Free Fire City Open: Wildcard Finals Recap

After the successful completion of all eight of our city finals, we focus our attention on all the areas that did not get qualifiers of their own. Today, we concluded our Wildcard Finals, and with that, we crowned two teams that will get a spot directly in the National Finals. Teams from all over the country participated in this battle, Pro Nation and Titanium Army triumphed. The story of these two teams can be described as a chase, as they both were on the top, trying to out-score each other, while at the same time staying ahead of the herd of teams that were trying to catch up with them both. Let’s recap the last qualifier of the Free Fire City Open. 

Pro Nation proved to everyone why they are called Pro

Pro Nation had a pretty good start to the tournament. It must have been a little frustrating to be in their shoes, given how close they were to victory on several occasions but were denied it. Despite that, the way Pro Nation was able to take a decisive lead during the rest of the day proved that they were the better team here today. 

They started with a huge game in Bermuda where they got 14 kills, much more than anyone else. Unfortunately, they could not win the booyah, and were denied the win by Black Dragon. 

They continued their good form in the second game where they were in a decent enough position to win in the fourth circle. But unfortunately, the fifth zone moved to the centre, and AOS Esports capitalized on their high ground advantage to steal the booyah away from them once again. Frustrated, they decided to start playing aggressively in Kalahari and were dominating everyone in the final circle. Nades, grenade launchers, and flashbangs - all of these were used effectively to grab that win and take a lead on the leaderboard. So far, they were trailing behind Titanium Army and AOS Esports, but after that win, they took up the top spot on the table and refused to let go of it. They solidified their lead even further when they won the booyah in Match 5 (Purgatory) and took home first place. 

Titanium Army qualified without a single booyah

Titanium Army was the team that impressed us the most with their consistency and their never-say-die attitude. They overcame the harshest setbacks, worst zone positions, and early member losses and made up for it with their beautiful combination of placement points and kills. This team stayed in the top 2 for the majority of the day. They momentarily slipped down to third place after AOS Esports won their first booyah, but more than made up for it in the subsequent games. They were consistently getting into the top 3 placements of every match. On several occasions, it seemed like they were the prime candidates to win. Due to unfortunate fifth zone placements, or due to their enemies having overpowered weapons like M79 Grenade launchers, they were unable to close out the games with a win. But still, the several top placements enabled them to stay on the top. This was the only team to qualify for the National Finals without a single booyah. 

AOS Esports put up a herculean effort only to be disappointed in the end

AOS Esports won two booyahs today, but they narrowly missed out on the National Finals by a single point. AOS Esports started to mark their presence in the lobby after their win in the day's second game. Ever since then, they were present in the top three. They faced some difficulties in the third and fourth games, because of which the Titanium Army overtook them in terms of points. However, they got a booyah in the last game. Everyone felt that that win should have been enough to push them over the edge, but it, unfortunately, wasn’t. Despite having two booyahs to their name, AOS Esports lost the National Finals slot to a team that did not have a single booyah. That must be heartbreaking. 

Clash War and Black Dragon showed short glimpses of brilliance

Black Dragon was able to win the first game of the day due to smart positioning. They gate kept Titanium Army, who were riding hot on kills, and stopped their momentum to steal the first booyah after that. However, after that, their performance left a lot to be desired as they could not replicate the same level of success. A similar fate befell Clash War as well. They were good enough to defeat other teams in a 4 vs 4 battle; but the moment a third party shows up, they start to crumble. Clash War had been performing moderately well and was surviving into the top 6 in a few games. So when they finally won a booyah, it was a sigh of relief. But unfortunately, for both these teams, securing one booyah and underperforming in the other matches was just simply not enough. Both the teams finished outside of the top 5 and were disappointed. 

Die Another Day settle for ‘best-of-the-rest

DAD is a team that has participated in other tournaments before. They were also a contestant in the FFIC circuits. Naturally, we had high expectations from them. However, for the first three matches of the day, they struggled to survive their initial skirmishes. They were getting eliminated very quickly, and barely had any points to their name. During the second rotation of the maps (after Match 4), DAD started to come alive. They were securing top 3 placements and a lot of kills. However, their lackluster performance during the first half of the day meant that they couldn’t secure more than 55 points, and had to settle for fourth place. They would not be the first seemingly top-tier well-known team that has suffered defeat at the hands of underdogs. 

Pro Nation with two booyahs, and Titanium Army with no booyahs, secure their spots in the National Finals that will be played out on 15th August 2021. 

With this, we reach the end of the qualifiers. Next time on FFCO, we will be heading to the Play-ins, where all the teams that finished in the 2nd to 4th position in their City Finals will be competing to get a slot in the National Finals. Make sure you tune in to the stream on 20th July for City Play-Ins 1 on our Free Fire Esports India Youtube channel and cheer for your favourite team. 

For more information regarding Free Fire City Open, please visit https://ffco.garena.com/