VertcL on Oxygen's expectations: “People sleep on us a lot, and it’s fine. At this point we're used to it”

^{(Banner image: Ubisoft/Kirill Bashkirov)}

Franklyn “VertcL” Cordero has been playing “Rainbow Six Siege” since the beta on Xbox. He was a member of the initial competitive scene, then switched to PC in 2017 following the sundowning of the Xbox portion of competitive “Rainbow Six”. It’s safe to say that he’s been around the scene for a while at the very least. 

Arguably, he’s never had a better stage than the one he just had.

VertcL finished Stage 3 second only to Matthew “Hotancold” Stevens in K/D, SiegeGG Rating, and entry kills. “They [my teammates] set me up for success and I try to capitalize every situation given to me, but I also think I surprised myself this stage if not this year,” VertcL said in a text interview with SiegeGG, which was edited for grammar. He added that he has been shouldering more of a vocal role, while finding different ways to learn and grow.

Outside of a Stage 2 hiccup, Oxygen have had an outstanding year. They finished first in NAL Stage 1, fought all the way to sixth at SI 2021, and finished second in NAL Stage 3. They qualified for SI 2022 early, largely based on SI Points earned during regional competition. 

“I'm glad we had the results we had on Stage 2,” said VertcL. “It was a lesson learned, because it just shows that you can’t do the same thing every single time.”

VertcL added that their Stage 2 struggles were largely due to a lack of communication and being too rigid. They went back to the basics in practice, and VertcL believes the Stage 3 results speak for themselves. 

Before the start of the 2021 Circuit, Oxygen made a bold change. They moved on from Spencer “Slashug” Oliver and Khalil “b1ologic” Pleas in favor of two fresh-faced rookies: Evan “Yoggah” Nelson and Leo “Kyno”Figueiredo. Kyno erupted onto the regional stage with an ace in his first professional round played, and while Yoggah had some flat moments, he’s come on strong, especially during Stage 3.

While VertcL thinks Yoggah and Kyno still have a lot to learn, he speaks wonders of them as players. “These two [Yoggah and Kyno] just fit in perfectly to what we were trying to do. Everyday in practice we learn from each other, and it’s like a fresh environment, we're all willing to learn and take criticism from each other,” VertcL said.

As a player, VertcL has been flying under the radar, but only statistically. He is a spacemaker, the guy who is willing to run in and die immediately if it means the team will be in a better position for an execute, or can get a plant down. Sometimes this means he notches more deaths than kills, but it’s a price he pays time and time again, willingly.

As a team, Oxygen can fly under the radar as well. “People sleep on us a lot, and it’s fine. At this point we're used to it,” said VertcL. He adds a specific anecdote: not many people picked them to beat Team Empire in a best-of-three at SI, but they sent the Russian side to the lower bracket. At SI, Oxygen only lost to TSM, MiBR, and NiP, three of the event’s four semifinal teams.

So, what is it going to take for another successful international event? VertcL doesn’t have a specific goal in mind but states he is confident in their future being in their hands. “The thing that will constitute our success in Sweden would be our communication and adapting on the fly. If we can master those two things I believe this major can go our way,” he concluded.

Oxygen will face off against FaZe Clan in their first match of the Sweden Major on Monday, Nov. 8.