NA Regional Event 2 Day 1 Highlights

On an important day of action in terms of major qualification chances, some teams rises to the occasion, whilst others faltered when it mattered most. Here are our highlights from the day’s play:

Rogue Return To Top 8:

With the acquisition of young prodigy Aqua during the trade period, the question was asked about whether Rogue could return to top 8 and their RLCS X form after a mediocre fall split.

Following a tough 9th-12th placement, with a game 5 lost to Complexity, Rogue showed up big time today, with a sweep of rising team Gentlemen, and upset win over tournament favorites, seeing Rogue secure second in their group.

This time, Rogue would not be sent home in round 1 of playoffs, taking down NXT 3-1 off the back of two shutout, perfect defensive games to secure Rogue a much needed top 8 finish, and keeping their slim major chances alive.

Complexity Sent Home Early:

Unfortunately, there wasn’t many Vamos’ going around today, as Complexity dropped out of top 8 for the first time since entering NA.

After last week’s scrapping performance, they still placed 7th-8th, and with 2 weeks of training under their belt, general expectation was for Complexity to place top 2 in group D.

Yet that turned out to certainly not be the case, as they were reverse swept by Charlotte Phoenix, where they struggled to find the back of the net, outlasted by Shopify Rebellion, and dismantled by SSG, sending them home in 13th-16th and effectively ending any hopes of making the major.

Envy And XSET Regain From Group C:

Both teams were top 8 throughout the fall split, yet Envy and XSET both came into the split cold, going 0-3 in groups, coming into today with a lot to prove, Envy in particular.

Although Envy weren’t perfect just yet, they certainly looked stronger and more in sync with the addition of dreaz. They fought hard against XSET and produced a great defensive effort to sweep the Soniqs, securing at least a playoffs berth.

Despite struggling to score against G2, with the team clearly missing Atomic’s mechanics, they responded perfectly in the lower bracket round 1 matchup with Charlotte Phoenix, outlasting them with a tight game 4 overtime win to lock in a top 8 finish, with chances at the major somehow still alive.

For XSET, they started the day slowly, but came good when it mattered most, demolishing a normally strong Soniqs to qualify out of group C before producing a calm, near perfect defensive series against the dangerous Shopify Rebellion, nullifying Rapid as much as they could to win 3-1, locking in their first top 8 finish since the 2nd event of fall in much needed fashion. Tomorrow, they go up against Rogue in an almost do or die match, with a loss for either making the major nearly unobtainable.

FaZe Dominate:

FaZe certainly came to play. Although faced with a relatively straight forward group, they looked scarily good today, producing a perfect sweep 9-0 across the day‘s play.

After another 2 weeks of improving chemistry and building trust, this roster looks extremely strong, with the 3 of FirstKiller, Sypical and Ayyjayy all showing up big theouthout the day (including clinching the top 3 spots for ratings for the day), which puts them as a force to be reckoned with tomorrow and Sunday.

Oxygen Dig Deep Against V1:

After a team best 5th-6th finish in regional 1, they were quickly humbled by some of the best on the day 2 of the event, meaning there were some doubts heading into today.

However, today’s performance definitely confirms Oxygen as a dark horse contender for the major, who after sweeping Ghost, thanks to some perfect Toastie shooting, and a 3-1 win over NXT, had an important matchup with V1 in the lower bracket.

Here, Oxygen came up big, with LJ’s defence and finishing guiding Oxygen to a 3-1 victory, securing back to back top 8 performances.

Conversely, this result would be a huge disappointment for V1, who coming off a top 4 in the first regional, were looking to put a stamp on the competition and lock in a major spot, but will now be scrapping to stay in contention.