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NAL Week 1 Key Takeaways: Iconic, Oxygen impress, Soniqs slump

Week one has concluded.

Image via Ubisoft/@itsmeERROR

The North American League has returned, with all of its structured play and bombast. Naturally, there are some scorelines, stats, and storylines that you might have missed. Here are some of the highlights from the week of action. 

New-look Oxygen crush opponents

This new iteration of Oxygen rolled over their two opponents. They started off hot with a big 7-4 victory over TSM FTX in the first playday’s official Game of the Day. Ethan “Nuers” James impressed in his debut, with a perfect three entry kills to zero deaths – and a staggering 16 total kills to boot. 

Oxygen rolled in their second match as well. They took out a seemingly-improved Astralis 7-3 in a game that wasn’t necessarily close. Oxygen rocketed out to a 5-0 lead en route to the victory – staving off an Astralis comeback bid in the process. 

All in all, Oxygen appear drilled and flexible on the two maps they’ve played thus far. Adding a pure entry like Nuers and a solid support in Mitch “Dream” Malson appears to have paid off thus far. 

Oxygen took home the first stage of the NAL last year too. Will history repeat itself?

Iconic posts nickname-worthy performance

David “Iconic” Ifidon almost didn’t need to get a single kill in the second match of the day in order to be the highest-rated player of the week. He was by far and away the MVP of the first day with a 2.41 SiegeGG Rating in Astralis’s opening day 7-1 romp over Soniqs. 

Iconic has been a heralded player for a few years now. You can’t call him young anymore – this is his third year of NAL. All the same, he’s never played in an international competition. Results like Tuesdays will make the run easier, but Astralis will have to avoid days like Wednesday to make a Major. 

For now, though, iconic can definitely take that performance over an excellent Soniqs squad to the bank. 

Soniqs struggle in the opening week

A month and a half ago, there was a lot of conversation about how much Soniqs had impressed Rainbow Six Siege fans, how much they had improved. The 2021 NAL champions were on a run at SI, and punched their way to a top-six finish. 

It’s with those lofty expectations that we have to say that Soniqs severely underperformed in week one. A stunning 1-7 loss to Astralis where they looked listless, unable to put their adaptability into play segued into another crushing 3-7 loss to Parabellum. 

If you’re a Soniqs fan – there’s no good way to put it – this is not good. Astralis finished the 2021 Stage 3 in seventh in the league, and Parabellum were in Challenger League (and have lost two key members). The season isn’t over, but there are no more “gimme” games. 

What, exactly, is happening with these chairs

It appears that the chairs at the HyperX Arena are … having some user malfunctions. 

Either something is horribly wrong with these chairs or this is a truly incredible coincidence.

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