NAL Playday 3 Key Takeaways: Underdogs all bark and all bite

_{Image via Ubisoft/@kirill_vision}

NAL Playday 3 was marked by four upsets of varying degrees. All in all, it was certainly the underdog's day. 

Four upsets mark a full day of unexpected results

The day began with Mirage upsetting TSM FTX. In their first two maps of league play, Mirage notched a total of five total rounds. They held TSM FTX to that exact amount as they took down the world champions behind a stellar performance from Dillon "Razorr" Presley. 

Next up, Astralis roared out to a 6-2 lead on regional juggernaut Spacestation en route to a 7-5 victory. It was close, but Astralis's six-round run was not to be denied in the end. 

XSET vs. Soniqs was a push in SiegeGG's prediction poll, the surprise was XSET's margin of victory. Leo "Kyno" Figueiredo absolutely dominated the 2021 NAL Champions en route to a 7-0 victory. Start to finish, this one was not close. 

Parabellum over DarkZero wasn't a huge upset, but an upset nonetheless. Kyle "Whimpy" Anderson played excellently, and if he keeps this up, he will have a solid chance to stick around somewhere in NAL -- despite Parabellum moving Alexandre "BlaZ" Thomas in for him. 

What is happening with Soniqs

There's something horribly, terribly wrong with Soniqs at the current moment. 

With zero points, they can ill afford any more losses in NAL play if they hope to make a Major. They're a full five-six points behind the teams they'll need to edge out, and those teams will likely keep gaining points. A few more losses like today, and they can kiss their Major hopes goodbye. 

Kyno's big day

It's hard to overstate how well Kyno played today. He notched a 2.53 SiegeGG Rating -- the highest Rating in NAL play this stage. Kyno posted this from the hard support role as well, typically a difficult role to get numerous kills on. 

New-look XSET finally got their first win under their belt, and a good chunk of the credit has to go to Kyno. 

When you're making plays like this, it's just your day, and there really isn't much your opponents can do about it.