ALGS caster looks to bridge the gap between pros and casuals with Apex Rising tournament

There’s a new tournament series in town starting today, April 20, and it might just be what the Apex Legends community needs to unite its disparate parts.

Apex has long been a game whose community can generally be divided into the competitive players and their fans, and the more casual player base that makes up the majority of people who play the game. Those two communities are sometimes at odds, and it can frequently be difficult for players to make the jump from “good player who just plays the game” to trying to participate in the competitive community.

That’s the exact gap ALGS caster and former Gears of War pro Jon “Falloutt” Kefaloukos is trying to bridge with his new pro-am tournament, Apex Rising.

Apex Rising is a pro-am charity tournament that seeks to benefit (RED), a charitable organization dedicated to fighting AIDS around the world. The tournament begins on April 20 and runs until April 21, with a unique format geared toward growing the grassroots competitive scene.

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Instead of full teams of pros or mixing together competitive players with content creators, the teams selected for Apex Rising match established pros and personalities with burgeoning talent in the competitive Apex scene that hasn’t necessarily gotten their shot with the big names in pro Apex. According to tournament organizers, the series hopes to advertise and promote established pros, community members, and aspiring competitive players alike with the format and teams.

And there are some of the biggest names in the game participating as well. Players like TSM’s ImperialHal, 100 Thieves’ iiTzTimmy, and XSET’s Nocturnal are all taking part alongside plenty of other famous players in the Apex scene and beyond.

The action all begins tonight at 5pm CT and can be viewed live both on Falloutt’s Twitch channel as well as in watch parties with content creators like NiceWigg and Daltoosh. Viewers will also be able to access chat commands that will enable them to donate to (RED) during the two-day tournament series.