IMPACT IS SO BACK | ESL Impact S5 NA Week 1 - Highlights and Recap
The much-awaited fifth season of ESL Impact North America has finally started, and it has opened with some incredible matches and performances. FlyQuest RED and Shimmer debuted against each other, Karma and Limitless Angels had amazing opening series, respectively, while Nouns fe was the only of the qualified teams to get a win.
This article recaps the four matches of the week, the top three highlights, and the game performers.
The season started with the most anticipated series, FlyQuest RED v. Shimmer, and it did not disappoint, except for tech pauses. In a series riddled with long timeouts, the RED girls were able to escape with a 2-1 win, as both teams lost their map picks. FlyQuest RED won Mirage 13-9, Shimmer took Overpass 13-10 and the decider went RED's way 13-9. A very balanced game from start to finish.
The other series of the first day of the season also had very close matches, despite Nouns fe taking the series win with a 2-0 result. On the back of two amazing Tig "Rice" Simpson maps, WG Bandits could not stop Nouns fe on Ancient 13-11, and on Anubis 13-8.
The second day featured Karma taking on COVEN, two very distinct teams. The latter squad, mostly debutants, could not stop Karma, a team that features some of the biggest North American names in the Women's scene. The first map would be Inferno, 13-0, and then Anubis, 13-3. Not all is doom and gloom for COVEN, though, as the team had some nice moments on the second map.
To end the first week, Limitless Angels faced off against cleanup crew and took the 2-0 win. The series started on Ancient and was dictated by chaos, despite the 13-6 scoreline. Over on Nuke, chaos continued but the result was nearly the same, 13-5 for Limitless Angels, who are looking strong to start the season.
Top 3 Performances
#3 
Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido - Karma
EMUHLEET's stat line shows how one-sided the Karma v. COVEN series was. The AWPer finished map one with just one death and 13 kills, while ending map two with five deaths and 18 kills. That's right, EMUHLEET ended the series with just six deaths and 31 kills, a very unusual stat line.
#2 Tig "Rice" Simpson - Nouns fe
Rice missed out on playing Season 4 after participating in Season 3 under byte. This Nouns fe squad already has more wins than byte and they can thank Rice for her amazing performance throughout the series. With 51 kills across the two maps, averaging a 113 ADR and a 1.73 impact rating, the rifler was the main character during the series against WG Bandits, which featured two very close maps. Not taking anything away from the rest of the team, but if Rice had a worse day, the Bandits would have escaped with the win.
#1 Carolyn "artStar" Noquez - Karma
artStar is back! After a lackluster season with a Hyperion squad where the star roles did not belong to artStar, the rifler's return to form alongside her longtime teammates is amazing, and it feels right to see the veteran trio of Karma playing together again. artStar's first map back with EMUHLEET and rain is also her highest-rated map ever. 18 kills, just two deaths, 100% KAST, 112 ADR, and a 2.30 rating to top a 13-0 win.
Top 3 Highlights
#3 
Amanda "rain" Smith and Elena "Ellie" Garland (Karma) - B is closed!
It was a quiet series for rain, as her positions didn't get tested a lot during the matches, but when the opponents would run towards her B site on Anubis, it would be trouble for them. Case and point, rain, with help from Ellie, easily locked down the B site with the Canadian claiming three victims and the American the other two.
#2 Lucy "empathy" Verkaik and Marissa "madss" Dasta (Shimmer) - 2v4 retake
They call it the "Madsspass", I call it the "empathspass". empathy and madss combined to pull Shimmer out of a tough situation with an incredible 2v4 retake, where each one of them got two kills. emapthy took the first contact, took two down and injured a third, while madss pushed through a smoke to surprise the first opponent and then, calmly, finished off the injured opponent.
#1 Elena "Ellie" Garland (Karma) - ACE
Ellie, once again, not letting anyone enter her bombsite. This time on the A site of Inferno, stopping the apartments push, with a little help from a beautiful flashbang thrown by Olga "olya" Kryvulych. To finish off the play, Ellie had to run out to mid and get the final kill with the TEC-9.
Shot of the week - Alexandra "ADK" Kistabish (WG Bandits) - HS against AWP
This week was ADK's debut, although it didn't seem like it, as the Canadian looked like she belonged in the league. Proof of that is the lack of fear when peeking against Cynthia "katalyyst" Sheerajin's AWP as the clip below shows. Adding to that, ADK also managed to win some clutches.
Week 1 Results
FlyQuest RED 2-1 Shimmer Nouns fe 2-0 WG Bandits Limitless Angels 2-0 cleanup crew COVEN 0-2 Karma
Week 2 Schedule
FlyQuest RED vs. Karma - March 12, 2023 08:30PM Limitless Angelsvs. WG Bandits - March 12, 2023 08:30PM Shimmer vs. Nouns fe - March 13, 2023 08:30PM cleanup crew vs. COVEN - March 13, 2023 08:30PM
Standings after Week 1
1st - Karma - 1-0
2nd - Limitless Angels - 1-0
3rd - Nouns fe - 1-0
4th - FlyQuest RED - 1-0
5th - Shimmer - 0-1
6th - WG Bandits - 0-1
7th - cleanup crew - 0-1
8th - COVEN - 0-1
