FFWS 2021 SG: Play-Ins Recap

The day that we had been waiting for has finally arrived. The Free Fire World Series kicked off yesterday with the Play-Ins. 9 teams entered the stadium, only 3 moved on to the Grand Finals. HQ Esports, First Raiders and Loud secured themselves spots in the biggest Free Fire tournament of 2021 and will be playing the Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore Finals again on Sunday. Let's take a look how the Play-Ins unfolded yesterday:

Loud started the day off with a bang, and this wouldn’t be their only win. 

They left their mark in Bermuda. Most teams played very passively as they did not want to take unnecessary risks in the first match itself. Almost everyone continued to creep towards the centre of the circle i.e. Peak, without initiating fights. Ultimately someone had to light the spark that would set off the fire, and it happened when AAA initiated upon Loud. The Brazilian squad reluctantly fought back, but they did not want to commit to this fight as it was in a very risky spot. Loud held their ground, mindful of a third party attack. Singularity.Invincible came from above the hill and started attacking them. They wiped out AAA, but Loud used that distraction to heal up. Then they melted the Singularity squad and captured the high ground. With the two nearest squads dead, there was nobody else close by to challenge Loud. They used their positional advantage to steamroll over the rest of the teams that were entering from the Factory area, broken and bruised. Loud won the first booyah of the day. 

DEA maintain their calm in the hot dunes of Kalahari

Similar to the first map, most teams tried to play safely and did not initiate until they felt compelled to do so. For some unknown reason, Singularity pounced upon HQ Esports and sparked the big fight. HQ Esports were on a raised platform near Refinery. Singularity used a jumppad and flew straight to them in a seemingly unnecessary battle. A singular member survived from Singularity, and he had to hide all throughout the game. The rest of the teams also pounced upon hearing the sounds of battle. As the circle moved closer to that area, a majority of the teams clashed either on or under that platform. DEA on the other hand, picked up a small house on the ground, and had nobody backstabbing them. They capitalized on their position and took potshots as much as they could. When the time was right, they rushed out and cleaned up the stragglers to finish the game with a clean booyah. 

First Raiders purge the lobby

The First Raiders turned Purgatory into their feeding ground. The slaughter began with the siege on VaiXourar. The Raiders first engaged with them over a long distance. They lured VaiXourar in, closer to the tents near Campsite. Once there, FR.Ombac rushed close and applied pressure while his teammates wrapped around them like a boa constrictor. Ombac finally revealed his true form and burst out with his akimbo vector, securing a double-knock instantly. His teammates immediately collapsed on his location and wiped VaiXourar in seconds. After this fight, they already had enough points on the leaderboard to put them in third place. 

Their next opponent was HQ. Now HQ had just recently decimated the winners of the previous game - DEA with a M79 grenade launcher. First Raiders still did not fear and made contact. They killed three of the HQ members, and drove NeoNao outside the zone where he died to the blue damage. They won the Booyah with 13 kills, which is huge. This put them in the lead temporarily. 

Singularity deny First Raiders and DEA their second Booyah

SNG.Moskv1n got himself a great highlight reel when he destroyed three enemies from VaiXourar with a single grenade. That move granted them power over the entire southern sector of Peak. They moved on to defeat God’s plan too and maintained control over the high ground. 

On the other side of the circle, the winner of the previous game - First Raiders had just finished off AAA. Before FR could recover, Singularity took them out of the game. 

Only one opponent now stood in their way, and that was DEA. Once again Moskv1n popped off and destroyed the opposition to secure the booyah. Well, what else would you expect from a team that has two players that are FFCS Champions?

Fifth game of Kalahari was equally beneficial to all the top 3 teams

Loud won the booyah with 8 kills. HQ Esports finished second with 9 kills. First Raiders finished third with 7 kills. While this game was equally good for all of them, the three teams had plenty of differences on the overall leaderboards. First Raiders and Loud were the top two teams, and HQ was ranked third. HQ Esports were tied with DEA (4th), both of them were at 58 points by the end of this game. If HQ Espots lost the next game, or finished in a position worse than DEA, they wouldn’t qualify. 

HQ Esports not only overtake DEA, but secured 3rd spot in the leaderboard

When the top ranked team was at 78 points, HQ esports were third with 58 points. HQ won the last game of the day to knock the ball out of the park. Fortunately for them, Loud knocked DEA out very early in the game. Now that HQ Esports did not have to worry about their closest competitor - DEA, they played more fearlessly. They had the game of their lives, winning a booyah along with 13 kills. That means 25 points in a single game, enough to put them on the top of the leaderboard. The circle moved towards the Fire Brigade area on the southern island, and almost none of the teams were prepared for it. HQ Esports had all four players online, and up against them were incomplete solo or duo squads. They had no trouble cleaning up the rest of the lobby and taking the win in the last game. 

We congratulate HQ Esports, First Raiders and Loud on qualifying for the Grand Finals of the Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore. We wish them the best of luck for the upcoming matches on Sunday. These three teams will join 9 teams that have gathered from every corner of the world. 

To witness the action, tune in to Free Fire Esports Official YouTube Channel at 9:00 PM (GMT+8) on 30th May 2021.