FaZe doubles down on Apex by signing NICKMERCS’ ALGS team

Split Two of the Apex Legends Global Series starts on March 11, with many teams and organizations making sweeping roster changes to prepare for the new season of competition. FaZe Clan built their new ALGS team around Snip3down, signing on Phony as IGL and Frexs for their official roster. However, the organization confused many with the signing of two more active players, now creating a second team in North America.

Nick “NICKMERCS” Kolcheff, streamer for FaZe Clan since 2019, announced on his Twitter account the signing of Rigo “Gent” Padilla and Deeds to FaZe as the second and third official Apex content creators for the organization. They will continue to play underneath their previous team name of Tripods heading into Split Two of the NA ALGS Pro League.

Tripods initially formed on March 8, 2022, with NICKMERCS, Deeds, and Nathan “Lewda” Dias participating in the Split Two Challengers Circuit. Their successful results from the CC and a 10th place finish in the NA Last Chance Qualifier earned a direct invite to the ALGS, a decision that was met with heavy criticism from other established teams. Heading into the new year of competition, Gent replaced Lewda as Tripods’ third member for the start of Split One.

Tripods found success on day one of the Pro League, rising as high as 10th place and finishing Split One in 18th place out of 30 teams, missing out on the London Playoffs but retaining their spot for Split Two.

Pros and content creators have reacted to the news with positive views on the signings, but concerns over competitive rules with FaZe Clan’s previously established team. Bowen “Monsoon” Fuller, current IGL for Complexity Gaming, added how EA had enforced rules in the past over having more than one team representing organizations, and the possible troubles that it will present FaZe and TRP in the future.

The official rules for the ALGS state that multiple teams may not represent the same organization, with any organizational conflict being reported directly to EA.

Previously, players signed as content creators have still been able to compete underneath different teams. Mac “Albralelie” Beckwith played for Team Liquid and Cloud9 while signed as a streamer for TSM, removing “TSM” from his handle while in tournament matches. Tripods, while affiliated with FaZe, will most likely have to remove the org’s name from their display names to continue competing.

Currently, there is no response from Respawn or EA on the competitive ruling for either FaZe Clan or Tripods.

Split Two of the ALGS starts on March 11, with Tripods’ first match day on March 12, 6pm CT. Seeded into Group C, they will battle against Group A, competing against the official FaZe Clan roster and international Playoffs winners TSM. Fans can watch Tripod’s perspective on NICKMERCS’ official Twitch stream alongside the official PlayApex Twitch and Youtube channels.