UKIN Week 1 Round Up - Flight Esports

Staffordshire’s first week in the UK & Ireland National Second Division was truly a trial by fire as they faced two of the best teams in the League. As the second week of competition quickly approaches, we reflect on how they fared in their opening matches and what their performances can tell us about their chances in this tournament.

It’s been a few weeks since it was first announced that Staffordshire Stampede would be taking NSE’s qualification spot in the Second Division of the UK and Ireland Nationals for their outstanding performances throughout the Spring and Summer tournaments. While the roster itself remains mostly unchanged since the announcement, aside from the addition of Snubster, it has been acquired by Flight Esports:

Regarded as one of the best Rainbow Six Siege University teams, please welcome @FlightEsports to the UK Ireland Nationals Second Division, qualifying via our partners @nse_gg & @StaffsEsports!@H4wksR6@MajerePS@Angelyx_@BaileyyR6S@Snubster1

💻 https://t.co/IesdhOjaI9 pic.twitter.com/gk8f6fGnyI

— Rainbow 6 Siege UK (@Rainbow6_UK) November 3, 2020

Flight’s opening game last Tuesday was certainly not an easy one as they faced London Esports. Considered one of the strongest teams in the competition, it was no surprise to see London start their season strong as they quickly won Clubhouse in a dominant 7-2 sweep. 

Some were quick to jump on equally disappointing results of both Flight Esports and the NUEL, who also lost 7-2 to Peak Esports, to discount the merit of giving University teams qualification spots in the tournament. Others, such as Ex-Granit’s head coach Jakesouthster, were vocal about the caliber of their opponents on the opening day:

Been 1 playday and people already giving it large to the NSE and NUEL team when they played probs the 2nd and 3rd team best teams, however Belong is fair game

— Jakesouthster (@jakesouthster) November 10, 2020

Flight’s second game of the week would be a far more interesting affair as they faced Peak Esports. Considering the margin of the NUEL’s defeat to Peak on Tuesday, we were in for a much closer game than anyone would have anticipated as Flight took to one of their most played maps during their time in the NSE competitions: Kafe Dostoyevsky.

Flight appeared unphased by their Tuesday result as they showed off their experience on this map. Despite starting their game as the attackers on a defender sided map,  Flight managed to successfully attack the third floor, planting the defuser in Cocktail Lounge and subsequently winning the opening round. 

Deciding to head to the first floor Kitchen and Service bomb sites instead of attempting the third floor again, Peak Esports managed to win their first round despite the best efforts of H4wks as he attempted to clutch the round in its dying seconds:

These two teams continued to trade out the next few rounds as neither team gave an inch to their opponents. We would wait until the final round of the half to see either team pull ahead as Flight Esports managed to win a second consecutive round thanks to an impressive 1v3 clutch from Majere:

Having convincingly won their attacking half 4-2 on a relatively defender’s sided map, Flight Esports’ victory seemed inevitable as they headed into their defensive half. This appeared to be the case as they started off well; easily winning their opening defensive round and despite wavering on their Kitchen and Service defence in round 8, Flight pulled out an almost-flawless defence in the 9th round to put us onto match point:

With only one round needed to close out the game, we watched as Peak Esports slowly clawed back their first round against match point as they pulled out their own flawless round to continue the trend of trading rounds. Flight continued to struggle closing out the game as Peak Esports picked up the remaining rounds of regulation time to take us to Overtime:

Despite the attacking-sided nature of the rounds in regulation, Flight’s opening overtime round on the defence went smoothly as they put themselves onto their fourth match point. However, we would wait until the very last round of overtime to see Flight Esports finally close out the game and find their first victory of the season.

Flight Esports’ narrow 8-7 victory over Peak Esports did little for their round differential, which currently sits at -4, meaning they’ll end their opening week in 8th place, trailed only by the NUEL and Belong Arena teams respectively. However, their victory over Peak is considerably more significant than their round differential as they look towards their future games as more than “just a University team”. Speaking to one of the UKIN casters, Dean0, he believes their performance will “shatter” the misconception around the quality of the University teams:

“Being able to beat a team like Peak is always a good sign for any team hoping to do well in this tournament. The individual performances by H4wks and Snubster across 15 rounds have already shown them to be standout players in the league and ones that I am going to keep my eyes on moving forwards. However there are many more challenges ahead with opponents like Team 86 who are predicted to be the favourites to win the League. Their opening night stumble against London might have reaffirmed in the eyes of many viewers a misconception that the NSE roster would be a hard stuck bottom place team and a walkover for most of the opposition they have yet to face but this showing against Peak has done a lot to shatter those ideas.” - Eoin “Dean0” Deane, Caster for UKIN2.

“My concern for them moving forward is that it took record setting performances from both Snubster and H4wks to be able to pull it off in the maximum number of rounds the game had to offer. Relying on such performances can lead to inconsistencies throughout their season. Hopefully being able to get this first win and becoming recognised as a team even the best in UKIN2 have to take seriously will lead to them becoming a consistent threat in the playdays to come.”

Flight Esports still have a lot to work on if they hope to challenge some of the other top teams over the coming weeks, as Dean0 continues. While some of their less experienced competitive players made outstanding individual plays, such as Majere’s attacking clutch, the team will hope to see more consistent showings from those players to ensure that they don't need record-setting performances from individuals to win their games.

Be sure to follow their journey on Twitch on Tuesdays and Thursdays!