With today's action in North America being now over, here's a brief roundup of the matches that took place in the seventh playday of the region's top flight.
M80 7-1 LOS
M80 kicked off the action on the seventh playday of the North America League 2024 Stage 2 with a one-sided victory on Lair against LOS.
Curiously enough, the Brazilians had a rock-solid start to the game as they won the first round. However, the pace of the match quickly changed as M80 won their remaining five attacks. Eventually, the green roster closed out the game after two successful defenses.
The best player of the match was William "Spoit" Löfstedt as the Swed finished the game with a SiegeGG rating of 1.83 and a K-D of 12-2 (+10). His teammate Leonardo "Kyno" Figueiredo closely followed with a SiegeGG rating of 1.57. Meanwhile, all the players in LOS finished with negative ratings, as none of them could get more than four kills.
DarkZero Esports 7-5 Oxygen Esports
DarkZero Esports secured the team's fifth regulation victory in a row after defeating Oxygen Esports on Nighthaven Labs.
After the purple roster kicked off the game with a successful attack, Oxygen Esports built a two-round lead after winning the team's next three defenses. Unfortunately for Oxygen Esports, their opponents managed to secure their final two attacks to level things out before swapping sides.
Despite DarkZero Esports having won their final two attacks of the game, Oxygen Esports' reaction was imminent as they won the first round of the second half. However, the purple squad took the lead again after two successful defenses, including a 1v1 clutch by Nathan "Nafe" Sharp. Eventually, the BLAST R6 Major Manchester semifinalists secured the win.
Following today's defeat, Oxygen Esports' chances of qualifying for the North America League 2024 Stage 2 have been reduced drastically. Despite having only scored two points, the green roster has lost all of their matches by no more than three rounds, with their current record including six defeats — one 4-7, three 5-7, and two 6-8.
With a SiegeGG rating of 1.42, Ethan "Nuers" James was the highest-rated player in the game as he finished the game with a K-D of 14-9 (+5) and an entry balance of 4-0 (+4). However, Jason "Beaulo" Doty stole the show with his performance, including a SiegeGG rating of 1.35, a K-D of 13-8 (+5), and an entry balance of 3-0 (+3).
Wildcard 7-5 Luminosity
Wildcard defeated Luminosity on Skyscraper to climb sixth place with eight points to their name with only one game left to play.
The game was defended-sided, with Wildcard's two rounds on attack making the final difference. After swapping sides, Wildcard leveled the score as the former Soniqs player Evan "Kanzen" Bushore got a combined tally of five kills in the team's first two defenses.
Although Luminosity managed to win one attack, Wildcard ended up closing the game after winning the final three rounds of the clash.
With a SiegeGG rating of 1.62, a K-D of 17-8 (+9), and a KOST of 92, Brady "Spiker" Lukens was the best player of the game. Meanwhile, Wesley "Woos" Beeson was Luminosity's best player as he finished the match with a SiegeGG rating of 1.42.
Spacestation 7-5 Cloud9 Beastcoast
Spacestation secured a playoff spot after defeating Cloud9 Beastcoast on Lair. As they still have to play against Wildcard and LOS, the astronauts still have a solid chance of making the group stage's top two.
The match started with two exciting rounds as Gaven "Gaveni" Black's ace in the first was followed by a 1v2 clutch by Jack "J9O" Burkard in the second. Shortly after, Cloud9 Beastcoast regained the lead after a Zachary "SpiriTz" Dionne 1v1 clutch in the third round of the game. Less excitingly, the BLAST R6 Major Manchester champions won the fourth round of the clash to secure a 3-1 lead.
Unfortunately for the blue roster, the astronauts managed to level things out before swapping sides. Eventually, Spacestation Gaming took control of the map and looked way better on attack, with the astronauts winning four of the final five rounds.
Although J9O was the best player of the match with a SiegeGG rating of 1.36, it's worth mentioning Liam "Ashn" Paz's entry balance of 6-3 (+3). Meanwhile, Gaveni, with a SiegeGG rating of 1.03, was Cloud9 Beastcoast's highest-rated player.