R6 NAL: DarkZero Top US Division

Following their Major victory in August, DarkZero now managed to complete the second stage of NAL in first place. TSM and Oxygen will follow them to the upcoming November Major, while Spacestation Gaming will have to take a detour through the Major Qualifier.

SSG IN LAST PLACE

Ending up in last place of the Winners’ Group is by no means a terrible result, but Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski and his men had surely hoped for more. In their Opening Match versus Oxygen, they lost and had to face TSM next. Bryan “Merc” Wrzek did quick work of them, sending them down to the Six Major Qualifier. Aside from SSG, this bracket also features teams from the US Losers’ Group and the Canadian Division, who will fight for the last remaining place in the November Major. Even though SSG were unable to compete against the Winners’ Group participants, they should still manage to sweep this mini-tournament with relative ease.

DARKZERO IN FIRST PLACE

After the August Major, it was unclear whether the surprise victory of DZ would be a one-time opportunity, but Kyle “Mint” Lander and company have remained consistently strong. In their Opening Match versus TSM, they basically rolled back the Major Finals and even got a 8-7 on the second map. With two 7-5 map wins, they moved past Oxygen and made first place of the US Division Stage 2.

They’re now heading into the November Major as the highest seed, hoping to achieve a repeat victory. Their chances couldn’t be any better – but until the tournament commences, there’s almost a month of free time. The other teams can use this to prepare and find holes in the DarkZero setup, if there are any.

TSM AND OXYGEN ARE MIDDLE OF THE PACK

Davide “FoxA” Bucci led his players into a fantastic match versus SSG, which they managed to win out at the start of the Winners’ Group. After that, Oxygen got incredibly close to taking down DarkZero and just one round could have swayed the entire Best-of-Three. To their misfortune, they got fended off and had to face TSM for second place. Once more, Gabriel “LaXInG” Mirelez dragged his colleagues into overtimes against the Major finalist, and again OXG had to concede victory.

Those tight results in the Winners’ Group go to show that the pinnacle of North American Siege is growing ever closer together. The top teams only win by a knife’s edge and a marginal difference in performance can mean first or last place for any squad. For the upcoming Major, this is obviously great news. The DarkZero dominance is by no means a safe bet and every roster in attendance has a legitimate claim to the trophy. With so much time for preparation, we can expect this fight for Major victory to become as tense as possible.