UT3.sk

Flakos survives his rockets to steal victory on Metus

Eight lead changes, five costly mistakes by the winner, and a final shot at the very last second.

Nothing about Normal Deathmatch on DM-1on1-Metus resembled a leisurely walk. Six competitors, a target of thirty points and 17 minutes and 52 seconds of combat produced a contest in which the leaderboard kept changing direction. Flakos eventually won with 30 points, followed by hemeroid on 28 and Vybuch on 27, but that finishing order was far from obvious for most of the match. The record shows eight lead changes, repeated close-range exchanges and a spectacular contradiction: the eventual champion scored 35 kills but also suffered five suicides. A prize for making your own path to glory unnecessarily complicated would certainly have belonged to Flakos as well.

Stinger draws first blood as rockets shape the opening

The first blood came after just seven seconds: Vybuch eliminated Zabijak with a Stinger. Six seconds later, Vybuch struck Flakos too, establishing early authority. The eventual winner was still searching for his first point and only earned it at 1:05 with a Sniper Rifle kill against Jano. This opening belonged instead to Vybuch and the persistent resistance of Jano. Using the Rocket Launcher, Jano kept attacking both rivals and reached his eighth kill at 3:45, although another self-inflicted rocket blast subsequently cost him one point.

Zabijak managed a single kill, eliminating Jano with a rocket at 0:28, and played for only 41 seconds. Jano departed after 278 seconds with seven points despite nine kills, because two suicides had cut down his total. Nanoblack entered the kill record at 4:50 by hitting Flakos with the Stinger; hemeroid recorded his first kill at 5:46. As the field changed, the score battle acquired fresh rivals and new complications. Nobody could yet claim a secure position.

Vybuch sets the pace; hemeroid starts a remarkable streak

By 5:48, Vybuch had ten points against six for Flakos and one for hemeroid. The lead offered little protection. At 6:06, Flakos eliminated hemeroid with a rocket only one second after hemeroid had shot him with the Sniper Rifle. At 7:04, hemeroid completed a rapid two-kill sequence with the Shock Rifle against Vybuch, earning a Double Kill. Vybuch answered repeatedly, including Enforcer eliminations at 7:38 and 7:45, and the chase never settled.

Then hemeroid produced the longest killing spree of the match: seven eliminations without dying between 8:07 and 10:38. His victims included Nanoblack, Vybuch and Flakos, and the weapons ranged from Stinger and Bio Rifle to Rocket Launcher. The run ended at 10:38 when Vybuch struck back with a Sniper Rifle shot. Flakos, meanwhile, was fighting his own equipment: suicides with Bio Rifle at 7:16 and Flak Cannon at 9:18 damaged his total. At 9:52, the visible scores stood at Vybuch 16, hemeroid 13 and Flakos 10. Whatever the commentators expected, predictability had not been invited.

Flak Cannon takes over as the early advantage evaporates

At 10:56 and 10:57, Flakos hit hemeroid and then Vybuch with the Flak Cannon, the second strike completing a Double Kill. He still had only twelve points against Vybuch’s seventeen, but the shotgun-like weapon had become his signature. At 11:40, Flakos also landed the match’s only headshot, against hemeroid with a Sniper Rifle from 42.1 metres. Extended range was more typical of his rival, though: Flakos averaged 11.4 metres per kill, while hemeroid averaged 19.2. Those numbers suggest two very different ways of finding an opening.

Around the thirteenth minute, the leading trio converged. hemeroid hit twenty points at 12:43; Flakos reached the same mark at 13:09 after two close Flak Cannon kills against Vybuch. Just before that, Nanoblack had earned a Double Kill against hemeroid and Vybuch. At 14:35 and 14:37, Flakos eliminated hemeroid and Vybuch, collecting another Double Kill. Seventeen seconds later, he added Vybuch and Nanoblack in quick succession, finishing a further Double Kill with the Link Gun. The fifteenth minute, with ten kills, became the most frantic of all.

Every point hurts until Bio Rifle delivers the last word

Flakos reached 27 points at 15:27 with another close-range kill against Vybuch, but hemeroid closed to 27 by 15:44 using the Rocket Launcher. At 16:22, Vybuch caught Flakos in a Shock Combo and completed a Double Kill against Nanoblack one second later. hemeroid scored on Vybuch at 16:32; Flakos replied with the Shock Rifle against hemeroid at 16:36 to register point number 29. A cautious leader might then have tried to avoid needless risks. Flakos instead destroyed himself with rockets at 16:43, 17:14 and 17:26, losing three points during the most delicate phase of the match.

At 17:27, hemeroid reached his final score of 28 by eliminating Vybuch with the Stinger, while Flakos also moved back to 29 by hitting Nanoblack. Vybuch cut his own score from 28 to 27 with a suicide shortly before the end. Nanoblack still managed to kill Flakos with the Sniper Rifle at 17:50, setting up a finish with no room for further mistakes. Two seconds later, at 17:52, Flakos shot Nanoblack with the Bio Rifle from 36 metres. That was point number thirty. The game ended before its winner could sabotage the lead again.

Match moments

• Vybuch drew first blood against Zabijak with the Stinger at 0:07.
• hemeroid posted a seven-kill spree from 8:07 to 10:38 before Vybuch stopped him.
• Flakos hit hemeroid with the only headshot, a 42.1-metre Sniper Rifle shot at 11:40.
• Nanoblack completed a Double Kill against Vybuch at 12:21.
• Flakos scored four Double Kills, including two between 14:37 and 15:27.
• hemeroid landed the longest kill, 42.7 metres against Nanoblack at 15:06.
• Flakos ended the game with a 36-metre Bio Rifle kill against Nanoblack at 17:52.

The final 30–28–27 margin between Flakos, hemeroid and Vybuch shows how close this Deathmatch came to a three-way finish. Flakos registered fifteen immediate revenge kills, more than anyone else, and fourteen eliminations with the Flak Cannon, but his five suicides provided tension that a cleaner performance might have avoided. hemeroid left with the longest streak, longest kill and greatest average kill distance; Vybuch took first blood and third place. Nanoblack, the final victim, had repeatedly disrupted the leading group before that last shot. Metus did not reward a flawless performance. It rewarded the player who still had one successful attack left.