Our first week is in the books and the second season of the Gfinity Elite Series is underway. With several teams fielding new players, a strong performance in the first week was crucial. Some teams performed as we expected, but the weekend wasn’t without some interesting upsets…
SFV
We started with a main event calibre match right off the bat, with season 1 champions exceL taking on the very strong Method. exceL MVP Infexious started things off with a bang, getting a perfect in his very first round against French superstar Luffy. Infexious’ new character pick of Abigail proved tough for Luffy to deal with and the first game went to exceL. In fact, all three members of the team were using new characters, with Hurricane also picking the giant brawler and Brian choosing the tricky new zoner Menat. Method’s lack of experience against these new fighters showed, and exceL picked up a comfortable 4 – 2 win.
Next, Prophecy started strong with a 4 – 2 win over last season’s last place finishers Reason. Despite big talk from new Reason acquisition Saltykid, Shivryuken’s Laura was the driving force in securing the vctory. Infused followed up with an even more one-sided affair, as Imstilldadaddy and his team pulverised Epsilon in a 4 – 1 victory. Featuring some very easy-looking wins and a touch of teabagging from ISDD, Infused came out of the first evening looking like the ones to beat at this stage.
The final match between Endpoint and EnVyUs went an epic seven games, with new EnVyUs player Mr. Crimson annihilating Broski in their first match – a Dhalsim mirror! Overconfidence came back to bite Mr. Crimson as he picked Ken in their second fight, with Broski showing more poise and clinching an easy victory of his own. With both teams trading wins, the final match, another Dhalsim mirror, saw Broski turn the tables and squeeze out a win in an epic battle to take the day for Endpoint 4 – 3.
ROCKET LEAGUE
Our first day of Rocket League was one of surprises, with multiple upsets and results that even Nostradamus would have trouble predicting. exceL only won a single game last season, against similarly low-ranking Reason, but kicked off the new season with a comfortable 3 – 1 win over Epsilon. Five great goals from Nielskoek put his team over the edge, although Epsilon’s Florus managed a fantastic six in a strong losing effort.
Next, perennial underdogs Reason stormed to a 3 - 0 victory over a very different Infused. Only Doomsee remains from last season, as ex-teammates Sebadam and Eyeignite have jumped ship to Prophecy. The new Infused team was clearly not quite used to each other, but Reason have to be given credit for a very strong performance. If they can keep it going, who knows where they could end up by the end of the season.
Method beat previous champions Endpoint 3 – 0 in our third game to continue the upsets, with a huge seven goals from Sniper destroying the three total for the entire Endpoint team. Finally, the new Prophecy team proved their chemistry with a 3 – 1 victory over EnVyUs. Prophecy only scored 5 goals across four games, but strong defensive play and great teamwork made that enough to grab the win.
CS:GO
We finished the weekend with CS:GO, with a new best of one format making every round even more crucial. Endpoint got things started with a tight 16 - 12 victory over Infused, with solid play from both teams keeping viewers guessing until the last few rounds. Next, Method worked over Prophecy with a massive 16 - 9 win. Teams that lose the game but still win at least 10 rounds get a single point, and Prophecy must be kicking themselves for getting just one round away. Who knows when those individual points will end up making all the difference. In the end, fantastic play from Method’s Cruc1al was the key to their success.
Eternal underdogs Reason had a good showing against EnVyUs, falling short at 12 rounds to 16 but putting up an excellent fight along the way. Finally, Epsilon got off to a roaring start against exceL, reaching match point with the crazy score of 15 - 3 thanks to amazing plays like an ace from Zinken using nothing more than a Deagle. However, exceL began to claw rounds back, bring the score back to 15 - 12 before Epsilon finally secured that pivotal 16th round.
With our first weekend of games played, we also have our first standings table! Hit the link to see which teams are making early strides in each game.
The first week of the Elite Series is over, but we’ve got months of action still to come. Check out our events page to grab tickets to a live broadcast, or tune in on https://twitch.tv/gfinitytv on Friday and Saturday every week to watch wherever you are. Fancy watching last week's show? You can re-watch all previous broadcasts on our YouTube channel!