Free Fire City Open: National Finals Recap

Hyderabad Nawabs are the winners of the Free Fire City Open. Team Captains toiled hard through the City Qualifiers, and kept their performance up throughout the day during the National Finals to win this tournament. They take home the grand prize of 15 Lakh rupees. Lucknow Tigers a.k.a. Team Elite came in third after some closely contested games. While they did not win the tournament, they were the MVP Team that got the highest kills and got an additional bounty of 1 Lakh rupees. Swastik from Mumbai Strikers had the highest kills and damage today, and was awarded fifty thousand rupees for his hard work. This was a great day, full of great performances from all the participants. If you missed the action, don’t worry we have you covered. 

Hyderabad Nawabs started the day off strongly

This team was able to snag the first booyah of the day. This granted them the momentum going forward into the rest of the day as they had a decent base to build off of. While there were some ups and downs in between, they were able to play smartly. Most of their victory can be credited to their booyah that they picked up in Bermuda. They were the masters of the Clock Tower. They were present in that location right from the second circle, and stayed there throughout, while gathering information on their neighbouring opponents and keeping their players alive. The final few zones went to that location, and the Nawabs did not have to worry about rotating into the zone, while the other teams were struggling to find a place to hide. The last circle went outside the concrete halls of Clock Tower and into the open. Hyderabad Nawabs had to share grounds with a lot of teams, but they were still able to survive a sweaty situation full of threats. They focused on keeping their players alive and picked up kills whenever they could. They ended the game with a win and 11 kills. 

Mumbai Strikers and Ahmedabad Lions become slightly relevant

Mumbai Strikers won the second match in Purgatory. They were positioned on the high ground, and were fairly successful in gatekeeping several teams to pad their stats. Lucknow Tigers were positioned on the opposite end of the circle, and a toxic crossfire of sorts was formed by these two teams. Any team that ventured inside got sandwiched in between and turned into minced meat, while Mumbai Strikers and Lucknow Tigers were trying to steal kills away from each other. Mumbai Strikers ultimately used their positional advantage to get the win. They defeated Ahmedabad Lions in the final fight. 

The rise in performance from Ahmedabad Lions, too, was astounding. They were the first team to get eliminated in Bermuda. They made it to the second place in Purgatory. Finally, in Kalahari they were able to win a booyah and establish themselves in the top 3 on the leaderboard. But even after that, Hyderabad Nawabs were at the top with a buffer of 8 points. This was a comfortable lead for them, but they would have to struggle to defend this.  

The rise and fall of Lucknow Tigers

Team Elite have always been called as a cursed team, because they perform well during the league and group stages of a tournament, but choke in the finals. This seemed like one of those days too. They had been getting several kills from the start of the day, which kept them afloat. They finally struck gold in the fourth game in Bermuda. With this, they not only made themselves relevant in the tournament again, but were able to overtake Hyderabad Nawabs on the top of the leaderboard and grab the number one spot. The competition was getting more and more intense. 

New contenders enter the fray

After getting the number one spot on the leaderboard in game 4, Lucknow Tigers faced an early elimination in the fifth game on Purgatory. Hyderabad Nawabs were playing pretty passively, but as soon as Lucknow Tigers got eliminated, they took this as an opportunity to take the lead. They performed well, but were only able to finish second. Delhi Titans won the booyah and came in as a surprise contestant.

Up until now, the tournament seemed like a race to the top between two teams - Hyderabad Nawabs and Lucknow Tigers, while the rest of the lobby seemingly playing catch up. It was the top 2 versus the world. But now, after this game of Purgatory, Delhi Titans took the second place on the overall leaderboard, pushing Lucknow Tigers down to the third place, and threatening Hyderabad Nawabs with their presence. 

Endgame

As the plane took off over Kalahari for the last game of the tournament, the competition was no longer about being the better team and having a great conclusive game, it was all about NOT having a bad game. All the top 3 teams started to play passively, hoping to outlast the other contestants. As a result, the aggression was missing from the top contestants, and the underdogs decided to make a statement. Kolkata Kings and Dehradun Wolves acted like the grim reapers of the lobby. They had nothing to lose, and played according to their instincts, racking up an impressive amount of kills. All the top 3 teams got eliminated early, some before the others, with a similar amount of kills distributed among them. 

When the dust settled, Hyderabad Nawabs emerged as the winners of the tournament, maintaining their lead over Delhi Titans with just ONE point. Thus, one of the most exhilarating and closely contested tournaments came to an end. Hyderabad Nawabs were the champions of Free Fire City Open.

We thank you all for your support. We hope you enjoyed watching this tournament and participating in the various in-game events that were organized alongside it. This wouldn’t have been possible without your support. One might feel emotional at the end of a long and wild ride like this, but do not worry. We have more exciting news for you. While FFCO might have ended, the Free Fire India Championship 2021 Fall is right around the corner. The registrations for it begin on 16th August 2021. Make sure you check that out. 

Till then, keep playing Free Fire and stay safe. Booyah!

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