Today the NA League kicks off with four Bo1 (Best-of-One) games as SSG, DZ, XSET, DG, bc, and Mirage all come in with new players:
- TSM vs Disrupt (7-3)
- DarkZero vs Mirage (8-6)
- SSG vs Soniqs (7-4)
- Oxygen vs beastcoast (8-7)
To get a rundown on the teams, schedule, and changes from stage one check out our article here and carry on reading for a live feed of all the highlights, commentary, and stats from the game!
TSM FTX vs Disrupt Gaming
Pre-Game:
13:06 -- Both Jesse and CaliberJacob pick TSM over Disrupt
13:08 -- Chalet gets picked as all three prior maps they've played in head-to-head, Villa, Kafe, and Consulate get banned out.
13:11 --
First Half:
13:20 -- Hard-breach made much tougher as Maverick/Thatcher gets banned. KiXSTAr states Chalet will probably still be attacker favored. Disrupt starts on the attack first.
- TSM FTX -- Thatcher / Valkyrie
- Disrupt Gaming -- Maverick / Goyo
13:21 (1-0) -- Following a technical timeout, J9O sixth-picks from Flores to Jackal for Round 1. Beaulo and Dpfire both get double-kills but Chala wins the round with a 1v3.
13:33 (3-0) -- Pauses take place prior to Round 1, 2, and 4, slowing down an already slow offensive half for Disrupt.
13:42 -- (3-0) The new spectator UI now shows what dead players are watching, giving a new aspect to analyze for fans, coaches, and casters alike:
13:50 (4-1) -- Dpfire gets an opening double-kill to eventually lead Chala into a 1v4, which he turns into a 1v1, only to die to Iconic:
13:55 (4-2) -- Chala left in a 1v2 which he almost wins again, but Dpfire takes the clutch to give his team round #2.
Second Half:
13:59 (5-2) -- "What an efficient execute from TSM" -KiXSTAr.
After winning their defensive half already, TSM is on a very straight run to a win here.
The round is followed by a tech pause as Merc's PC is looked at.
14:13 (6-3) -- TSM brings out Flores and Zero for two rounds straight, while DG brings Mira, who isn't banned following her nerf.
Beaulo plants as it hits 2v2 in the post-plant hold, however Merc kills Shuttle in a 1v1 to win the round.
14:20 (7-3) -- Retro on Clash dies early, however Achieved gets a triple kill while entering the site to take the round.
Post-Game:
14:25 -- Post-game, Jesse gave the following analysis of Dpfire's performance:
14:29 -- The stats for the game. Find the full match page here.
DarkZero Esports vs Mirage
Pre-Game:
14:41 -- Jesse, Velly, and CaliberJacob all picked Mirage over DZ in their predictions.
14:42 -- DZ leads head-to-head 5-2 against Mirage including 3-0 in the NAL. These two teams haven't faced off on Consulate previously, however.
14:54 -- Pre-game analysis from the casters:
First-Half:
15:00 -- DarkZero starts on the attack first.
- DarkZero Esports -- Thatcher / Valkyrie
- Mirage -- Nomad / Maestro
15:02 (1-0) -- Panbazou makes his pro debut by getting an opening pick onto QrTz in his NAL debut. BC plants, attackers back off behind Garage wall. Hyper ends the round by killing Benji.
15:13 (2-1) -- After Quartz gets his first opening kill, Hyper gets a triple of his own after a BC plant on the garage once again. A vertical hold ends the round.
15:17 (2-2) -- NotLoading secures the first quadruple kill of the NAL Season to tie up the scoreline as Quartz secures number five.
15:25 (4-2) -- The first half ends with two last offensive wins by DZ as Mirage makes a number of clear mistakes and multiple unsuccessful runouts with this being the latter:
Second-Half:
15:28 (5-2) -- After an offensive half win by DZ, they also take their first defensive round flawlessly on the garage objective. Mirage then takes a tactical timeout.
15:38 (6-3) -- Hyper wins a post-plant 1v2 to take the game to match-point following a suicide from Quartz.
15:42 (6-4) -- After a flawless loss while attacking garage in their first attempt, Mirage took their second attempt in a post-plant situation due to a triple kill from Benji to keep the game going.
15:47 (6-5) -- Quartz and Benji helps Mirage come back following a Hyper double-kill onto CEO windows. The duo rushes the site and starts planting and DZ can't get back to deny it in time. DZ calls their timeout at this point.
15:52 (6-6) -- Mirage pulls off the comeback to overtime as Dream gets the plant off upstairs on the split-site as DZ ran out of C4s to deny it. Once again the two remaining DZ players ran back in a post-plant into the attackers of Benji and Dream.
16:02 (8-6) -- DZ finally ends the comeback with two somewhat clear rounds in a row as round 14 put NotLoading into an unwinnable 1v5 situation to salvage the game.
Post-Game:
16:11 -- Post-game rundown from the analysts:
16:28 -- The stats for the game. The match page can be found here.
Spacestation Gaming vs Susquehanna Soniqs
Pre-Game:
16:30-- Jesse and Velly pick Soniqs while Jacob picks SSG in the first time the analyst desk has disagreed on their prematch predictions.
