Pioneers comfortably win Day 4 of the EMEA ALGS Pro League

The Kansas City Pioneers cruised to victory in the fourth day of the EMEA ALGS Pro League. They had a huge 20 point lead over Alliance who took second.

This is the best performance for the Pioneers since the arrival of Zaine. The Pioneers have made one of the strongest starts to the ALGS Pro League campaign in the EMEA region.

Elsewhere, Alliance continued to perform strongly with the use of Rampart.

The Kansas City Pioneers left London very disappointed in their playoff performance, and chose to make the difficult decision to bench Max Strafe in order to build consistency for major events.

His replacement, Zaine, has helped add an extra dimension to the Pioneers. They have been one of the strongest fighting teams this split. Zaine sits second in the overall kill leaderboard, averaging almost 14 kills per gameday. His teammates Gnaske and SirDel also both sit inside the top 20 in the region.

Pioneers have fantastic mechanics but that is only half of the equation if you want to perform at the top of the ALGS. Having solid macro strategies and being able to execute gameplans is almost more important than your raw fragging ability.

Gnaske has been a leading 'in game leader' (IGL) since the early days of the ALGS. He has found success through multiple metas and with multiple rosters. He has built an unbreakable partnership with SirDel, and since the arrival of Zaine the team dynamics have been incredibly healthy.

Unlike an IGL like Sweet, Gnaske takes a lot more suggestions and offloads certain decisions to his teammates. You'll hear him ask Zaine or Del to scout a spot, work out what can be played or bounce ideas off them. However, when the time comes Gnaske has the ultimate authority and he gets complete adherence when he pulls the trigger on a specific play.

One of the biggest strengths that Gnaske brings to the table is flexibility. Gnaske has experience IGLing both an early rotate and an edge style. Today showed the Pioneers flexibility. They were able to deliver strong results no matter where the zone went. They have flexed their playstyle based on the zone throughout this ALGS Pro League.

In the final game, the zone pulled right to KCP's POI - they took a strong, but exposed, position on a back Mill building. This spot was a great decision, as the zone ended almost on top of where the Pioneers chose to play.

But, this spot and their composition left them with very minimal cover. They had no Catalyst or Rampart to provide cover and found themselves running very low on shields at the end of the game. Gnaske has experience in these situations, kept his team disciplined throughout the game and made the great call to play for some kills. Of course, these decisions are easier when you have someone as talented as Zaine on the team, who duly applied his controller talent to the enemy and racked up two much needed kills.

It's no secret that The Pioneers were really upset by their LAN performance. However, their strong fighting chemistry with Zaine and their flexible playstyle will stand them in good stead should they qualify for London. The Pioneers sit second overall after their first three gamedays.

Once again, lobby crashes impacted the ALGS Pro League. Sadly, it has become a regular occurance for lobbies to crash mid game during ALGS this split. Naturally, this is very frustrating for Pro Players when so much is on the line. Teams who find themselves with a lot of kills or a strong position in zone get particularly hard done by when the lobby crashes.

There are also some notable issues with the Nemesis and audio in game. Players will take damage, but have no audio queues. There are also times where no bullet tracers appear either - at the top level these issues can make a huge difference.

Twitter was awash with complaints, with some players suggesting that ALGS should be postponed while these issues are worked on.

So far, there has been no official communication from the ALGS team on the issues. It is unlikely that ALGS will be postponed, given the complexities of scheduling an esports league. Any change could have knockon to when the Playoffs are held, as players will need ample time to apply for visas.

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

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