DBL PONEY stun Vitality in Flashpoint 3 opener

Vitality have fallen to the lower bracket of the Regional Major Ranking at the hands of their countrymen.

DBL PONEY have caused the first major upset of Flashpoint 3 in the opening match of the event, decimating their compatriots Vitality 16-5 on Nuke and 16-7 on Inferno to move on in the upper bracket and set up a clash against the winner of Astralis-OG in the next round.

The stunning loss comes as a big blow to Vitality, who are still coming to grips with their latest change, which saw veteran Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy make way for younger talent in Jayson "⁠Kyojin⁠" Nguyen Van. Following the switch, the French powerhouse has so far continued their struggle for form dating back to the beginning of the year with a group stage exit at DreamHack Masters Spring.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire & co. will have several days to go back to the drawing board and pick themselves up before they have to take on their first opponent in the lower bracket of Flashpoint 3 on Saturday, which will be the loser of the Astralis-OG matchup.

DBL PONEY chose Nuke to kick off the series and reaped the benefits of the comfort pick against their countrymen, dominating the opener from start to finish. Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro's 1v3 in the pistol gave the underdogs early momentum, and when Vitality looked to strike back after picking up a couple of solitary rounds, the in-game leader and Lucas "⁠Lucky⁠" Chastang secured two more 1v2 clutches to stop their adversaries in their tracks.

Down 4-11 at halftime, apEX's team's lifeline in the form of a pistol round victory wasn't enough, as DBL PONEY responded with a forcebuy, courtesy of a triple from Thomas "⁠Djoko⁠" Pavoni, and drove the map home 16-5.

Things went from bad to worse for Vitality when they were also put on the back foot early on Inferno, this time starting on the T side. Outside of a three-round run from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut & co., DBL PONEY had the opening half under control and went on to win the forcebuy battles in the early stages of the second half to prevent Vitality from coming back into contention.