"It was a very meaningful match for us": DarkZero roll FURIA 2-0 to advance

_{Image via Ubisoft/@kirill_vision}

DarkZero and FURIA have seen some fateful matches across the last nine months. 

Back in May, FURIA eliminated DarkZero from SI 2021. It wasn’t particularly close. The first map was a FURIA overtime victory, and then a quick 7-2 sent DarkZero packing. 

A mere three days ago, FURIA beat DarkZero in one of the closest matches of the entire group stage – 41 of a possible 45 rounds were played. Eventually, on round fifteen of map three, FURIA prevailed, notching the first seed in the group in the process. 

Their match in lower bracket round two took up maybe half the time. 

DarkZero rode a stalwart Coastline defense and a textbook Bank offense to a very quick 2-0 victory. Indeed – the rematch only lasted 19 rounds. 

“It was a very meaningful match for us,” Paul “Hyper” Kontopanagiotis. “...Going back into this match, we wanted to get revenge on them.”

“Once we kinda figured out [FURIA’s pace] in groups, kinda at the price of losing, we were able to not make it a big deal, but be able to make the small tweaks to, I guess, be more on our toes for [them],” DZ head coach Brandon “BC” Carr said.

With the victory, DarkZero punched their ticket to the top eight, and guaranteed another day of tournament life. They advance to play FaZe Clan – who just eliminated Elevate from the tournament with a 2-0 victory. In the group stage, Elevate beat DarkZero 2-0 in a match they felt like got away from them. 

Statistically, Nick “njr” Rapier had one of his best series to date, and one of the best series of the day. He notched a 1.43 SiegeGG Rating with 17 kills over 19 rounds – with a +2 in entry differential to boot. Tyler “Ecl9pse” McMullin posted a 1.40 Rating as well. 

While Hyper, njr, and BC admitted the victory over FURIA specifically felt good, they say it felt significantly better to play how they think they should be playing. “Definitely us getting back on track more, playing more like ourselves, I’d say,” said njr when BC clarified the difference between celebrating the win versus who the win was over. 

With the victory, DarkZero is the fourth North American Rainbow Six Siege team to earn a spot in the top eight at the Six Invitational. They’ll play FaZe Clan next, and if they win, they’ll have earned a spot in the top six.