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DarkZero won the Apex Legends ALGS Split 2 Playoffs at London’s Copper Box Arena following a confident finals performance.
The team dominated the lobby from the start, joined at the top only by fellow North American team and previous winners TSM. Before the finals, Dark Zero were less assertive in their gameplay earlier in the tournament, coming 8th in the winner’s bracket to reach the finals. However, their use of Catalyst abilities in the final game proved their strategic prowess.
Famously, the team had an incredibly successful Year 2. After winning the 2022 Split 2 Playoffs with UK player Jmw as a sub, Genburten and Zer0 went on to win the 2022 Championship with then-teammate Sharky.
DarkZero now consist of Australian player Zer0, Australian/Turkish player Genburten, plus North American player Xynew.
Ahead of the Split 2 Playoffs this year, the team picked up talented 17 year old Xynew from the Free Agent ALGS NA team ‘Meat Lovers’. The ALGS Split 2 Playoffs have displayed particularly strong young talent, including 18 year old Effect, who made a significant impact across the LAN with Alliance.
DarkZero won in game seven today, with TSM, Oxygen, Xset and FaZe being their closest opponents in the latter stages of the final day.
The news comes after TSM were crowned the ALGS Split 1 winners back in February earlier this year. Despite performing consistently well throughout the tournament, the defending champions were unable to follow through with a match point win.
Yesterday, Vexed, JLingz and Noctem UK esports organisations were knocked out of the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs event. However, Pioneers, who have two UK players – SirDel and Zaine – finished sixth overall today.
Genburten interview: ‘I’m the best Catalyst in the world!’
Genburten told Hannah Marie after the victory he believes Catalyst (aka Cat) is the ‘most OP character in the game, at the moment’.
You can check out our full interview with Genburten on our YouTube channel here:
DarkZero after ALGS Split 2 Playoffs win: ‘It feels absolutely insane’
“I can’t believe it, shoutout to my teammates – they’re insane. Third LAN, third win!” Xynew said on the ALGS broadcast straight after the win.
Genburten added: “It feels great to be the best in the world again! Shoutout to my parents and my brothers who are here, so I had to win this one! They’re the biggest supporters I’ve had.”
MVP Zer0 commented: “It feels absolutely insane. This is Xynew’s first pro league split at 17 years old. We only missed up one game, and we were the best on the day.”
Hannah Marie will be back with a DarkZero interview for Esports News UK later on.
Caster VikkiKitty also made this point about Zer0:
The news comes as EA announced that Birmingham will host the ALGS Championship 2023 later this year.
Hannah is a writer specialising in the esports, gaming, and technology sectors. Working for companies such as Lionscreed Esports, Esports Insider, and SideQuest Hub she has developed a love for wider esports and Apex Legends, although it may never surpass her drive to passionately beat her friends in every game of Mariokart. You may have seen her at various esports and gaming events, including ESI London, EGX, Discover: Esports and many League of Legends watch parties.
