North America’s fifth play day of the stage was an interesting one, leaving us with brilliant performances and interesting plays. Keep on reading to find out more.
Three-way tie at the top after XSET win over TSM and Oxygen victory
Led by the three Brazilians in their roster, XSET defeated the Six Invitational 2022 champions TSM on Villa.
Arthur “GMZ” Oliveira led the charge with an impressive entry record of 4-1, and a KPR of 1.27. Despite getting the regulation victory, the most memorable moment of the round was possibly Emilio “Geo” Leynez 1v3 Montagne clutch which momentarely leveled the scoreboard. However, it was TSM’s last round won.
This result sees XSET climb to second in the standings, level on points with TSM. Later on, Oxygen Esports’ victory over Mirage saw the OxG join the party with XSET and TSM at 10 points apiece. It was a tough start for Oxygen as the team began with three lost rounds, but a timeout at the right moment changed the flow of the game in their favour.
Astralis take revenge on DarkZero, climb to fifth
Since Astralis joined the North American League, the team has never lost a league match against DarkZero Esports. And even after this week, that fact holds true.
The game followed a script that wouldn’t surprise anyone. Roberto “Panbazou” Feliciano was on point for DZ, while David “iconic” Ifidon was impressive for Astralis. He pulled off a ‘big-brain’ play on Kaid, as iconic left a C4 just next to the defuser and detonated it just when Panbazou picked it up.
The Charlotte Major champions now fall to eighth place with six points; three away from the top four.
Gunnar goes berserk for Parabellum, beastcoast still wins
Shaun “Gunnar” Pottorff dropped 19 kills, obtaining a SiegeGG rating of 1.81 and five entry kills, but it wasn’t enough to not even get a point from the team’s clash against beastcoast.
Parabellum Esports solidly dominated the first half of the match as the team began from defense on Villa. An explosive Gunnar completely tore apart the opposition from beastcoast, peaking on round four with an ace. From there, it was all downhill from the rookie and the Canadian team.
Beastcoast woke up, winning the remaining two attacks, and only losing one defense and got to earn the full three points after a disastrous start.
Soniqs defeat Spacestation Gaming in 10-plants match
Soniqs extended their victory streak to three with an overtime victory over Spacestation Gaming.
Daniel “Goga” Mazorra may not have watched the match, but he will be a happy guy if he did. The game had the iconic Si si I plant written all over it, as 10 plants went down– five from Seth “supr” Hoffman and five from Dylan “Bosco” Bosco.
Overall, the game was very attacker-sided, with the defenders only winning two of the 12 regulation rounds. Pablo “Gryxr” Rebeil saved the day for Soniqs with a pivotal 1v2 clutch on round two with Alibi, while Spacestation Gaming did the same on round 10 with a good retake to disable the defuser. It was in overtime where the Soniqs imposed themselves, however, winning the two rounds necessary.
Incredibly the Soniqs only secured four entry kills, with Alexander “Yeti” Lawson struggling after five opening deaths to its name.