Nouns fe survive; Shimmer takes 2nd place | ESL Impact S5 NA Week 5 - Highlights and Recap

The regional portion of ESL Impact Season 5 is nearing its final stages, and things are looking far from settled in North America. Limitless Angels fumbled a huge chance of keeping second place against Karma, while Shimmer capitalized. The fight for the invited spots for Season 6 is heating up, as FlyQuest RED is one win away from securing a spot in the LAN Final.

In this article you can find a recap of the four series of the week, the top three highlights and performers of the games.

On the first day of Week 5, Karma beat Limitless Angels in two close maps. Overpass ended 13-7, and Nuke ended 13-8. Karma had incredible T-side halves in both games, with nine round wins. In the other series, Shimmer easily beat WG Bandits 13-1 on Anubis and 13-4 on Ancient.

FlyQuest RED also showed they can speedrun matches with 13-3 and 13-1 scores against COVEN on Anubis and Mirage, respectively. The final series saw Nouns fe struggling to best cleanup crew in three tight maps. Nouns claimed Ancient 13-11, cleanup crew replied with a 13-8 Overpass but Nouns fe would win the series after a 13-10 Mirage victory.

Top 3 Performances

#3 Lilith "gadfly" Mize - cleanup crew

This has been a season in which a lot of new talent has been unveiled. We have had the duo of Natalie "ashe" Betts and Riley "lunari" Luna, and Alexandra "ADK" Duquette Kistabish show up as new names in the scene. Gadfly is yet another name on that list that has been performing very well for a debutant in the league.

Despite the loss against Nouns fe, gadfly topped the fragging list and finished the series with a 1.33 rating. She has been consistent throughout her first-ever season and, hopefully, this is just a taste of what's to come.

#2 Elena "Ellie" Garland - Karma

Ellie was the motor behind Karma's 2-0 win over Limitless Angels this week. Ellie has improved massively since last season, becoming a crucial piece in this roster. She saved the series against the Angels with two huge maps. Despite not top fragging once, Ellie was very impactful winning clutches and hitting some amazing shots.

Karma has been getting better since the Fragadelphis CS/DO LAN, and the team is now setting its sights on second place. However, Karma depends on a Shimmer slip-up to go to Dallas.

#1 Emma "Emy" Choe - FlyQuest RED

It was a quick series against COVEN but Emy was still able to claim a 30-bomb in just 30 rounds. Additionally, Emy ended the match with only nine deaths with only three of those coming during the second map. The rifle ended Anubis with a 17-6 K/D and a 2.06 rating before achieving a 2.05 rating on Mirage with an 18-3 stat line.

FlyQuest RED always has someone who steps up during these easier matchups and during the tight games. Overall, the team seems to still be the #1 in the region.

Top 3 Highlights

#3 Lydia "Fawx" Dalton (Limitless Angels) - 1v3 clutch

Don't ever doubt Fawx and her ability to clutch. In a crucial round, Fawx found herself in a 1v3 situation with the bomb on her back. While the casters argued that saving would be the better option due to the Angels' financial problems, the AWPer just said, "Fawx it," and got this incredible highlight.

#2 Elena "Ellie" Garland (Karma) - 1v2 clutch to claim map point

It's the third time we have featured Ellie in this list. Twice for not allowing anyone into her bombsite (once with an ACE!) and now for this amazing CT-side post-plant clutch to reach map point. The stats speak for themselves, but Ellie's ability to make huge plays is another form of displaying her improvements.

#1 Lilith "gadfly" Mize (cleanup crew) - 3K to save the round

gadfly saved cleanup crew from getting swept against Nouns fe with this clutch. Although cleanup crew would immediately lose after this, a round loss here would require an eco round next time but gadfly didn't want to risk losing Overpass and got this crisp triple kill to save the round and set her team up with an Overpass win.

Shot of the week - Paula "paula" Ramanauskas (cleanup crew) - 2 one deags

What's better than a one deag? Two one deags. paula absolutely nails two heads with two clean bullets. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to pull the 1v4 off.

Week 5 Results

Karma 2-0 Limitless Angels
WG Bandits 0-2 Shimmer
Nouns fe 2-1 cleanup crew
FlyQuest RED 2-0 COVEN

Week 6 Schedule

WG Bandits vs. Karma - April 10, 2023 07:30PM
FlyQuest RED vs. cleanup crew - April 10, 2023 07:30PM
Nouns fe vs. Limitless Angels - April 11, 2023 07:30PM
COVEN vs. Shimmer - April 11, 2023 07:30PM

Standings after Week 5

1st - FlyQuest RED - 5-0
2nd - Shimmer - 4-1
3rd - Limitless Angels - 3-2
4th - Nouns fe - 3-2
5th - Karma - 3-2
6th - cleanup crew - 2-3
7th - WG Bandits - 0-5
8th - COVEN - 0-5