NiP vs Anonymo plagued by packet loss, Flashpoint orders rematch

Fariha Bhatti Published 17/05/2021

The best-of-three series between Ninjas and Pyjamas and Anonymo played on May 14 was plagued by technical pauses and lag issues. The situation has developed into a complicated drama that remains unresolved for now.

That May 14 series marked Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s debut with NiP against Anonymo. The Swedish team had the odds in its favour against a Polish squad ranked 44 in the world rankings. However, Anonymo wiped out NiP in a 2-1 fashion, sending them to the lower bracket of Flashpoint 3, which is a Regional Major Ranking event.

It turns out that NiP was dealing with crucial packet loss issues during the games, and the tournament organizer failed to deliver a fix.

Issues still not solved and we are being forced to play through with massive loss due to server issues Lost us map 2 and will loose us map 3, game is unplayable.

We are connecting to other servers with no loss. This game should have been stopped on map 1. Esports in 2021.
— Hicham Chahine (@ChahineHicham) May 14, 2021

Screenshots of the in-game conversation also showed that NiP players were frequently being interrupted by 30-40% losses and requested the admin to change the servers multiple times. Hampus “hampus” Poser explained how using utility was a pain during the game, contributing to their poor performance.

Following the loss, dev1ce tweeted out his disappointment with the event organizer and stressed that admins had failed to handle the situation appropriately.

We lose to anonymo, very shitty conditions and I must state my absolute fucking disappointment with faceits amateur handling of the situation.

Ggwp.
— Nicolai Reedtz (@dev1ce) May 14, 2021

According to NiP, the team filed a complaint to the tournament organizer regarding routing issues. An investigation proved that “some security settings on the server partially blocked traffic from the NIP connection/ISP” which caused the lag. The documentation submitted confirmed that NiP couldn’t have done anything to fix the issue on their end, leading Flashpoint 3 to call for a rematch.

“After careful consideration of the nature of the issue, the validity of the claim, and the importance of the match, the League OPs has decided to accept NiP’s request to replay the match which was communicated to both teams later on the 15 May,” Flashpoint said.

Anonymo accuse NiP of forcing Flashpoint rematch

The rematch announcement by Flashpoint ruffled many feathers in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community. The Polish team initially refused to accept a rematch since their win was “fair and square.”

“We’ve played a match that got finished fair and square and lies in the past. It’s definitely too late to pursue a replay of the match,” Anonymo’s statement said.

The organization clarified that Anonymo players had offered a rematch during the game, but NiP didn’t choose that option. The Polish team was also ready to switch servers, but the admins rushed the games forward. After clarifying its stance, Anonymo further claimed that NiP is pressuring Faceit on a “business level” for the rematch to take place.

The response promoted heavy support from many professional players who called out Flashpoint for poor management. Considering the statements provided by both parties, it does seem like a complicated situation where the teams themselves aren’t necessarily to be blamed. While a rematch will certainly be unfair to the winning Anonymo team, it looks like the only option for now considering NiP’s genuine packet loss issues that contributed to the loss.

The date for the rematch remains unknown. The match was initially scheduled for Sunday May 16, but is now being rescheduled. Anonymo has been offered the choice between playing the full series or only the last map.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

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