Total Shorty Kills
Red Bull Home Ground – NIP Outlast Futbolist, G2 deals with FrenzyGoKill
Naim "EnKay" Rosinski
01/28/2021
Day one of Red Bull Home Ground Valorant tourney has come to an end. Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) and G2 Esports have come out on top in their respective matchups against Futbolist and FrenzyGoKill. The quarterfinals definitely brought a lot of excitement on the very first day of the four-day European Valorant event. Check out our preview of the event for all the information on the format and matchups going forward.
Ninjas In Pyjamas vs Futbolist
The very first matchup of Red Bull Home Ground pit NIP with the Turkish side Futbolist. NIP chose Split as their home ground. Futbolist picked Ascent as their home ground.
Split
Split, NIP’s home ground pick went not exactly how the European medley imagined. Futbolist picked up the first two rounds on defense after a masterful retake to defuse the bomb on round 1. The rest of the half was a back-and-forth affair as the teams kept trading blows with NIP managing to plant the bomb only twice in the half. The half ended at 6:6 after Futbolist went on to retake the site and defuse within the alloted time on the back of a 3k by Emre “STERBEN” Demirci. The game was heating up going into the second half.
The second half saw the Turkish side once again pick up the first two rounds, this time on attack. The Ninjas managed to string three in a row afterwards, yet that would be it for them on Split. Futbolist stringed the last necessary five rounds to close out the match in their favor and steal NIP’s home ground with a 13:9 score. İbrahim “mag0o” Temizel on Jett was a menace for NIP the whole match as he picked up 28 frags on Split.
Ascent
It was do or die time for NIP. Ascent was Futbolist’ picked home ground, meaning they had to win this map or they are out of Red Bull Home Ground. Surprisingly, they stole the map fully from their opponents with ease. Futbolist once again proved that they are masters of the pistol and subsequent rounds as they kicked things off on attack on the right foot again. NIP quickly recalibrated themselves on the first rifle round as Kévin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans came up big with a 3k to push his team to domination at the half. Futbolist managed to snag one more round at the half after mag0o went off with a 4k to decimate NIP. The rest was all she wrote as the Ninjas formed a near-impenetrable wall to steal the half at 9:3 in their favor.
There’s not much say about the second half, except that Futbolist somehow once more won the initial two rounds. There was a drizzle of hope for the Turkish side, but that was shut down fast as the Ninjas kept breaking through to the sites and kept blowing up the Spike. NIP took Futbolist’ home ground with a dominant 13:5 score and keeping things alive.
Haven
It was then time for Haven as we had a big game on our hands. Haven come out to be a tight game. Of course, Futbolist won the first two rounds on defense, something we should be used to by now. NIP retaliated with three of their own before Futbolist punched back with three rounds for their side. NIP on the attacking side managed to outfrag their opponents for the final four rounds to win the half 7:5, ending on a 3k by Emir “rhyme” Muminovic.
Guess what, new half and the first two rounds are won by Futbolist. Haven came out to be a close affair as Ninjas then yet again stringed three rounds following a successful retake, getting very close to closing out Haven. A team effort from the Turks guaranteed them three rounds more before the Ninjas put a full stop to the map at 13:10.
Icebox
Just one map away from the win, NIP had to fight all the way to make Icebox their own. For a change, NIP got the pistol and the following two rounds to put them up 3:0 before Futbolist put up one round on the board. NIP stringed five rounds in a row on the back of a joint 5k from Ex6TenZ and rhyme. Futbolist managed to scrape the last three rounds of the half to bring it within a reasonable 8:4 as NIP were eyeing to close out the series.
Futbolist went back to their winning ways by opening the half with three rounds of their own after mag0o started firing once more. at a 10:7 lead for NIP, Futbolist started the scare by owning four rounds, three of which were successful site retakes. Now at a 11:10 deficit, NIP fired back with three rounds straight, kicking it off with a straight ace by Yaroslav “Jady” Nikolaev. This led to NIP clinching out Icebox 13:11 and advancing to the semifinals of Red Bull Home Ground. Futbolist put up a good fight, though it was not good enough to overcome the Ninjas in the end.
- Split: NIP 9:13 Futbolist
- Ascent: NIP 13:5 Futbolist
- Haven: NIP 13:10 Futbolist
- Icebox: NIP 13:11 Futbolist
G2 Esports vs FrenzyGoKill
The second quarterfinal of the day brought us the European giants G2 Esports against the underdog that qualified for the event, FrenzyGoKill.
Split
G2 picked Split as their home ground and started things off as the defenders. The underdogs kicked off the show by grabbing the pistol and subsequent round on attack. This in turn was followed by two successful defusals by the favorites, led primarily by Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks. In fact, G2 had their hands full with site retakes in the half as FrenzyGoKill managed to plant the bomb six times in the half, but only successfully defended the site on one occasion. G2 were relentless in site retakes. Nevertheless, the half ended in a draw at 6:6.
While the first half was close, G2 were a menace on the attacking side. On attack, ardiis was primarily joined by the team’s newcomer, Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt, in leading the charge in kills. FrenzyGoKill only managed to get one round on defense, leading to a 13:7 win on G2’s home ground at this Red Bull tourney.
Icebox
It was time for FrenzyGoKill’s own home ground, Icebox. Similarly to Split, the half ended in a split of map points at 6:6 following G2’s solid defense at first for the first three rounds, but quickly followed by six straight rounds by the underdogs. It looked like Ouali “M4CHINA” Manset’s side had taken complete control of the match at that point. The last three rounds, however, saw an awakened G2, as a 3k by Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski reignited the team for them to push on to get the draw at the half on defense.
The side switch yet again saw G2 take the first three rounds after a 3k by zeek on the pistol. FrenzyGoKill managed to punch back for two rounds after a 4k by Vakaris “vakk” Bebravičius. This ultimately resulted in blows being traded all the way until G2 Esports closed the show out on the back of a 3k by paTiTek at 13:10, effectively stealing their opponents’ home ground and eliminating them from the event.
- Split: G2 13:7 FrenzyGoKill
- Icebox: G2 13:10 FrenzyGoKill
Remember to follow us each day as we’ll be recapping all the matches of Red Bull Home Ground.
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