Gold Medalists were gunning for a fifth straight BrisVegas title last weekend but were unable to keep the streak alive, with Isaiah “isa1ah” Umlas’ “The AirBNB Incident” coming out on top 2-0 (16-12, 16-11) to win BrisVegas Spring 2022.
The core of Jayden “Foggers” Graham, Jeremy “motion” Lloyd and DGG Esports’ Hugh “HUGHMUNGUS” Anderson–who himself was on for his eighth straight BrisVegas trophy–were unable to extend their dominating streak at Brisbane’s iconic Counter-Strike: Global Offensive LAN.
Both squads emerged from Group B, with Gold Medalists taking the first of three head-to-heads between the finalists 2-1 (11-16, 16-14, 16-11). AirBNB Incident would survive their group decider match against Nut-E Gamers 2-0 (16-9, 22-19) to join their rivals in the playoffs.
From Group A, it was all Blingus, with Jack “Omichella” McLoughlin’s squad wiping out Ozone 2-0 (16-9, 16-5) in the winner’s match, with the Ozone boys finally cracking the playoffs over Hop On Tetris.
Nothing was stopping Gold Medalists and The AirBNB Incident through the playoffs, with both dispatching of their Group A peers in the playoffs to meet in the qualifying final.
But after six straight maps including that full three-mapper and the overtime win in the group stage, The AirBNB Incident ran out of gas against Gold Medalists in the rematch, with Montheara “prakM” Prak (50-29, 1.58 rating) putting AirBNB Incident to the sword swiftly.
The 2-0 (16-9, 16-2) win meant Gold Medalists were far and away favourites to complete the five-peat on Championship Sunday–unless The AirBNB Incident could bring something special to the server.
The evening off would prove more than beneficial for The AirBNB Incident crew, who held off a fast-finishing Blingus 2-0 (16-9, 19-17) to book a third rematch against Gold Medalists in the final.
Now warmed up and with a favourable veto, The AirBNB Incident wasted no time on Vertigo, looking comfortable in their 16-12 opening map win, led by Sadeq “ju1ce” Kavian (28-20, 1.57 rating).
ju1ce’s form would hold on Inferno, combining with semi-final MVP James “chief” Jago (26-15, 1.45 rating) to put on a 9-3 T side second half, taking down Gold Medalists 16-11 to claim their first BrisVegas title.
While it was a BrisVegas final debut for the bulk of the roster, it wasn’t Blade “nexar” Garrick or Antony “Kiyo” Frilingos’ first time at the big dance. Kiyo finished runner-up to the Gold Medalists core at BrisVegas Winter, while nexar fell at the BrisVegas Autumn event in April.
It was the third event in 2022 for long-time BrisVegas organiser DFrag and Daniel “mavrick” Lang, with the tournament continuously growing with each edition. BrisVegas Spring saw an expanded on-site and remote socials team, a secondary stream and superstar producers Josh “Swifty” Swift and Tim “Roots” Roots running the show from behind the scenes.
And despite the occasional technical hiccup–and the awfully constant Inferno/Dust 2/Mirage spam–the tournament ran without a hitch.
“Thank you to everyone who came along and tuned in live to make BrisVegas LAN the best one yet,” said organiser Mavrick.
“[It was] great to see so many new and old faces at LAN. I felt like we got a lot of things right with this one.”
Alongside sponsors Intel, ZOWIE, Gigabyte and Mwave sat esports bookmaker Rivalry, who earlier this year affirmed their support to Oceanic Counter-Strike’s grassroots scene, partnering up with the organisers like Mavrick in Brisbane and Andrew “Wander” Caughey in Melbourne.
Next weekend will see the second 2022 edition of Clash of Rivals at Fortress Melbourne, while BrisVegas is set to make a return in mid-December for it’s fourth and final edition of the year.
