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DarkZero shake off slow first map, eliminate Team Liquid to advance to all-NA grand finals

DarkZero have officially guaranteed an NA team will win the grand finals.

Photo via SiegeGG

In the United States of America’s first Major since the 2019 Raleigh Major, the only teams remaining are the North American teams. 

The first map of the Team Liquid vs. DarkZero semifinal match of the Charlotte Major was all Brazil. Liquid raced out to a 6-0 lead on their defensive side on Theme Park, and didn’t look back en route to a 7-1 finish. 

Luccas “Paluh” Molina, the best player in the world who does not have a Major-caliber title, was a staggering 16-3 in kill/death over the course of Theme Park. When Paluh is shooting like that, it’s near impossible to shut him down. 

With DarkZero’s guns mostly quiet on their own map pick, the American side came alive on Chalet. Rob “Panbazou” Feliciano started off 7-0 through two rounds on attack. DarkZero raced out to a 6-2 lead, and held on to win 7-3. 

The 1-1 scoreline brought us to a classic Siege map three – Oregon. Both DarkZero and Liquid play Oregon, but the difference in the match was a blistering DarkZero attack. Throughout the first nine maps DarkZero played in Charlotte, they had a 61 percent win rate – one of the highest win rates in the tournament. They took home a 3-3 attacking half to go into the much more comfortable defensive half. 

Liquid roared back, and in an intense maximum regulation round, fell to DarkZero. The American side prevailed in the end on series point, 7-5. 

The grand finals appearance is the first for DarkZero captain and NA’s most decorated IGL, Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski, since he lifted the hammer at SI 2020. This is DarkZero’s first grand finals at an international LAN event since the grand finals of PL Season 10 Finals in Tokoname. In events with crowds – Canadian has technically made back-to-back grand finals.

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