Season 4 of the Gfinity Elite Series Delivered by Domino’s is officially on! The opening night featured four epic FIFA 19 games with returning favourites including AS Roma Fnatic, Manchester City Epsilon, Hashtag United and New boys ASUS ROG and Dream Team Gaming in partnership with Reason who return after a one season absence. It was the night the Elite Series brand new 2v2 format was put into full effect. Pro players from each team played co-operatively with their teammates against another rival pair. First legs were on Xbox and second on PS4. Another exciting new rule added this season was that no team could use the same players in their Ultimate Team. Before the tournament each team entered an auction to pick their squads meaning if ASUS ROG army had R9 in their team (which they did) no one else could have.
With all this new set of rules, interesting things happened in day 1. Let’s recap how the action went down…
exceL esports vs Method
It was a competitive and fast paced game from the start. Both teams had a similar style but, ultimately, it was Method who opened the scoring. Their joy would be short lived as exceL fought back and managed to tie the Xbox leg. The PS4 leg once again was very competitive and it seemed like it would all end in a draw. However, in the last minutes of the PS4 game, and thanks to a great teamwork between Klutch and Spaceeh, exceL scored to claim a 1-0 victory in the PS4 leg. The final score ended up 4-1 for exceL thanks to their victory in one of the matches, and they took the lead in Group A.
Dream Team Gaming vs Team Envy
Dream Team Gaming made their Elite Series debut against the popular and experienced Team Envy. In a partnership with Reason Gaming, DTG built a FIFA team in 5 days and they went with experience players. As soon as the match started, it seemed like teamwork would make dream work, as Fully and Bullock opened the scoring for DTG.Unfortunately for them, Team Envy also picked their squad wisely, and was able to come back from adversity and tie the Xbox leg in the final minutes making it 2-2. A highlight of this match was the presence of Envy’s BeastTekkerz. He made his debut as the Gfinity Challenger Series champion after he was drafted to play just a few weeks ago. On PS4, it was a total Team Envy domination, as Jas and LostintheWavez gave Dream Team no chance with a 3-0 hammering. Final score: 4-1 in favour of Team Envy
Manchester City Epsilon vs AS Roma Fnatic
Arguably the best match of the night. AS Roma Fnatic are the current Gfinity FIFA champions and Epsilon esports has recently partnered with Premier League title holders Manchester City to build a competitive FIFA team with the likes of 2x World Champion Kai “Deto” Wollin. Roma Fnatic quickly took the lead on Xbox, making it 2-0 and looking very much in control. However they did not count on Epsilon’s coach, “Sir Alex” who displayed incredible leadership during half time and motivated his men to fight back. Man City Epsilon did the improbable and took the game 3-2. Fnatic would have to win the PS4 game. Fnatic played well with Zimme and Damie, but ultimately it was Deto and Gotzery, both hailing from Germany, who were in full sync and played out another 3-2 in favour of Man City Epsilon. Final score: 6-0 in favour of Man City Epsilon An absolutely incredible performance which also saw Epsilon awarded the Domino’s Squad of the Night for their display of skill and teamwork.
Hashtag United vs ASUS ROG Army
Another team making its first appearance in the Elite Series was Barcelona based ASUS ROG Army. They took on the immensely popular Hashtag United, who were ready and brought their A game.Hashtag scored the first goal in the opening seconds of the Xbox match, and another soon after. ASUS ROG did not give up, and scored the best goal of the night, an R9 bicycle kick, showing they used their FIFA credits wisely. It was a very back and forth game with a lot of goals, but ultimately the Hashtag team proved too much for the Spaniards with the game ending 3-2. The PS4 match was more of the same, with both teams playing great FIFA, and this time ASUS managed a 1-1 draw. Unfortunately for them, this would still mean Hashtag would get the four points and win the series. Final score: 4 -1 in favour of Hashtag United
With day one complete, the Elite Series now continues with Rocket League and SFV this Saturday, starting at 10 AM BST.