Week two of the ALGS Pro League in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region kicked off on Saturday. As was the case last week in the region, the lobby consisting of groups A and B came down to the final game of the day. Ultimately, the Ukrainian and Russian connection on Myztro Gaming took home top honors.
Game one unfolded with a classic World’s Edge zone, with the final circle pulling to the lone beacon building to the northwest of Fragment West. Priority went to the building, with three or four teams holding on the roof, inside the building, and underneath it, respectively. But as all of these teams began fighting with the final circle closing, free agent team MajorPushers respawned team member Artem “fitoo” Ivanov and mopped up the rest of the fighting teams from the edge of the circle. MajorPushers picked up a hefty 23 points on the first game of the day.
Game two featured one of the most chaotic endgames, with nine teams still alive at the beginning of the final circle. Former TSM coach Martin “gdolphn” Skrydstrup and his team CLEAN came out on top. Still, one of the most exciting plays of the day came from soloQgoats, featuring Nicholas “diffq” Espersen, Mark “Zipeth” Christensen, and Luminosity Gaming’s Shivam “ShivFPS” Patel. They took out multiple teams on the low ground with the help of Shiv’s trademark Bangalore, then used Valkyrie’s Skyward Dive ultimate ability to rocket into the air and land in the only safe spot remaining in the final zone.
Grabbing a couple more kills along the way, soloQgoats somehow outlasted multiple teams while they were still more or less in the open and secured second place with seven kills. Their 16-point game was only a point behind CLEAN’s 17 points in game two.
Game three was a big kill game for several teams. GMT notched nine kills and placed fifth, while veteran Russian team 789 placed fourth and grabbed 10 kills. Though it was yet another free agent team, DungeonMast33rs, who won the game and the kill race. Their 15 kills and first-place finish in game three catapulted them up the leaderboard, taking the top of the overall standings halfway through the day.
The fourth game of the day pulled south towards Lava City, one of the spots on World’s Edge where many teams can coexist in incredibly tight spaces. That was true in this game as well, but Myztro Gaming and their Valkyrie player, Anatoly “Wrugb” Belousov, showed off just how powerful the winged Avenger can be in the endgame. Utilizing Valk’s VTOL Jets to avoid taking damage from Gibraltar and Caustic ultimates in the final circle, Wrugb’s teammates dropped and dealt damage, allowing Wrugb to finally land at nearly full health and help finish off the game.
Game five went to French free agent team Les cités de France, and it also served as a good point pick-up for ZETA DIVISION. The game set the entire lobby up for a crucial game six: with only one match left to play, the top ten teams in the lobby were only separated by 15 points, and the top six by only nine. No team in EMEA had multiple victories in a single lobby during week one, and week two’s first lobby unfolded much the same heading into the final, decisive match.
Myztro Gaming would finally pull off the trick of winning multiple times in an EMEA lobby, dominating the final game and taking first place on the day. Their position on top of the tower in the final circle proved too powerful for any other team to overcome.
Already in fourth place going into the final game, Myztro showed patience, knowing they had the best spot on the map and playing for the victory. Once the final circle began closing, they used their high ground position to force the remaining squads into each other and ultimately secured the victory. The first-place finish on EMEA day three netted Myztro 12 points, a massive result for the squad after not getting any points from week one. EMEA continues to show off incredibly close and competitive lobbies, with the five teams placed second through sixth all finishing within two points of each other.
With only four more match days left for these two groups, every point matters. But with few teams clearly separating themselves from the pack as of yet, all teams are still clearly in the hunt for the first split’s playoffs, and the $1,000,000 prize pool waiting there.
Published: Oct 23, 2021 02:19 pm