The first season of the newest CS:GO league, FLASHPOINT, will kick off on Friday, March 13.
Twelve teams will be competing for the $1 million prize pool. MIBR, Cloud9, Dignitas, Gen.G, FunPlus Phoenix, MAD Lions, Envy, and c0ntact Gaming are the founding members of the league and paid a $2 million entry fee.
To complete the league, FLASHPOINT hosted a global qualifier and gave spots to four other teams: HAVU, Orgless, Copenhagen Flames, and Chaos. Although the skill level of FLASHPOINT is nowhere near the ESL Pro League, it will still feature fun and competitive matches.
Here’s everything you need to know about FLASHPOINT season one.
Stream
All of the matches will be broadcast on FLASHPOINT’s Twitch channel. There won’t be simultaneous series, so you won’t miss any of the action.
Format
The 12 teams will be split into three double-elimination GSL groups of four teams each. All the matches will be played as best-of-three series. A team’s placing will determine their score, which will be used later for seeding purposes.
- 75 points
- 50 points
- 30 points
- 15 points
The top eight teams will qualify for the finals, which will feature a double-elimination bracket with best-of-three series. The competition has a $1 million prize pool, but the breakdown of the prize money hasn’t been announced by FLASHPOINT yet.
Teams
Group A
- MAD Lions: Asger “AcilioN” Larsen, Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand, Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen, Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen, and Rasmus “Sjuush” Beck
- c0ntact Gaming: Rokas “EspiranTo” Milasauskas, Otto “ottoNd” Sihvo, Georgi “SHiPZ” Grigorov, Luka “emi” Vuković, and Karol “rallen” Radowicz
- Copenhagen Flames: Ismail “refrezh” Ali, René “TeSeS” Madsen, Asger “farlig” Jensen, Magnus “Nodios” Olsen, and Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen
- HAVU: Olli “sLowi” Pitkänen, Lasse “ZOREE” Uronen, Aaro “hoody” Peltokangas, Eetu “sAw” Saha, and Joonas “doto” Forss
Group B
- Dignitas: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, friberg, Xizt, and GuardiaN
- Cloud9: Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek, Johnny “JT” Theodosiou, Ian “motm” Hardy, Ricky “floppy” Kemery, and Joshua “oSee” Ohm
- FPX (reportedly bought Heroic’s roster): Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer, Casper “cadiaN” Møller, Martin “stavn” Lund, Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, and Johannes “b0RUP” Borup
- Orgless: Pujan “FNS” Mehta, Matthew “WARDELL” Wu, Yassine “Subroza”‘ Taoufik, Gage “Infinite” Green, and Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker
Group C
- MIBR: FalleN, fer, kNgV, TACO, and Ignacio “meyern” Meyer
- Gen.G: Autimatic, daps, koosta, Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand, and Sam “s0m” Oh
- Envy: Noah “Nifty” Francis, Ryan “ryann” Welsh, Buğra “Calyx” Arkın, Michał “MICHU” Müller, and Kaleb “moose” Jayne
- Chaos: smooya, Josh “steel” Nissan, Anthony “vanity” Malaspina, Cameron “cam” Kern, and Ben “ben1337” Smith
Schedule
Phase 1
Friday, March 13
- 12pm CT: MAD Lions vs. HAVU
- 3pm CT: c0ntact Gaming vs. Copenhagen Flames
Saturday, March 14
- 12pm CT: Gen.G vs. Envy
- 3pm CT: MIBR vs. Chaos
Sunday, March 15
- 12pm CT: Dignitas vs. Orgless
- 3pm CT: FPX vs. Cloud9
Tuesday, March 17
- 12pm CT: Group A lower bracket round one
- 3pm CT: Group A upper bracket final
Wednesday, March 18
- 12pm CT: Group B lower bracket round one
- 3pm CT: Group B upper bracket final
Thursday, March 19
- 12pm CT: Group C lower bracket round one
- 3pm CT: Group C upper bracket final
Saturday, March 21
- 11am CT: Group A consolidation final
- 2pm CT: Group B consolidation final
- 5pm CT: Group C consolidation final
Sunday, March 22
- 11am CT: Group A final
- 2pm CT: Group B final
- 5pm CT: Group C final
Phase 2
Friday, March 27
- 12pm CT: Group A first semifinal
- 3pm CT: Group A second semifinal
Saturday, March 28
- 12pm CT: Group B first semifinal
- 3pm CT: Group B second semifinal
Sunday, March 29
- 12pm CT: Group C first semifinal
- 3pm CT: Group C second semifinal
Tuesday, March 31
- 12pm CT: Group A lower bracket round one
- 3pm CT: Group A upper bracket final
Wednesday, April 1
- 12pm CT: Group B lower bracket round one
- 3pm CT: Group B upper bracket final
Thursday, April 2
- 12pm CT: Group C lower bracket round one
- 3pm CT: Group C upper bracket final
Saturday, April 4
- 11am CT: Group A consolidation final
- 2pm CT: Group B consolidation final
- 5pm CT: Group C consolidation final
Sunday, April 5
- 11am CT: Group A final
- 2pm CT: Group B final
- 5pm CT: Group C final
Playoffs
The playoffs will be played from April 9 to 19. The match times are yet to be confirmed by FLASHPOINT.
Key storylines
Although the most powerful CS:GO teams in the world will play in the ESL Pro League, there’s been a lot of hype around FLASHPOINT. This is the first CS:GO league run by teams and players. FLASHPOINT hired some of the best CS:GO talent available for the show, including former Overwatch League caster Montecristo. We’ll see whether the production and the matches will live up to the hype built so far.
It’s hard to point out the best team playing at FLASHPOINT, but Dignitas are likely the squad that everyone is excited to watch. The organization signed the ex-Ninjas in Pyjamas players f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, friberg, and Xizt in January, but they’ve barely played matches aside from online qualifiers. Their fifth player, the Norwegian newcomer hallzerk, didn’t have his visa secured in time for FLASHPOINT, so they’ll be using GuardiaN as a replacement. Who would’ve thought that GuardiaN would play with f0rest and GeT_RiGhT someday?
Cloud9 and MIBR have both won Majors in the past, but they disappointed their fans in 2019. These two orgs led the charge to create FLASHPOINT, but can they actually perform better in 2020? C9 look more stable with Sonic and crew, while MIBR are putting their hopes on meyern’s development since the team desperately needs someone capable of winning matches from time to time.
FPX is set to enter the CS:GO scene for the first time after it reportedly acquired Heroic’s CS:GO roster this week. The Danish team aren’t in their best form, though. They didn’t qualify for the Europe Minor for the ESL Rio Major this month and failed to reach the playoffs at the ICE Challenge in February. Will Snappi and crew bounce back under the new banner?
MAD Lions, a team that maturated a lot in 2019 and broke into the top 15 in HLTV’s world rankings in February, made a radical change last week. The experienced in-game leader Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen was benched and MAD Lions signed AcilioN this week. While AcilioN definitely is an upgrade in terms of firepower, it’s unclear whether he can provide the same tactical prowess that HUNDEN is known for. The Danish team will either rise or fail with this roster change like many other teams have in the past when they’ve benched their captain.
