ENCE fall to Anonymo in first round of Flashpoint 3 closed qualifier

Movistar Riders and Sprout also defeated higher-ranked opponents, with the favorites cleaning up the rest of the matches.

With 21 ranking spots separating the teams, Anonymo's victory over ENCE was the biggest upset in the initial matches of the Flashpoint 3 closed qualifier, where 16 teams are competing in a double-elimination bracket for five spots at the main event.

The trio of Kamil "⁠KEi⁠" Pietkun, Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, and Kacper "⁠Kylar⁠" Walukiewicz powered their side to a victory over Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's team (16-14 Train, 16-12 Inferno), handing ENCE their fifth defeat from the last eight games played.

dycha lost the first game of the qualifier to his countrymen

ENCE will have a chance to redeem themselves in the lower bracket, with their next opponent being DBL PONEY who they already beat twice this month. A loss to Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro's squad would see ENCE eliminated, though, and come as a massive blow to the Finnish organization that recently reached the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 13, but struggled to keep up that form since.

Other upsets include Sprout (No. 30) picking up a win over SKADE (No. 23), as Josef "⁠faveN⁠" Baumann and Fritz "⁠slaxz-⁠" Dietrich showed brilliant form, as well as Movistar Riders (No. 35) taking down AGO (No. 28). Owen "⁠smooya⁠" Butterfield's team have hit a higher level recently, picking up a wins over ENCE and FURIA in the IEM Summer Closed Qualifier on Monday.

The remaining matches were won by the favorites, with the top 20 sides — Complexity, MOUZ, HAVU — breezing to victories.

Flashpoint 3 Closed Qualifier first round results:

Complexity 2-0 GameAgents
Sprout 2-1 SKADE
Anonymo 2-0 ENCE
Dignitas 2-0 DBL PONEY
MOUZ 2-0 Lilmix
Movistar Riders 2-0 AGO
HAVU 2-0 Sangal
Endpoint 2-1 Tricked

The action in the qualifier continues shortly, with the following matches:

Upper quarter-finals

Complexity vs. Sprout
Anonymo vs. Dignitas
MOUZ vs. Movistar Riders
HAVU vs. Endpoint

Lower round 1

GameAgents vs. SKADE
ENCE vs. DBL PONEY
AGO vs. Lilmix
Tricked vs. Sangal