DarkZero win the North American Regional Finals

DarkZero, the match point specialists, notched another win in the North American regional finals. Closing out a win in game 8, DarkZero also took second in the overall Pro League standings.

The Pro League title went to XSET, who raced to match point but could not find that all important victory.

Elsewhere, NRG and Complexity both booked their tickets to London with strong showings in the regional final. WildCard, Meat Lovers and LANimals were among the teams to just miss out.

It has been a turbulent few weeks for DarkZero. They were caught up in roster drama not once, but twice in a matter of weeks. First when Rambeau controversially came out of a very brief retirement to join DarkZero. But then again when they parted ways with Rambeau after only a few weeks, and instead poached Xynew from MeatLovers at the eleventh hour.

However, it cannot be argued that this drama was not worth it. Xynew made an excellent start with DarkZero, and has become the NA Split 2 kill leader after the days games. Narrowly beating teammate Zer0 to the accolade.

DarkZero have an incredible record in match point tournaments. Regionally or globally, they have such confidence in these situations. Their confidence and experience paid off in the eighth game. DarkZero got a zone so good that it was almost bad. Zer0, Genburten and Xynew prefer to work their way into zone and pick up some edge kills, but they got a perfect pull right into their Fragment West landing spot. This will be the last time Fragment West is ever see in the ALGS, with it set to be replaced by Monument on Tuesday.

Many teams over the years have choked 'home zones' when on match point - but not DarkZero. They calmly and comfortably controlled their space in Market. This left them with the power in the final circle, they were able to pick their engagements and never looked under pressure.

DarkZero can never be written off, and their track record means they will be considered among the favourites in London.

NRG found the performance they needed in the ALGS Regional Finals. They started the day outside the LAN positions, after a very poor final week of the regular season. NRG had responded to criticism that they were not playing the game enough. They battled through questionable scrims all week, and all three players could be seen to be putting in extra time in the lead up to these games.

Sweet revealed on stream he had conducted a four hour vod review, and then wrote impassioned messages in the NRG group chat. Sweet, and NRG needed a big reaction this week and they found it.

However, NRG made a very slow start to the days games. When XSET raced to match point, there was a very serious danger that NRG missed out on LAN. Doing things at the last second has always been the NRG way, and they dug deep to find a huge victory on Storm Point in game six.

Once NRG started finding points, you could feel the tension lift amongst the team. The tetchy, nervous NRG completely disappeared and the team that dominated across London reappeared just in time.

NRG will now look to shake off a rough patch of form and go one better than their second place in the Split 1 Playoffs.

Joining NRG in London will be Complexity. They found just enough in their Regional Finals showing to snag a ticket to the Split 2 Playoffs in July.

This is a huge moment for Monsoon and Complexity. They have struggled to qualify for LAN at the last three attempts, but Monsoon has been incredibly vocal about his desire to get back on the global stage.

Monsoon struggled in Raleigh when subbing in for Luminosity, and was heartbroken to fall just short of making finals. It has been evident that he has been desperate for another chance to make amends and challenge for a title.

Now, Monsoon has finally broken past the 'bubble' and will get his chance to show his worth in July.

Notable inclusions are TSM, who comfortably qualified after a major scare and Snip3down with FaZe. Snip3down has not appeared at an Apex LAN since Poland in 2019, and it will be a huge moment for the veteran when he steps out in London.

For full ALGS Pro League results, check out our ALGS Score hub here.

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