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DarkZero Impress, SSG Exit At R6 Major NA

What a day of crazy upsets! DarkZero Esports continue their streak of ridiculous performances, while Spacestation Gaming have still... Fabio | 16. August 2020

What a day of crazy upsets! DarkZero Esports continue their streak of ridiculous performances, while Spacestation Gaming have still not been able to find their form. Unfortunately, their loss against TSM has spelled the end for them at this Major.

DARKZERO 2-0 TSM

It’s incredible to see how much we (and in fact most of the community) have underestimated DZ. The analysts considered them underdogs in their match against SSG and still wouldn’t believe in the squad, even after they had brought Spacestation to a third map. In the end, the match was rightfully regarded an upset victory for DZ. The question remained – was this a fluke or have DarkZero really risen up to become a top North American team?

Well, the latter answer appears to be true. You can see for yourself how easily the team dispatched of TSM. With all their round wins combined, TSM wouldn’t even have one a single map yesterday. On Consulate, Tyler “Ecl9pse” McMullin led the charge for a 7-4 victory. Matthew “Hotancold” Stevens joined in on Clubhouse, as they delivered a crushing 7-1 map win. They won the series in incredible fashion, which should dispel any doubts about the consistency of their level at this event.

TSM 2-1 SSG

Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski just can’t catch a break. While his team did take the first map, Theme Park, with a few solid defense rounds, they massively struggled on the remaining two. Dylan “Bosco” Bosco did the best to keep them alive on Villa, but they eventually had to concede the map. On Coastline, SSG mounted a great comeback. Unfortunately, Jason “Beaulo” Doty delivered an ace in the last round to completely wipe the Spacestation offense off the face of the earth. He delivered a 1v3 clutch to end the map, the series, and SSG’s hopes for a Major trophy.

So what has gone wrong for Canadian’s squad? Clearly, the current Six Invitational title holders haven’t been playing the event with full force. They let their opponents ramp up huge leads and when they attempted to make a comeback, they would usually be shut down by a one-off round. Their opponents would decide to make a rush or try a risky defense setup. With rounds to spare, they could go for something like this. Meanwhile, SSG were constantly on the brink of defeat, unable to afford the tiniest of mistake. While they have certainly shown resilience in these situations, they need to find a way to not let their opponents get up to map point in the first place.

WILL THE GRAND FINALS BE DIFFERENT?

Now that DarkZero and TSM are bound to meet again in the Grand Finals, one might obviously be inclined to expect another DZ victory. And they certainly hold a lot of cards in their hands. For one, they have a map advantage coming from the upper bracket. But TSM now have lots of footage of their mistakes against the team. They will obviously re-watch the VODs and identify the things that they need to change up. The Best-of-Five format also helps them out, as they can levy their wider map pool against DarkZero.

Nothing is set in stone. The Grand Finals are shaping up to become a close and tense affair, with both teams having a legitimate shot at the trophy. Will we see TSM prevail or will this be yet another incredible DarkZero upset?