Week 2 of Stage 2 took place last week, as all four regions kicked into gear.
Following most of these games were interviews with the victorious teams, so for those that missed them, we've summarised the best quotes and responses from the players below.
Jump to:
- EU League -- pacbull: "There were definitely some shaky vibes in the team"
- NA League -- BC: "We're hoping to be really adaptive, fluid, and ever-evolving"
- Brasileirão -- cameram4n: "I tried to make tactics that don't need this utility burn"
- APAC Leagues -- Hybrid: "There weren't a lot of ideas behind the game from Cloud9"
All the quotes below are extracts of the interview, not the full conversation. A timestamp to the full interview can be found linked with the quote.
EU League
Firstly, this week saw a major upset in the all-French derby, as BDS lost their first game of the season against a revitalized Vitality roster on Consulate, 8-7.
This is, therefore, Vitality's second win in two games, which is in stark contrast to Stage 1 where it took them till Day 3 to win their first map.
Elsewhere, Virtus.pro lost in their second 1-7 of the Stage against Cowana, while Na'Vi continued their good form from Stage 1 to beat G2 Esports, 7-4. Nathan "Nathan" Sharp partially attributed this to G2's choice in play style:
As well as this, Nathan agreed with Elemzje's views on the new operator of Flores:
Considering they represent the two top teams in Europe during Stage 1, that is a major endorsement for the operator.
Finally, Team Secret beat Rogue 7-5 to become the only team to have won all available points, putting them in the first place.
Secret ended Stage 1 in last place with only six points, meaning they have already doubled their total points in the 2021 season in a remarkable turnaround.
Peter "pacbull" Bull had this to say about how Secret pulled this game back after a bad start.
NA League
Over in North America, we had our second super-week in a row, meaning that the whole NAL stage is already halfway done.
These two play days were all remarkably short, with all but one game ending in 10 rounds or less. The lone close game saw DarkZero beat Disrupt in a nail-biting 8-7 scoreline in their third overtime win in four games (with the fourth game being a 0-7 against TSM).
Here's what their returning player, Brandon "BC" Carr, had to say concerning the team's changes following the addition of two "new" players:
Elsewhere, bc and XSET lost both of their games badly, as they took just four and five rounds in total, respectively.
As well as a defeat to Mirage from bc and OxG from XSET, this also includes losses from both of them to the Susquehanna Soniqs, who bounced back losing a 7-5 to SSG in Week 1.
Here's what Alexander "Yeti" Lawson said when asked what was improved between weeks:
Finally, after narrowly losing to DZ last week, Spacestation took all six points against DG and Mirage, putting them in first place in the NAL.
TSM sits one point behind them, followed by Mirage and the Soniqs, though it is important to note that TSM and the Soniqs have played one less game than the other two.
Brasileirão
Over in the BR6, we also had two play days.
While MIBR lost both games, due in part to FelipoX being unable to play after a dislocated shoulder, the big teams of NiP, FaZe, and Liquid each won their games somewhat easily.
At this point, the only losses between these three this Stage have been due to NiP beating Liquid and Liquid beating FaZe in Week 1.
Starting with the flawless Ninjas in Pyjamas lineup, after beating Liquid and MIBR 7-1 last week, they had two fairly close games with a 7-5 over Team oNe and an 8-6 over FURIA.
However, while talking about the game against oNe, Julio "Julio" Giacomelli reassured fans that the attacking losses weren't an issue, stating:
FaZe Clan, meanwhile, this week dropped just four rounds combined against Santos and Black Dragons as they continued their BR6-leading Stage 1 performance.
Now, ahead of their matchup versus NiP next weekend, Gabriel "cameram4n" Hespanhol had this to say about the team's play style under his leadership:
APAC Leagues
The big thing to happen this week in APAC North was that T1 secured their very first professional win in a not-so-convincing 8-6 scoreline over DWG in what was somewhat of a surprise considering DWG KIA had smashed C9 7-0 the week prior.
Cloud9, meanwhile, continued their two months of bad form with a loss to their 2020 rivals of CAG in a slightly improved 1-7 scoreline.
Here's what CAG's coach, Riccardo "Hybrid" Massimino Font, had to say about C9's performance compared to Fnatic, who they played last week:
Fnatic themselves bounced back from this loss to smash the fourth Korean team, TALON, 7-1, despite Patrick "MentalistC" Fan playing instead of Léo "Alphama" Robine, who is currently stuck in France due to Taiwanese border restrictions.
Here's what Etienne "Mag" Rousseau had to say about the effect this change has had on the team:
Finally, we have APAC South. Here, we saw what was almost a shock in the Knights game as, after they beat the Stage 1 APAC champions of Elevate last week, they were then taken right to the edge against Invictus Gaming.
However, they still managed to secure just two points, thanks to the performance of Jsh.
Also of note was the Wildcard vs ORDER game, which closed out the day in a matchup between the two bottom-placed teams from Stage 1. While ORDER beat WC in the Oceanic Nationals on the following day, Thursday's game ended 7-3 to Wildcard on Clubhouse.
When asked about the impact of the ex-Secret and Rogue coach of Wille "r0usty" Turunen on the team, Vincent "Vincere" Daniele stated the following:
Week 3 will kick off its games tonight with the EUL, followed by NAL on Wednesday, APAC on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the BR6 tournament over the weekend.
SiegeGG will be covering all these tournaments as usual so check back for stats, news, and highlights for your favorite teams!