Thorin and MonteCristo’s format from hell has finally begun to show fruit in the inaugural stream of FLASHPOINT. The selection of groups has come down to give a significant degree of control to teams in order to shape narratives and allow ample space to showboat and bring an element of banter to reflect the true competitive spirit that often goes hidden behind template post-game interviews.

The group selection was done by sorting out the top three teams as per HLTV rankings - MAD Lions, FunPlus Phoenix and Gen. G - into random groups. The three teams then took turns choosing whoever they wanted in their own group. Finally the teams that are selected in the end - theoretically those who would be second seed in their groups - get to propose swaps within a group or between groups. With that said, the swaps must be approved by the top-seeded teams using a voting system.

The final groups came out as follows: