Oxygen Esports breathe life into LAN hopes with Pro League win

Oxygen Esports found a much needed win in the ALGS Pro League. Using adjusted strategies, they seemed a team reborn in the days six games. They were pushed hard by DarkZero, who closely followed in second place.

This leaves Oxygen with a much improved chance to secure a spot at the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs. DarkZero, thanks to their second place, are making a serious move not just for LAN but for the overall ALGS Pro League title.

Oxygen Esports have had a poor start to their Pro League campaign. They sat all the way down in 20th, closer to relegation than a spot at LAN. The team of Aidan, Reedz and Vein have made some changes to their approach before the days games and these paid dividends.

The most notable of these was a swap of drop spot on Storm Point. Oxygen Esports have returned to Barometer. This is the location that they landed during at during their fantastic run during the summer of 2023, a run that included that third place at the Split 2 Playoffs.

This change paid dividends. It was like a whole new Oxygen Esports performance compared to what we've seen so far this Pro League. Clear communication, fantastic team fighting and well structured macro plans.

Confidence is key. Oxygen seemed much more comfortable playing from Barometer and taking that extra bit of time looting up and taking fights when needed.

This confidence, and a key win in game three, carried across to Worlds Edge. Oxygen Esports's best game of the day came on Worlds Edge. They racked up a handful of kills on the edge of zone, as they worked their way north from Staging towards Climatizer.

One key move all but earned their win, forcing themselves onto the height that overlooks the abandoned train cars at the very northernmost point of Worlds Edge. Bar Spacestation and DarkZero forming a truce and fighting Oxygen as a 6 man super team, this one move secured their victory.

There was no evil alliance to deny Oxygen, and Spacestation were forced to push into DarkZero. This left Oxygen with an easy clean up and a huge 14 point victory to open up a sizable lead over DarkZero.

This was a much needed result for Oxygen Esports. The side was amongst those tipped to win the ALGS Championship back in September, and they were considered one of the North America powerhouse teams.

Their slow start left little room for any further error. Oxygen will need to string together more good results to make sure they can hold down a place inside the top 11. North America's strength as a reason means a good team or two will miss out on LAN, and Oxygen Esports will be desperate for it not to be them.

DarkZero will remain top of the overall North America standings after they secured second place today. With both TSM and Luminosity not having their best days, the ALGS Split 2 Playoff champions are starting to open up a small lead over their rivals.

The difference between DarkZero coming second and first is simply end game conversions. They had no issue racking up kills in any of the days games. However, unlike when these two groups met on the opening day, DarkZero couldn't find a win.

Yet, this isn't really an issue for Zer0, Genburten and Sikezz. They don't need to win each and every lobby, and are quickly closing in on the rough 80 point total needed to guarantee a LAN spot.

Genburten was particularly on fire today, he streaked ahead of his teammates with some fantastic fragging. It's particularly reassuring that DarkZero felt a little bit off their best, yet still get a great second place. Their ceiling is incredibly high, and they are marching not just towards a spot at LAN but also the ALGS Pro League title.

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