16:33 -- Consulate gets picked making this the first time this map has been played between these two teams.
16:35 --
First-Half:
16:40 -- SSG starts on the attack first.
- Spacestation Gaming -- Thermite / Mute
- Susquehanna Soniqs -- Nomad / Mira
16:42 (0-0) -- BLU on bringing in Hotancold during an early tech pause:
16:49 (0-2) -- After already taking round one, Soniqs then added to this as Kanzen achieved a quadruple kill on Valkyrie to win round two:
16:58 (1-3) -- At the beginning of round four Fultz sat with 4/6 of his team's kills while Gryxr sat at 4-0 and Kanzen at 5-2. As Soniqs reverted back to their primary bombsite of Garage, SSG won decisively to get on the board after a dreadful first few rounds.
17:02 (2-3) -- Rampy wins a 1v1 to take another round as they claw back into the game.
Second-Half:
17:12 (4-3) -- After coming back to tie the half, SSG then took their first lead while defending Garage. As pointed out by BLU, Zero has seemingly been used more this playday than ever before.
17:17 (5-3) -- This lead was increased as Bosco and Fultz pulled off a 2v2 retake only for supr to get a postmortem kill onto Fultz via Gridlock's Trax Stingers. Bosco still managed to disable to win the round.
17:27 (6-4) -- After losing six rounds running, Soniqs finally won their fourth as they opened up Garage, planted, and held the defuser from way back outside. SSG couldn't get any picks in the 2v2, both dying to an aggressive Kanzen.
17:21 (6-3) -- ThinkingNade puts the game to match point as, despite Soniqs managing to surprise SSG with a plant on the Lobby site in a 4v4 situation, Soniqs was completely unable to hold the defuser as they all got picked up with Nade getting the final kill before the disable. Soniqs then called their time-out.
17:31 (7-4) -- Spacestation won their first game with Hotancold as they went to defend the split objective. After initially going down in men, an early kill on the IQ of Rexen allowed Bosco's Pulse to fully deny a plant as the rest of the defenders cleaned up the attackers in the following chaos.
Post-Game:
17:33 -- The post-game analysts:
17:37 -- The stats for the game. The match page can be found here.
17:40 --
Oxygen Esports vs beastcoast
Pre-Game:
17:56 -- Jesse, CaliberJacob, and Velly all picked Oxygen to win following their stage one win and strong SI21 performance.
Via @beastcoast
17:57 -- Coastline was not a favorite map for either team, however, Oxygen has had some notable success here recently.
18:00 -- Some of the pre-game analysis:
First-Half:
18:05 -- Oxygen starts on the attack.
- Oxygen Esports -- Lion / Valkyrie
- beastcoast -- Iana / Mira
18:11 (1-1) -- Oxygen takes round one with a Kyno triple kill, however, a complete blow-out wasn't in the cards as AnthonyMGS got a double kill in a 3v2 to end the attack's push onto the Penthouse objective tying it up
18:19 (2-2) -- Following both a kill and a down from a single C4 from Sippin, another C4 kill from Phozzo and a Toxic Canister kill from anthonyMGS, beastcoast took round two flawlessly to once again tie it up as b1ologics won't let his old roster get too far ahead of him.
18:26 (3-2) -- After a runout double kill from Sippin and almost another double-kill upstairs from b1o, Yoggah manages to protect the planter with zero seconds remaining against anthonyMGS.
Second Half:
18:33 (4-3) -- While OxG did take the first half, beastcoast almost secured their second flawless round of the map before LaXInG stepped up, bringing the 2v5 down to a 1v2 only to get cut off by Phozzo as he went to deny the plant.
18:35 (5-3) -- beastcoast managed to successfully get the plant down on the Kitchen Enterance doorway in a 5v5 situation at the 2:33 mark. Despite this, they couldn't hold it as LaXInG got a triple kill on Smoke before his toxic babes kept the last two attackers away allowing VertcL to defuse.
18:45 (6-6) -- After a strong bar defense to reach map point, Oxygen just couldn't close it out. bc secured a flawless Penthouse attack on the back of a Rooty double kill before anthonyMGS pulled off another sneaky Service Enterance plant and b1o secured his own double kill to take the reigning NAL 2021 leader to overtime.
19:03 (6-7) -- A key plant denial from the Smoke coupled with a triple kill on a swing from Phozzo using the ALDA put beastcoast on match point first as they gained their very first lead of the game.
19:09 (7-7) -- Anthony managed to once again get the plant down, however, in a 2v4 situation their chances were still dire. Oxygen simply killed Sippin and Kyno disabled while the other four covered him.
19:12 (8-7) -- And so in the final round after impressive plays from both teams, VertcL simply ended it as he wandered into the site and killed everyone he could find. A quadruple kill in the best individual play we've seen this stage gives Oxygen a clutch 8-7 win to begin their NA League defense.
Post-Game:
19:14 -- The post-game analysis:
19:17 -- The stats for the game. The match page can be found here.
Check back here later on during the playday for further updates on the ongoing NAL matches.