Apex Legends star player forced out of ALGS Split 2 Playoffs due to last-minute visa issues

Year three of the Apex Legends Global Series takes place in London for all three international LAN events, with teams from all five major leagues competing all season long for a chance to compete on the big stage. Qualifying for playoffs is one step of the journey, but actually making it to the U.K. is another daunting task that has unfortunately stopped many ALGS teams from attending past Splits.

Aurora Gaming, EMEA’s ninth seed heading into the Split Two Playoffs, announced a change in their starting roster today due to visa issues. Danila “Sunset” Soloviov will miss the ALGS Split Two Playoffs, and will be replaced by former Aurora player Alexy “Maliwan” Rusinov.

Maliwan originally played with Aurora as part of their starting lineup in the first split of ALGS Pro League, where they dominated the region and were predicted to be a heavy favorite for the Playoffs as EMEA’s number one seed. However, visa issues caused the entire team to miss out on the LAN tournament, replaced by the 11th-placed team in EMEA, Horizon Union.

Aurora’s next showing would be an utter disappointment for their fans, as they fell from their number one status in the region to a middle of the pack team after the first round robin, only gathering 16 league points in comparison to new leader Fire Beavers, at 46 points. Aurora then made their first ever roster change, as Maliwan stepped down from the active roster, with Sunset taking his place for the remainder of Split Two.

Aurora’s performance each week and standings in the leaderboards would steadily increase after Sunset’s introduction, leading up to the regional finals, where they sat outside of the Playoffs picture in 12th place. Despite not reaching match point, Aurora were able to claim eight kills and a second place finish in the ninth and final game when Alliance won the lobby, earning Aurora enough points to secure a spot at LAN as EMEA’s ninth seed.

Related: All Apex Legends teams attending the ALGS 2023 Split 2 Playoffs

Aurora will compete in Group A, with their first match in the groups stage on Thursday, July 13. They will fight against Group B at 7:15am CT (2:15pm BST), immediately followed by Group C at 11:30am CT (6:30pm BST). Fans will be able to watch each of Aurora’s matches through the main broadcast streams, partnered co-streams, or directly through Aurora’s POV with Twitch’s Command Center.