Image: Ubisoft/Kirill B.
Here is how Day 3 of the APAC North Division looked like:
- Fnatic 8-6 FAV gaming
- DWG KIA 7-3 Talon Esports
- REJECT 6-8 CYCLOPS athlete gaming
- SANDBOX Gaming 7-2 Spear Gaming
Play of the day: Ramu 1v4 ace clutch
Forced to go to overtime after conceding an ace in regulation time, it seemed Fnatic were going to lose to FAV gaming. The situation worsened when only Ryuki "Ramu" Matsuoka, the team's hard-breach player, remained on the attack.
But Ramu left jaws on the floor after he reeled off three kills in four seconds, then planted the defuser, before defending it against the final two FAV players.
Player of the day: BlackRay
While SANDBOX Gaming's Song "SyAIL" Dong-seon had the highest SiegeGG Rating on Day 3, a 1.69 in 7-2 win over Spear Gaming, Sho "BlackRay" Hasegawa was not far behind with a 1.63-rated performance.
The CAG player got a jaw-dropping +12 K-D, with an average of 1.5 kills every round and won three entry duels for his team in six attempts. BlackRay also came away with a hugely important 1v1 in round 12, without which his team would have lost in regulation time.
He achieved his figures across a much longer duration of 14 rounds, compared to nine for SyAIL, and was arguably the only reason his team came away with the two points over REJECT.
Surprise of the day: Ramu
Ramu ended up as the best player in the match between Fnatic and REJECT, though he had the second-highest SiegeGG Rating that match.
Fnatic captain Etienne "Mag" Rousseau spoke in the post-match interview how his 1v4 ace clutch gave the team the motivation to close things out immediately after in overtime. It also marked a return to Ramu's 2019 form, where he was on hot form for Nora-Rengo.
However, what made Ramu's chart-topping performance most surprising was that he did it on hard-support roles, primarily playing Ace and Mute, unlike his more attack-minded roles during his heyday with Nora-Rengo.
Top moments of the day
Here's a quickfire rundown of other top moments in APAC North last week.
It's a winning return for yass
After two weeks away from DWG KIA's playing roster due to internal struggles, Yoo "yass" Sang-hoon made his return in the third week against Talon Esports.
It was a winning return for him, a 7-3 over regional rivals Talon Esports, and was vital after the team lost to CAG in regulation time in week two. As a result, DWG KIA are at risk of missing out on the November Major.
Interestingly, yass was only the fourth-best player on his team, despite playing Twitch and Azami, and was overshadowed by Jang "RIN" Byeong-uk on Ash and Goyo.
CAG aren't through the woods yet
CAG made a huge stride last week, beating DWG KIA in regulation time for a six-point swing between the two teams.
With just CAG, DWG KIA, and SANDBOX Gaming seen as viable candidates to qualify to Majors this year, this has given CAG a virtually-guaranteed path to the November Major, even if they lose to SANDBOX. However, this is predicated on them not slipping up as they did in Stage 2.
Then, CAG dropped two points to Fnatic on the third play day, and this week they dropped one point to REJECT. SANDBOX and DWG are guaranteed to take points off each other on the final day, so one of them will finish at 17 points at best.
Should that team be DWG, which would imply an overtime win for them over SANDBOX, and assuming that CAG lose in regulation time to SANDBOX, it means the Japanese have no more room to drop points against FAV, Spear, or Fnatic to guarantee a Major berth for themselves.
SyAIL has perfect game
SyAIL was the best player by SiegeGG Rating this week, as mentioned earlier. While he was not the best player overall, considering the quick game and reduced impact on whether his team won or lost, he did have an impact in each of the nine rounds played.
As a result, he finished with a 100% KOST that stemmed from a jaw-dropping +8 K-D and an unchallenged 3-0 Entry record.