DarkZero deliver a Storm Point masterclass in the ALGS Pro League

DarkZero performed an incredible comeback, as they stole victory in the ALGS Pro League in the final game. After making a poor start on Worlds Edge, the Aussie roster won two of their three Storm Point games on their way to victory.

FaZe Clan also impressed on their debut since the addition of Phony and Frexs. They successfully saw off a contest at Climatiser on their way to a strong third place.

The NA Pro League is back tomorrow for groups A vs C.

For full scores, check out our ALGS Scores hub.

DarkZero have truly mastered their Storm Point Macro and performed fantastically across the three games. The roster of Sharky, Genburten and IGL Zero come into this split with a lot less pressure on their shoulders following the London LAN. As back to back LAN Champs, new to the North American scene, they were highly focused and under significant pressure.

They also struggled to establish themselves in the region before ALGS got under way, the lateness of their arrival into the region didn't give them time to contest for drop spots and really stamp their authority on their rival teams.

Now, DarkZero land the much coveted Mill. A highly desired spot that several teams have fought for since Storm Point arrived in the ALGS. That paid off especially in game six. Dark Zero were able to mae a quick rotation towards Downed Beast from the Mill. Thus gave them priority to take a power position. Ultimately, they perfectly threaded their way to the final circle and cleaned up almost every kill available.

The experience of IGL Zero was on full display. Many teams might have over reacted and got too involved, drawing attention to their spot. Zero, even under huge pressure, called for his team to play small and play slow. This allowed them to burst out and clean up the final circle, earning enough kills to take first.

While they will be delighted with their victory and their performance today, there is still room to improve. DarkZero performed fairly poorly on Worlds Edge. Some of this could be put down to being contested at Fragment East. DarkZero had established themselves in the entirety of Fragment, but were surprised to be contested by team 'MeatLovers'.

This is not something that has been seen in scrims and interrupted DarkZero's macro planning for Worlds Edge. However, you can only be caught by surprise once. You can fully expect that the Aussie trio will be fully prepared for this scenario in future.

Speaking to esports.gg after the games, DarkZero coach PVPX reiterated just how strong securing Mill has been for the roster.

"We spent a good portion of scrims before LAN & also some scrims past LAN to fight OpTic off of Mill and finally earned it.

"Mill is such a good POI for us since we love the ability of playing flex (zone for some games, edge for others). Mill offers us fast looting, rotating, and amazing loot. All three games today went exactly how they did in scrims the past month so our preparation was on point."

Despite being contested, PVPX says that in reality being contested wasn't the issue on Worlds Edge. Instead, it was how the contest impacted their gameplans. Additionally, he revealed that they weren't expecting to be contested today.

"The contest wasn't really an issue within itself; the main problem was our lack of practice with a team 'griefing' some loot & rotates. We had some strats for it but didn't execute them perfectly. We will be prepared to handle it better next time as it was a surprise that it happened today."

Will they be allowing teams to share Fragment? Absolutely not.

"We love our POI that we've earned over the past month of scrims and plan on continuing our aggressive throughout the rest of pro league."

Drug Free, a qualifier team who snuck in after roster changes to existing teams, made one of the best starts in Pro League history. They earned an unbelievable 43 points across the first two Worlds Edge games. The 19 kills across the two games saw them open up a huge lead in first.

Drug Free's momentum was halted on Storm Point. They were contesting AJC at Fish Farms and lost all 3 contests. Fish Farms has become one of the strongest spots on Storm Point since the re-introduction of Mirage A Trois with the season 16 update. Additionally to the armoury offered, 'Starting the Party' on the boat spawns additional rare loot. While Fish Farms does have pretty poor rotates, the guarantee of strong shields and attachments makes it a really solid edge drop spot. Drug Free will hope to claim this spot as their own.

While the qualifier team might feel slightly frustrated that they weren't able to hold first place after such a strong opening two games. However, this has still been a very successful opening day for Drug Free, and performances anywhere near their first two games will see them comfortably in the LAN qualification spots.

While they are new to Pro League this split, all of Drug Free are experienced competitors. Asura, ImpulsiveDream and Sauceror arrive at this Pro League split with extensive experience on other teams. Sauceror earned fourth place with Renegades in the 2021 ALGS Championship.

The strength on a team that couldn't even make the top 8 in the Pro League Qualifier shows the depth in the North American Apex scene.

The strength and depth in North America was perhaps best personified by TSM. The reigning LAN Champs had a thoroughly torrid day. TSM struggled to 18th and will need to quickly bounce back tomorrow.

Interestingly, TSM might be a victim of scrim quality. They are one of the few teams that aren't using a controller legend, and found themselves frustrated by zone pulls.

While there is a lot of room for rotations in Scrims, teams naturally play more defensive and zone fills up a lot faster.

Despite their showing today, TSM fans shouldn't worry about their roster just yet. They are blessed with one of the sharpest minds in the scene in Raven, who will no doubt be hard at work overnight to try and help TSM improve before they play tomorrow.

Yet clearly the North American region is set to be as competitive as ever, with virtually every team having a realistic chance of qualifying for LAN. Moreover, North America gaining a LAN qualification slot only opens up the field even more and competition will be fierce across the circuit.

Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more ALGS coverage and esports news.