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Meet your pro duos for the Red Bull Flick Invitational
Meet the six elite CS:GO duos that will battle 10 amateur teams at the unique Red Bull Flick tournament later this month in Helsinki.
From November 20–21, pros and amateurs alike will descend on the Messukeskus Arena in Helsinki, Finland for the world finals of the ultimate 2v2 CS:GO tournament – the Red Bull Flick Invitational Helsinki.
This seasonal showpiece will see six pro duo teams go up against 10 amateur teams who've qualified through Closed Qualifiers. How will the up-and-comers hold their own against their idols? You'll have to tune-in to find out, but in the meantime, here's a run-down of all the pros that will be appearing at the event.
G2 Esports – niKo and huNter-
Leading the lineup are G2's very own Nikola 'niKo' Kovač and Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač, fresh off the back of a spectacular second place finish at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021. The Bosnian cousins have been playing CS:GO together from a young age, holding gaming tournaments in their parents' internet cafe before moving into the professional leagues.
Furia Esports – yuurih & KSCERATO
The Brazilian organisation will be represented by Yuri 'yuurih' Santos and Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato. At 21-years old, yuurih has established himself as one of the best CS:GO players that South America has produced, with a reputation for holding his own when outnumbered. You need to look no further than one of the many kill montages on YouTube to get a sense of this player's astronomical ability.
Team-mate KSCERATO has also earned quite the name for himself over the past year, becoming a master of last-minute clutches. This duo also had a stellar run at the recent PGL Major, helping take their team all the way to the quarter-finals, so they won't be easy competition for the amateurs.
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato will be repping for Team Furia
© Richard Ström/Red Bull Content Pool
OG – valde & Aleksib
OG will be represented at Red Bull Flick by Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså and team captain Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen. Aleksib has been called a tactical mastermind by many and for good reason, having led ENCE to the grand final of a major before joining OG. His Danish team-mate valde is one of the founding members of OG CS:GO and is well-known for his reliability. He'll surely make the perfect partner for Akelsib.
ENCE – dycha & doto
Finnish org ENCE will be represented by Paweł 'dycha' Dycha and Joonas 'doto' Forss. Polish player dycha has more than two years of professional experience, having fragged with Team Kinguin and Sprout before joining ENCE in January of this year. Meanwhile, doto has formed the supportive backbone of ENCE since joining last year, demonstrating strong adaptability. They'll surely have the crowd chanting 'EZ4ENCE'.
BIG Academy – Aqua & Prosus
BIG will be represented by Nico 'Aqua' Kembitzky and David 'Prosus' Hesse. 19-year-old Aqua has only been with the squad for four months, but has already made a name for himself as the team's captain. Prosus is another rising talent, who at just 18 is making waves in the CS:GO pro leagues. They may be on the academy team for now, but expect BIG things from them in the future and some magnificent plays at Red Bull Flick.
Learn more about Red Bull Flick
Team Spirit – somedieyoung & magixx
Finally, Victor''somedieyoung' Orudzhev and Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev will represent Russian organisation Team Spirit. Despite the recent announcement that Team Spirit would be parting ways with their CS:GO squad soon, these players are still a tough prospect for the amateur teams to face.
Now that the teams have been revealed, all that's left is to look forward to the tournament later this month. Red Bull Flick is a unique event thanks to the special courses on custom maps made especially for the tournament. Map makers have had loads of fun experimenting with different mechanics over the years, implementing different move types, such as surfing, to spice up the action.
Players will also be looking to utilise movements like the bunny hop and boost to get the edge on their opponents. niKo and hunter- are well-versed in the many types of movement available in CS:GO, which will make them tough competition for those less familiar with the techniques. However, the beauty of Flick is that the doors are open for any player – professional or amateur – to swoop in and take us by surprise.
Settings like aspect ratio, mouse sensitivity and keybindings also make a big impact at high-level tournaments like this. When it comes to mouse sensitivity, niKo uses 640, while his partner uses a higher range of 860. We expect that the duos will try to offset each other's reaction times, but will we see the pros switch up their settings in this tournament?
If you want to join in the fun, you can download the special maps created for Red Bull Flick 2021 and play them with your squad. If you just want to check out the action, you watch Red Bull Flick 2021 live on November 20–21. Check out the event page for more information.
