The tournament in the first discipline of the Tactical Challenge VK Play: Warface + Laser Tag has started at Games of the Future, which will be held from February 20 to 24. Eight teams will compete for the main trophy and a prize fund of $250 thousand.
Group А
BezPontov – Young – 2:1
Young had a good pistol round and finished the first half of the map with a three–round advantage of 9:6. However, BezPontov turned the game around, took several clutches and brought the matter to additional rounds, where they put the pressure on the opponent – 12:10. The second map also started under Young’s dictation, and here they no longer allowed their opponents to make a comeback – 11:3.
The winner of the match was determined in the Laser Tag. BezPontov surprised the opponent with a strategy. Thanks to deep defense and paired attacks on the opponent, the team led 4:1 in the first half and put the squeeze on the opponent – 6:4.
“At the beginning, our guys were nervous, this is their first LAN tournament. When we were losing 8:4, I calmed everyone down and said that now we will win back. And so it turned out, we gathered and put the squeeze on our map. But we still need to work on our emotions. We understood that, most likely, we would take our map, and they would take theirs, so we bet on Laser Tag. We have been preparing for a very long time, running a lot, analyzing tactics. Now we see that it’s not in vain,” said BezPontov player Boris “Tes1a” Kazimirsky.
“It’s always hard to play with BezPontov, we always have close scores. Today, the second map was simple, and in the first we gave an offensive comeback. They never give up and play to the end. I would not say that we relaxed, but rather the opponents stepped up their game. I’m sure they won’t be able to do that with other teams. There were chances in Laser Tag too, we almost won back, but we were unlucky. My task as captain is to explain to the guys that this loss is not the end. We can easily win the tournament,” Young captain Alik “Treyz” Tagiyev is confident.
Antayd – Awinaw – 2:1
The beginning of the first map was equal, the opponents did not let each other go for more than a round. Antayd’s 9:8 victory was decisive, when Ruslan “B3st” Khalilzadeh made four frags and earned the tenth point for his team. The result is 11:8.
Awinaw started the second map confidently, leading throughout the first half. But with the score 8:7, their opponents took a series of rounds, got two match points and took the map – 11:9.
The battle in the Laser Tag arena did not lose its relevance even with the score 2:0. A victory in Laser Tag is equal to a victory on one map in Warface, and the position in the group will be calculated from the total number of points. Awinaw gave away only a round (6:1), and earned for themselves the first point at Games of the Future.
“We were counting more on the digital part, because we don’t have laser taggers in our team. We tried to control the game and understand what tactics the opponent was using. They did the same thing from round to round, we adapted and took the endings in both maps,” described Antayd player Vyacheslav “Ku3,14” Petrogradsky.
“We understood that Antayd was not very well prepared for Laser Tag. All we had to do was implement all our ideas, which we did, confidently winning the physical stage. In the digital part, the game also went according to our plan, but in the end, everything just fell apart like a house of cards. We will work on the implementation. Everyone was upset by such a defeat, but this is only the first game, nothing is clear yet, we will try our best,” promised Awinaw captain Georgy “Hackon” Krasnov.
Second round
February 21
- 11:00 Moscow time
BezPontov – Awinaw
- 13:45
Young – Antayd
Group B
Winstrike – Penny – 2:1
There was a close game on the first map, which was largely decided by clutches. The most important round was 9:9: two Winstrike players beat the Penny five! And in the last round, they put the squeeze on the opponent – 11:9.
On the second map, Winstrike found themselves in the role of catching up. They tried to force a quick game on Penny, but they did not panic, took the lead and won with a score of 12:9.
The winner had to be determined again in the Laser Tag. Here, experienced phygital athletes from Winstrike looked like clear favorites and confidently took the physical part – 6:0.
“We were choosing which maps we would play until four in the morning. It so happened that we were the first to ban, and we were able to take all the maps we needed. I don’t remember the last time we won at the Antenna, but today we were lucky, a lot was decided by clutches at the end. There were minor flaws on the second map, we underplayed in some places. We don’t have a goal to win all of them 3:0, now the main task is to get out of the group,” said Vadim “Jetfire” Zubritsky, captain of Winstrike.
“We wanted to pick up two maps in the digital part because we don’t have professional laser tag players. It was a shame that we gave away the map, there were problems in communication, we argued a lot, we did not do what we were trained to do. The opponents turned out to be stronger in shooting,” Sergey “Ex.Light” Meshkov from Penny admitted.
HLS – Synergy. Repulse – 3:0
At the very beginning of the map HLS seized the advantage and closed the first half with a score of 10:5, and then won in the first round after changing sides.
On the second map, HLS continued the pressure, methodically scored rounds and reached the score of 9:6. After the change of the sides Synergy. Repulse started to fight back, but could not take the 11th round, and the game went into additional fights. It took eight of them! The result is 15:13.
In Laser Tag, the teams fought for each round, but HLS relied on high tempo and fast rounds and put the squeeze on the opponent – 6:4.
“If we hadn’t won 3:0, it would have been a tragedy. We didn’t even count on another result. We want to score as many points as possible, and in our group Synergy. Repulse are considered outsiders. Although they showed a good result, I think they will take points from other teams in the physical part,” said HLS player Anton “–Monton” Kazakov.
“On the first map, we didn’t wake up at all, we didn’t communicate well. On the second, we made some serious mistakes in the extra rounds. I am very pleased with our Laser Tag. And there is still a lot of work in the digital part. The opponents didn’t play so great for us to be so bad. Now we will arrive at the hotel, we will discuss the game, no one gives up,” assured Sergey “Aiten” Alekseev from Synergy. Repulse.
Second round
February 21
- 18:00 Moscow time
Winstrike – Synergy. Repulse
- 20:45 Moscow time
Penny 21 –HLS.