The final VALORANT Ignition series event for North America will be hosted by Flashpoint in their inaugural PopFlash tournament. Eight of the best teams in North America will clash for a chance to earn the lion share of $50,000. Read on to find out more.
Introducing PopFlash
Flashpoint enter VALORANT by hosting the final North American Ignition series event for 2020 in PopFlash. The event is the third and final A-tier VALORANT tournament being hosted in the region with a total of eight teams battling it out for a lion share of the $50,000 on offer.
The event features some of the best teams in North America like Team SoloMid, Sentinels, Gen.G, Immortals and Cloud9, in addition to challengers such as Dignitas, Team Envy and T1.
PopFlash takes place between August 26 - August 30.
The storylines converging at PopFlash
PopFlash rounds out a busy calendar of VALORANT esports and is a key event that will definitively determine who the best teams in North America are. Team SoloMid (TSM) led by star player Matthew “WARDELL” Yu will be seeking to cement their position as the best team in the region, while their closest rival in Sentinels (SEN) will hope to finally dethrone the team after narrowly losing to them in the Best-of-Five (Bo5) Grand Finals of the FaZe Clan Invitational.
Not to be outdone by the competition, the all Canadian lineup of Gen.G will be hungry to take a win over TSM and SEN at PopFlash as they represent the last major hurdle for the team to be recognised as a top competitor in the region. On the other hand, Immortals (IMT) and Cloud9 (C9) will be using PopFlash to prove that they are not to be underestimated, and have the potential to challenge for a spot amongst the best.
Whilst not boasting as successful a match record as other teams in the tournament, T1 and Envy will undoubtedly be contenders that could cause upsets in the group stage.
T1 have had a turbulent past couple of weeks that saw the team crash out early in the recent Pittsburgh Knight Invitational and the previous FaZe Clan Invitational, resulting in their dedicated Operator player, Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, being benched for PopFlash as he works to expand his agent pool. While the loss of Skadoodle is likely to impact how the team performs in the tournament, the lineup still features heavy hitters like Braxton “Brax” Pierce and a talented coach in Daniel “fRoD” Montaner to fill the void.
Envy on the other hand have been on a steady incline since their inception back in May consistently placing just shy of a top three finish in several tournaments. The team will undoubtedly be hoping that PopFlash is the tournament that sees them beat the best North America has to offer, and finally be able to claim a top three finish.
Lastly, Dignitas (DIG) makes its debut in VALORANT with a lineup that boasts both experience and rookie talent. The team picked up the former Homeless lineup that features two notable players in Rory “Dephh” Jackson, formerly of Complexity CS:GO, and Harrison “Psalm” Chang, a multi-title esports professional with a 2nd place finish at last year’s Fortnite World Cup (Solos). The team will be entering the tournament with a yet to be announced fifth player which could lead to an interesting set of opening games for the team.
PopFlash groups
Group A
- #1 Team SoloMid
- #4 Gen.G
- #5 Cloud9
- #8 Dignitas
Group A presents two clear favourites in Team SoloMid and Gen.G as both represent the two most experienced teams in VALORANT esports so far with each having played over 60 professional matches since their formation. It shouldn’t be a surprise that TSM are a likely contender to top the group given how strong their match record has been.
Group B
- #2 Sentinels
- #3 Immortals
- #6 T1
- #7 Envy
Group B should be a more exciting affair for viewers to watch as it’s not clear cut who will form the top two teams to make it past the group stage. Sentinels are undoubtedly a favourite to progress, however, one misstep against the three remaining teams in the group could prove costly.
Who will win the inaugural PopFlash event?
Team SoloMid are the front-runners to win it all at PopFlash given 1st place finishes at the Pittsburgh Knight Invitational Gauntlet Series and FaZe Clan Invitational. Couple these recent successes with the fact that the team have an overall match record of 57 - 10 (winning 58.15% of total rounds played) and the meta shifting to suit Operator players like WARDELL, and the likelihood we’ll see the team claim another title for itself increases further.
