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The controllers rise to the top.
The second matchday of the Apex Legends Global Series featured plenty of new players, new teams, and a new map. Ultimately, however, it was a familiar result: the unstoppable force of G2 Esports again rearing their heads, putting a stamp on North America with a trademark performance. Despite a slow start to their day, G2 proved again all they need is one game to turn a lobby on its head.
The format followed the pattern established on the first match day, with the first three games of the day taking place on Storm Point, while the second three went back to World’s Edge. Storm Point gave way to plenty of interesting results, as the entire lobby struggled to really take control over the course of the first three games.
Game one went the way of Spacestation Gaming, who seized the opportunity to take the winning height before the final circle by interrupting a fight between heavyweights Sentinels and G2.
Well well well, @Spacestation take game 1 on the day thanks to this third party. Really, really good awareness from them. pic.twitter.com/I3fl3HG1r9
They couldn’t hold that form going into the second match, however, as the team lost an early fight with, ironically, Start a Fight, going out in last place in game two.
The second match pulled down to the southwest edge of Storm Point, with teams fighting in Cenote Caves. The abundance of different levels of height in the POI made for an interesting endgame, with teams fighting on top of buildings, below in the subterranean caves, and everywhere in between. It was one of the newest Pro League teams, Nightmare, that ultimately won the day, launching themselves up the leaderboard.
Game three followed the pattern of chaos, with Dexterity Gaming winning the match just outside of Shipfall. The team utilized an oddball team composition, using Fuse and the extra ordinance he can store to great effect, as they flushed teams out of corners and from behind rocks. With little cover in the open field above Shipfall, it spelled victory for Dexterity, and their 11 kills also helped propel them up the leaderboard. Midway through the games, the lobby remained incredibly close. Two teams stood out at the top of the leaderboard for consistency the rest of the lobby was lacking, however: TSM and Mexican team All Glory Gaming.
The switch to World’s Edge, however, meant going to G2’s playground. And in game four, the star-studded controller squad put on a show in vintage fashion.
28-point game.@G2Gent goes crazy. pic.twitter.com/VP28VEEbf9
With the game finishing in the field between Countdown and Landslide, G2 fragger Rigoberto “Gentrifyinq” Padilla simply couldn’t stop killing people. He tallied 13 of G2’s 16 total kills in the game, and mowed down second-place All Glory Gaming nearly by himself with a Volt and a single Devotion magazine. It’s the type of vintage performance G2 is known for. It doesn’t matter how well or how poorly they’ve performed; all they need is a single game, and game four was their game. The victory saw them kill more than a quarter of the lobby themselves, and they received 28 points for their efforts. After lurking around the middle of the leaderboard for the first half of the day, G2 were suddenly on top of it.
Game five saw another regional favorite putting themselves back into the conversation for first place, with Sentinels taking a much-needed victory late-on.
CHAOS@Sentinels wait out the mayhem and then bet on themselves, dropping down into Complexity and taking the fight and the win! pic.twitter.com/AyuV3pqYb1
The game featured one of Apex’s most chaotic final circles, ending right on the bridge connecting Fragment East and Fragment West. The ending zone offers plenty of buildings and structure for teams to find cover and hiding spots, meaning the fights in the final circle happened swiftly and nearly simultaneously. Sentinels managed to stay on the edge of the circle until the last possible second, waiting out the chaos in the middle of the zone before cleaning up the dregs of the multiple Gibraltar and Caustic ultimates. They finished the game in with their classic aggressive play, as well. With the zone closing and Complexity in the bridge below them, the match looked like it was heading for a heal-off. Instead, Sentinels dropped down to take the fight, cleaning up Complexity and taking 22 points in the process.
G2 secured their victory with a third-place finish in the final match of the day, another chaotic match that was ultimately won by XSET. Several solo players tried to play spoiler in the game ending in Spring’s End. Some of them, like Sentinels’ leader Adam “senoxe” Lau, managed to be more of a nuisance than others.
XSET takes the final map, G2 ultimately takes the day, but @senoxe left us all a little treat in game 6 to make sure we don't forget Sentinels. pic.twitter.com/IUuL9WOsXV
The victory was an important one for XSET, who managed to jump from 11th to seventh to end the day. Dexterity also popped back up with a 12-kill second place finish, a result that managed to guide the team to a surprising fourth-place finish.
Ultimately, no one could catch G2 and their firepower, despite the best effort of some of North America’s best teams. Despite that, however, many favorites still finished the day in good standing. TSM rode their consistency to a second-place finish, while Sentinels took home third. Other teams like Spacestation, Torrent, and Complexity also managed to finish inside the top 10. Outside of Dexterity, the Mexican standard bearers at All Glory Gaming were the story of the day–the team took home fifth place in one of their most impressive Pro League showings to date.
On the other end of the leaderboard, it was a day to forget for teams like Renegade and Lazarus, who finished in 17th and 18th place, despite both teams having qualified and played in the Split 1 playoffs. And a couple new teams, such as TDG (Laurice “GuhRL” Habibi, North America’s first female player in Pro League) and Washed (NA’s first team to qualify for Pro League on console) might need a bit more experience in Pro League before the results roll in, as evidenced by their 14th- and 20th-place finishes respectively.
The battle for Split 2 playoffs will be intense. Broadcasters revealed the plan moving forward in Split 2 is for the top 10 teams from NA, EMEA, and APAC North, as well as the top five teams from South America and APAC South, to qualify for playoffs. This follows the original plan set forth for the Split 1 and Split 2 playoffs, but Split 1’s plans were forced to change due to Covid, resulting in regional playoffs with the top 20 Pro League teams competing.
At this time, it seems the number of playoff spots that were available in Split 1 was just cut in half for North America, and as a result, every single point matters.
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