform map. With his outstanding performance, Boris 'magixx' Vorobyev made it clear how serious he was about defending his title. G2 took on Ninjas in Pyjamas, narrowingly beating them in Game 2 when they were standing at just one ticket remaining. The casters praised G2’s excellent mechanics, but did note that their overreliance on raw gunplay may prove insufficient when they played the Flick amateur duos, who had far more experience with the game mode.
Match 3 was between OG Esports and Copenhagen Flame. This was the most competitive and exciting match yet, with comebacks, upsets, and knife kills galore. In the end, OG took the win in Game 3, but Copenhagen continued to fight in the lower bracket. Heroic took on Furia in the City Palace map, and decisively took the win with a clean 2-0. Heroic's Casper 'cadiaN' Møller put out an especially impressive and flashy performance.
The tournament favourite and returning champion magixx, and his new duo partner Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov of Team Spirit, bested G2 and earned a chance to battle the Finnish duo of Puteli and 8Juho8. The amateur duo showed off their skill and comfort on the Flick maps, wrestling the win away from Team Spirit with a clean 2-0. Puteli in particular seemed to be right at home on the Sky Platform, surprising even Team Spirit with his quick and smooth rotations. The fact that both members of Team KUUSAMO.gg had negative K/D/A at the end of this match was all the proof needed to show that good aim was just not enough to win in this fast-paced and strategic game mode.
Meanwhile, the Polish amateur duo Swiiiry faced off against Heroic, who had just bested OG with a very decisive 2-0. Cadian was noted by the casters to be a natural at this event, but could Heroic defeat the amateur duo that placed third in last year’s invitational? The two teams faced off on Digital Archive, a map of cosier dimensions which allowed players to rotate quickly between the different Capture Points by surfing. Both teams took full advantage of what this map could let you do, but Swiiiry showed a particular emphasis on the importance of playing for the objectives. They were slow, calculated, and eventually extended their small leads into a victory.
The Grand Finals
In an amazing turn of events, the grand finals of our 2022 Red Bull Flick Invitational featured not one but two amateur duos. KUUSAMO.gg and Swiiiry, who had faced off in the Upper Bracket Final – with Swiiiry beating Team Spirit in the Lower Bracket Final to make a triumphant return, and get revenge for last year's Red Bull Flick – settled in for a rematch, this time with the trophy on the line.
The two teams faced off on three separate maps, starting with Digital Archives. This first match was dead even until the third game, when Swiiiry managed to turn some small engagements into a larger lead. It was up to 8Juho8 to defend Capture Point C all on his own, but with just one ticket left, KUUSAMO.gg had to let this game go.
Match 2 was played on the City Palace map, where KUUSAMO.gg's Puteli and 8Juho8 felt very confident. After losing Game 1, Swiiiry started to feel the pressure, and while they did manage to lower KUUSAMO.gg's lead in Game 2, they couldn't stop Puteli from holding the Capture Points down like a champ. KUUSAMO.gg narrowly won Game 2 with just eight tickets left, which, luckily for us in the audience, meant that there would be a third and final best-of-three match between these two teams.
This final match was played on the Control Room map. KUUSAMO.gg took the lead, getting numerous double kills and showing remarkable gunplay and team synergy. Swiiiry would not go down without a fight, however, and Mati managed to survive and protect Capture Point A just long enough to wrestle the win away from the Finnish duo.
In the second game, though, Swiiiry couldn't clutch the win once again and lost to a dominant KUUSAMO.gg who held an impressive 20-ticket lead and tied the series 1-1.
Clearly confident following a decisive Game 2, KUUSAMO.gg established another 20-ticket lead in the first quarter of Game 3. Rather than rush to Capture Points to stop their tickets from ticking out, Puteli and 8Juho8's lead allowed them to play far more aggressively and proactively than usual. Swiiiry fought back admirably, lowering the ticket deficit to a difference of only ten tickets, but, in the end, they couldn't defend Capture Point C from the dominant KUUSAMO.gg duo.
This duo had it all – excellent mechanics, perfect game sense, team synergy and the all-important knack for adapting to different guns and different maps. Puteli will be feeling especially happy with the win, after coming second at last year's Red Bull Flick and securing redemption for himself with his excellent plays. Knowledge, practice, experience, and communication came together in perfect harmony for this duo and, that's why KUUSAMO.gg became the Red Bull Flick Invitational champions in 2022!
