ALGS pros blast new POI draft system as ‘the worst change in Apex history’

The POI battle between o7 and Elev8 Gaming created one of the most exciting contests in Apex Legends LAN history, but those contests might soon be a thing of the past. ALGS may have changed forever with the recent implementation of a POI draft system—and many pros aren’t happy.

After playing through their first set of competitive scrim matches on May 15 using the new snake draft system, pros shared their thoughts on X (formerly Twitter). The conclusion was rather divisive, where top pros ImperialHal and Zach Mazer strongly disagreed with the new system. Called a “rushed process” by Zach (IGL of E8), he noted the sheer number of complaints in the ALGS Discord Server, where he’d “seen 10x more hate then praise in the feedback channels.”

The draft system will place all 20 teams in a random order, letting each pick where they want to land, leaving 16th to 20th place with the POI scraps. No POI is the same, with some far better than others. Those at the bottom of the draft will inevitably have to fight from a worse POI, giving them a disadvantage for the remainder of the match.

“Contesting is part of the game,” said ZachMazer in his lengthy post regarding the POI draft system, and many seem to agree with this sentiment. Contesting not only provided the viewers with excitement off-drop, but winning the contest put KP on the board, and possibly placed the team in a good end-game position. Contesting also promoted griefing, another strategy to keep a team contesting you from getting to the next round.

Popular pro Verhulst and retired pro HisWattson see the draft system as a positive change, with HisWattson claiming it will “push the level of play upwards.” For many pros, the draft system is the worst change in Apex Legends history, but it is welcomed by others, with Verhulst and HisWattson both having stated that “contesting has always been the worst part of Apex.”

While the snake draft sounds fair on paper, FURIA coach Jxmo shared his concerns that fairness “doesn’t mean it’s balanced.” Those at the bottom of the list will always be forced to pick between the POIs nobody wanted, with some POIs on the possible list not even places any teams chose to land at in the old system.

So the question arises—who will land Cliffside?