Banner image: Ubisoft/Kirril B.
North America’s last hope in Berlin has defeated Europe’s first seeded team, Wolves Esports, after two solid performances on Club and Chalet.
Wolves Esports kicked things off with a flawless round on Clubhouse, as XSET started on the attacking side. Léo “Kyno” Figueiredo mentioned in a post-match interview with SiegeGG that the team’s communication on attack was “actually slow”, with the “nerves” being the reason behind the team’s initial lethargy.
“We weren’t talking as much, and whenever we were talking our coms were too cluttered, but we ended up fixing it for the last two rounds and just finished it on defense,” Kyno revealed.
Eventually, XSET shut down Wolves with a three-round win streak on defense, closing out the first map 7-5.
After winning on Wolves' pick, it was XSET’s turn. To everyone’s surprise, XSET picked Chalet, a map they had not played throughout the entirety of the second stage.
Although XSET’s record on Chalet has been poor in the past, Kyno was sure they had the upper hand.
“For the past months we have been studying it, practicing, and our Chalet was way better, we were hiding it for the perfect opportunity, and this was it,” he said.
It caught Wolves off-guard, who didn’t expect XSET to go there. Bastien “BiBooAF” Dulac admitted that his team “didn’t expect (XSET) to pick Chalet” in a post-match interview with SiegeGG.
Ironically, in Charlotte, the team was the only squad from NA to miss out on the top four, as the Brazilian-majority roster clashed with eventual finalists Astralis. Now, XSET, who have six Brazilian members out of nine total, are North America’s only hope.
Kyno admitted that “there’s a bit of pressure”, as the team is “carrying NA now”.
“It definitely gets to us a little bit, but whenever we are playing we are just focused on the game,” he continued. “(But) we don’t care if the crowd is against us.”
XSET will play their next game against the winner of the game between Rogue and G2 Esports.