NIP vs. Anonymo Flashpoint 3 match to be replayed *

The two teams will have to face each other again.

The Flashpoint 3 first-round match between Ninjas in Pyjamas and Anonymo, which ended with a 2-1 victory for the Polish side, will have to be replayed due to the Swedish team experiencing connection issues, the tournament organizer announced on Sunday. It is still unclear whether the entire series will be replayed or just the final map (Mirage) - a decision that is in Anonymo's hands.

UPDATE: After previously stating that the rematch would take place at 21:00 , Flashpoint has announced that the encounter is being rescheduled, with no official date or time set as of yet.

In a statement, Flashpoint said that Ninjas in Pyjamas submitted on Saturday a request "to replay either the third map of the series, or the entire best-of-three" match, claiming that the lag issues, which were "outside of NIP's control", "compromised the integrity of the competition and outcome of the game."

Upon examining the documentation provided by the Swedish team and conducting "an extended sequence of tests, configurations and analysis", the organisers concluded that the issue was caused by "some security settings on the server that partially blocked traffic from the NIP connection/ISP, therefore confirming it was not something they could control and solve."

Flashpoint added: "We consider tournament integrity to have the highest importance of all things when hosting events, and whilst this decision is not under ideal circumstances for teams and players, as tournament operators, the fairness and integrity of the tournament operations will always take priority."

In a statement posted via the team's Twitter account earlier on Sunday, Anonymo accused FACEIT, Flashpoint 3's tournament operator, of "being pressured by NIP on a business level" to order a replay, and said that they were contacted about the matter on Saturday evening, less than 24 hours before the scheduled start time of the rematch. "There was not even enough time to properly respond, let alone prepare for the match," Anonymo wrote. "It's just ridiculous."

The Polish team added that they offered to postpone the match when the network issues were brought up - just two rounds into the series - and that this solution was not accepted by FACEIT.

Several of Ninjas in Pyjamas's players took to social media during and after the match to share their frustration with the conditions in which they were playing. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, who was making his debut for Ninjas in Pyjamas, said that the team had "to play on 30-40% loss" and criticised Flashpoint for its "amateur handling of the situation."

NIP then said in an organisation statement the team's technical issues were caused by "a routing problem" that could not be solved by switching servers or using a VPN, adding that the admins forced the team to play and that alternate solutions were refused.

The Swedish organisation also mentioned that in a May 2020 match against Heretics during ESL One: Road to Rio - like Flashpoint 3, a Regional Major Ranking (RMR), tournament -, the final map of the series had to be postponed due to the French players experiencing internet problems. "This precedent was not offered to us when we experienced the above-mentioned issues," NIP said.

The winner of the match will move on to the upper bracket quarter-finals to face FunPlus Phoenix on Thursday at 21:00 . The losing side will fight for their tournament lives against HYENAS at an unknown date.

Correction May 16 22:16 : A previous version of this article said that Ninjas in Pyjamas's players declined the offer to postpone the original match when the first map was still being played. Contacted by HLTV.org, Anonymo clarified that it was FACEIT, the tournament operator, that pushed for the match to continue.