“We just want to show up and be better than we were before” – SiegeGG
From a purely “moving parts” perspective, no team in North America has changed more than DarkZero. From the loss of Matthew “Hotancold” Stevens and Alex “Sky” Magor, to moving Kyle “Mint” Lander to coach, to adding budding young talents Nick “kidney” Rapier and Rob “Panbazou” Feliciano and, finally, to recruit Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski before the third and final stage of the year saw no NA team more players wear its jersey than DarkZero.
Even just replacing Brandon “BC” Carr with Canadian has come with changes. BC has its way of playing the game, which is slightly different from his vision of playing the game, even if they are ultimately in line, Canadian said in an interview with SiegeGG.
“I would mostly say it depends on the type of flex choice we run. They [DarkZero] used to run a flex in the same sense as I have run as on SSG or on EG. They used to run that with Mint on the team. But then, I think when Brandon stepped in, it was much more than just a static line-up, and yes, it changed a bit and then I agreed, to get that flex position, someone had to leave their typical role, “said Canadians in an interview with SiegeGG.
More often than not, the player who comes from his typical role has been Tyler “Ecl9se” McMullin, says Canadian. Ecl9pse has never missed a major, nor an SI for that matter. His flexibility has been the key to a DarkZero list that is still giving way, which feels like it has never really had a chance to make up this year. “I think a lot of people do not really know because he is quiet, you know, they really do not get much insight into his mind and so on. But he is a very smart guy, very experienced player, he understands the game very well,” said Canadian about his teammate.
DarkZero had an overwhelming SI, after which Mint switched to a coaching role and Skys backed away from competing for a stage. Before that, the organization moved on from Hotancold in favor of budding talent kidney. With two places to fill, BC moved into a player role before stage 2 and the organization flirted with Nathan “nvK” Valenti before settling on Panbazou. Before stage 3, DZ won the Canadian draws in the transfer window, and finally settled on a roster that it feels can be stable, with a solid coaching staff to boot.
After Paul “Hyper” Kontopanagiotis and BC were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Mexico Major and forced to quarantine for a time that would overlap with the beginning of NAL Step 3, DarkZero was forced to start the scene a little later than normal. After the untimely death of Michael “KiXSTAR” Stockley, their last three games were postponed to a 48-hour period. While mourning one of their own deaths, DZ was forced into a situation where they would play almost an entire half stage in two days – at the end of which they could be in either relegation or Major.
Fortunately for DZ, they got a lifeline extended by Mirage upsetting TSM. A 7-2 victory over beastcoast later in the day placed them in place in Majoren – the organization’s third appearance at an international event this year.
It is difficult to predict or predict what will happen next for DarkZero, especially since they are such a new team that has had so many changes, and their last matches were played during an understandably emotionally turbulent time for most.
They have left groups at SI and Mexico Major, but will still need to build to be a sincere challenger; they have been fundamentally different at each of the three international events DarkZero has qualified for. The Canadian says that there has not been a “honeymoon phase” in any team he has been on, but adds that the basis for the cohesion in “Siege” is “repetition”.
“We just want to show up and be better than we were before,” said Canadian.
DarkZero’s debut at Sweden Major comes against Team Vitality in the joint first match of the tournament.