NICKMERCS set to host his biggest Apex Legends tournament yet—with a twist

NICKMERCS is a big name in both the professional and casual Apex Legends scenes. The FaZe Clan streamer not only competes for Tripods in the North America Pro League, but constantly gives back to his community with third-party tournaments, having run the MFAM Gauntlet for over three years. 

For the first time in 2023, NICKMERCS has announced the return of his tournament series, the MFAM Gauntlet, to Apex. The two-day tournament features 20 teams competing for a $200,000 prize pool. But instead of the standard battle royale format, the tournament centers around Team Deathmatch, the newest limited-time mode introduced to Apex.

Players will be able to participate by following and subscribing to NICKMERCS’ Twitch channel and being present when he goes live for the event. Twenty team captains will be randomly selected during the livestream, with each captain bringing two teammates of their choosing to make a trio, bringing the total participants up to 60 for the event. 

The MFAM Gauntlet will be held over a series of three rounds featuring Team Deathmatch and Gun Run. Each team will play seven TDM matches in squads of six, with randomly selected team pairings each match. The top seven trios, decided by overall win-loss record, will advance to the final round of competition.

The trios ranked eighth to 11th will qualify for the wild card round, where a single round of Gun Run will decide the eighth team qualifying for the final round. The last day of competition seeds the remaining eight teams into a knockout bracket, with the top two teams declared winners of the tournament, earning a quarter of the overall prize pool at $54,000, meaning each player gets $9,000.

This marks the biggest TDM tournament in Apex history since the game mode’s release at the beginning of season 16. A Twitch Rivals tournament was held on Feb. 17, featuring 16 invited teams of pro players and content creators competing for a $200,000 prize pool. NICKMERCS’ past tournaments have only featured prize pools up to $50,000, making the MFAM TDM Gauntlet his  biggest tournament yet.

The MFAM TDM Gauntlet will run for two days, with a $50,000 qualifier on March 29 and the main event for $150,000 on March 31. Bonus cash prizes will also be given to each squad for match wins, individual players who lead the lobby in kills, and the team with the most overall kills at the end of each round. Additional details and rules for the event can also be found on the MFAM official website.