FURIA close in on LAN spot with ALGS victory

FURIA closed out an important ALGS Pro League victory as Split 2 approaches its conclusion. This is the final weekend of regular season gameplay, with the Regional Finals taking place next Sunday.

Ahead of the days games, only Team Falcons were already mathematically qualified for the global event in Germany. North America has 12 slots, but there is still huge competition for a spot.

FURIA's win today has helped to elevate them from the chasing pack, and they compete again tomorrow. This victory came despite Keon having to relocate his set up at the last second due to internet issues.

FURIA will be delighted with their start to a really important weekend of ALGS action. While Regional Finals provide an extra opportunity to get the points you need for LAN, the Match Point format can make that a difficult ask. You don't know when the tournament will be over and there are huge connotations to every single moment, with teams dropping in and out of LAN spaces throughout the day.

FURIA, with their matchday in hand tomorrow, have now elevated themselves above the real chasing pack. They have moved themselves up into third place and sit a very comfortable 28 points ahead of E8 who occupy 12th.

FURIA are essentially booked for LAN now, with only an absolute freak set of results preventing them from stepping out on stage in Mannheim Germany in August.

Now, their attention will turn towards securing the maximum possible prize money and better POI Draft seeding at the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs. A new aspect of the Pro League is the impact on your Draft position for the Group Stage, which adds an extra incentive for teams who are already comfortable in their LAN spot.

Todays results sees SSG 100% book their spot at the Split 2 Playoffs.

Like in EMEA, there was a lot of attention on how the meta would shake down. EMEA had a huge array of legends, with only Bangalore having a pick rate over 50% (98%) across the days games.

The recent Season 21 mid season update impacted both Bangalore and Bloodhound. A particular change was Bloodhound's Beast of the Hunt Ultimate no longer giving vision through Smoke. This change breaks the synergy between the two legends, and set in motion a big reshuffle of what legends teams use.

Just like in EMEA, Bangalore remained an ALGS mainstay in todays games. However, there was a major difference between the two regions. Seer was a 27% pick in EMEA, but is a very high pick in North America, comfortably sitting at 80%.

Seer has been a key legend for ALGS teams before, and has swung in and out of the meta several times. It seems that North American teams are looking primarily for a direct replacement for the information that Bloodhound provides. Perhaps most importantly, the old rule of ALGS counters holds firm. The best counter for a legend that scans, is a legend that scans. Be it Bloodhound, Crypto, Seer, or even the Fuse EVAC trick, nothing counters a scan like a scan. Seer's pick rate was only 70% in the first game, but rose throughout the day as holdout teams reacted to the amount of Seers in the lobby.

Tomorrows B vs C games will give a further indication on how the ALGS meta is shaking out heading into Regional Finals.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for full coverage of the ALGS.