The ALGS Championship has finally reached its meteoric conclusion, with five regional tournaments spanning over 125 hours of tournament play squeezed into the past month. Hundreds of teams attempted to even qualify for the biggest Apex Legends esports competition to date, and we have finally crowned all of our winners.
In North America, Team Kungarna has come out on top. Despite the fact that the signing of the Bottom 20 roster was somewhat overshadowed by Kungarna also acquiring EU favourites Nessy, it was the NA acquisition that provided the most excitement this weekend.
The usual suspects dominated the group stages, with NRG, TSM, and G2 (the team formerly known as AimAssist), rising to the top. My Little Phony, the orgless team led by Beau ‘RamBeau’ Sheidy, flew to a surprise third-place overall finish utilising the strong Revenant and Octane combination, but they couldn’t make it count in the Finals.
In what was arguably the region’s biggest group stage upset, Complexity failed to qualify for the Championship Finals, despite playing together in-person for the first time. However, the tournament wasn’t won in the group stages, it was won on match point in the Championship Finals.
The NA ALGS Championship Finals was a cagey affair in which none of the region’s major players ever really turned up. TSM had its moments, especially with a huge third round which all but propelled it to match point. This game also created one of the greatest moments in Apex Legends esports as a recently revived and very much weaponless Eric ‘Snip3down’ Wrona took down two players with Bloodhound’s heirloom to propel TSM to a 17-kill victory.
MIKE TYSON PUNCHOUT IN A FINALS LOBBY! My teammates are INSANE pic.twitter.com/OJTuVLra0F
— TSM FTX Snip3down (@Snip3down) June 13, 2021
As soon as TSM reached the 50-point threshold, however, the lobby turned brutal. Like sharks in a feeding frenzy, third parties turned into fourth parties which turned into fifth parties – everybody wanted a piece of the action, and TSM was often the chum.
No team was willing to lose, and the Finals stretched for nine games, with TSM and Cloud9 both coming inches from victory but ultimately falling short. In the final game, however, it was Team Kungarna’s time to shine.
Team Kungarna played the final circle perfectly, dodging between Gibraltar bubbles and pushing at just the right time to take home $265,591. The players’ emotions were broadcast loud and clear in a listen-in on the main broadcast, expletive-laden and excited.
“I don’t know if I can describe [the feeling],” says Brendan ‘Onmuu’ Pode in a post-match interview. These players aren’t used to winning. In a region dominated by huge organisations, the team formerly known as Bottom 20 hasn’t placed higher than fifth in a major tournament until now.
If there were any other winners today, it was every Apex Legends esports fan watching. The six-hour tournament showed why John Nelson and the ALGS team regard the match point format so highly; every match had an exciting and climatic ending with potential winners being on the brink of clinching the title on numerous occasions.
The ALGS Championship showed us a glimpse of the future of Apex Legends esports, a future that is tense, exciting, and undeniably bright.
