Following the conclusion of the eighth playday of the North America League 2024 Stage 2, here's a brief roundup of today's matches:
Soniqs 7-4 LOS
Soniqs secured a third-consecutive victory in the North America League 2024 Stage 2 after defeating LOS on Border.
Despite the final result, the Brazilians had a great start to the match as they won three of the first four rounds, with the team's third successful attack coming after a 1v2 clutch by Leonardo "Legacy" Silva while playing Thermite. Before swapping sides, the orange roster was 4-2 ahead on the scoreboard.
However, Soniqs' reaction was quick and their answer to LOS' start was devastating. Led by Jaylen "Ambi" Turk, who secured nine kills during Soniqs' five-round attacking half, the Americans ended up winning the match on regulation.
Although Ambi's performance on attack was brilliant, it was Pablo "Gryxr" Rebeil who truly made the final difference as he clutched two of Soniqs' five attacking rounds. Therefore, without the Mexican's plays, both teams would have likely played overtime.
Following the conclusion of the game, Richard "Rexen" Coronado was the best player in Soniqs with a SiegeGG rating of 1.33. Meanwhile, Legacy's 1.41 made him the best player of the match.
Cloud9 Beastcoast 7-5 Oxygen Esports
Cloud9 Beastcoast defeated Oxygen Esports on Kafe to temporarily sneak into the top four of the North America League 2024 Stage 2. Despite having already locked a playoff spot before today's game, the BLAST R6 Major Manchester champions are now playing to improve their seeding ahead of the next stage.
Meanwhile, this has been Oxygen Esports' seventh defeat since the start of the stage, which makes it the worst start to the North America League ever. Surprisingly, the green roster has lost all of their matches by one or two rounds except for one, which ended in a 4-7 loss against LOS.
Similar to yesterday's game against Spacestation Gaming, the match began with a great individual play by Gaven "Gaveni" Black, who secured four kills in the first round of the match. The team added a second attack to the scoreboard to put themselves 2-0 up. Eventually, both teams swapped sides with a Cloud9 Beastcoast 4-2 lead on the scoreboard.
In round nine, Cloud9 Beastcoast reached match point after a 1v3 clutch by Ayden "dfuzr" Gabari. This was followed by two successful Oxygen Esports' attacks, including an Evan "Yoggah" Nelson 1v1 clutch. Unfortunately for the green roster, the BLAST R6 Major Manchester champions closed out the game after winning round twelve.
Curiously enough, the best two players of the match finished with the same SiegeGG rating, as both Matthew "Hotancold" Stevens and Yoggah finished with a SiegeGG rating of 1.37. They also got seven of the twelve entry kills of the game. With a SiegeGG rating of 1.30, Gaveni's performance is also worth mentioning, as well as Ethan "Nuers" James' KOST of 83 — the highest in the game.
Spacestation Gaming 8-7 Wildcard
Spacestation Gaming defeated Wildcard on Kafe in maximum overtime and will head to the final playday of the group stage with chances of making the league's top two.
The astronauts had a brilliant start to the game as they won four of their six attacks. Two rounds after swapping sides, Spacestation had a 6-2 lead over Wildcard, which meant the astronauts had four match points. Surprisingly, despite playing on defense, Wildcard not only ended up pushing the game to overtime but also temporarily led the game after winning five consecutive attacks.
Following Wildcard's comeback and despite having the momentum of the game, Spacestation clinched the victory after winning the final two rounds of the match. As Wildcard won't feature in tomorrow's playday, the Americans need Luminosity to not get a regulation win over Oxygen Esports to lock a playoff spot.
With a SiegeGG rating of 1.29, Liam "Ashn" Paz was the best player of the match for Spacestation Gaming. Meanwhile, Wildcard's best player was Evan "Kanzen" Bushore, who finished the game with a SiegeGG rating of 1.23.
DarkZero Esports 7-1 Luminosity
The eighth playday of the North America League 2024 Stage 2 concluded with an almost flawless victory for DarkZero Esports. The purple roster won five of their six attacks, with George "Silent" Hernández watering down DarkZero Esports' party with a 1v1 clutch in round three.
Although all of DarkZero Esports' players ended the game with positive ratings, the best player of the match was Nathan "Nafe" Sharp, who finished the game with a SiegeGG rating of 1.75 and a perfect KOST. Meanwhile, his teammates Jason "Beaulo" Doty and Elian "Kobelax" Rodríguez followed the British player with SiegeGG ratings of 1.38 and 1.31, respectively.
Meanwhile, Silent was Luminosity's best player with a SiegeGG rating of 1.09, the only positive score in the team.