Just like that, the ALGS Preseason Qualifiers are done, and there are now 40 North American teams ready to compete in the Apex Legends Global Series Pro League. The last day of qualifying was plenty intense; teams battled not only for the victory and a guaranteed spot in the Pro League but also placement points, since the top 16 ranked teams without a win over the course of all four preseason qualifiers would receive the final tickets into Pro League.
After a registration snafu prevented them from competing in the first Preseason Qualifier, iitzTimmy, NiceWigg, and Apryze’s content dream team (appropriately named “SHEEEEEEESH”) put their best foot forward in the competition yet. After some middling results in the first few matches of finals, they came together in game five to capture a victory alongside a staggering 25 kills, with all three members of the team going over 2,000 damage in the game.
While Timmy and Wigg both have previous professional experience, you’d be forgiven for assuming they were in this competition with first-timer Apryze primarily for the content. That is what all three players do for a living, after all. Even for a Preseason Qualifier, however, those are cartoonish numbers. At this point in the game’s competitive lifespan, it should be practically impossible, for that matter. The performance vaulted them from 12th place to a tie for first heading into the last game of finals.
Game six also added plenty of intrigue for teams near the top that desperately needed a victory, as well. While many teams in the final Preseason Qualifier already had their places in Pro League more or less assured thanks to their past performances, teams like Last Minute, Joyboys, and TSS needed to win the entire qualifier if they were going to secure a Pro League spot. And those teams found themselves within striking distance in the final game, all in the top six and separated from the top spot by just 12 points.
Another big game spoiled the party for these hopefuls, however. Absolute Monarchy turned in 11 kills and a second-place finish in the final game of the night to leapfrog into first place and take the guaranteed spot in Pro League with them.
Absolute Monarchy might not be a household name, but the team has plenty of experience. Devihn “SleepyPanda” Lindsey, Seth “Stompez” Burress, and Tommy “Sung” Nguyen have all become regulars around the North American pro scene over the past two years, and their recent results since the trio formed in August suggests Absolute Monarchy are ready to take a step up in competition.
A step up is exactly what they’ll get now that they’ve qualified for Pro League, where 40 of North America’s best teams will duke it out for cash prizes and the chance to qualify for playoffs, international competition beyond that, and perhaps most excitingly, the return of pro Apex Legends on LAN, which we haven’t seen since 2019 thanks to the global pandemic.
As for the final qualified teams, avid viewers will recognize some more names of teams that qualified, such as Noble, 2 Brains 1 Controller, Shroud superfriends “Sign Us Please,” and more. Teams not so lucky, like TSS and Last Minute, will have the chance to make it into Pro League through the ALGS Challenger Circuit, where top teams will be entered into a tournament with the bottom teams from the first Pro League split to duke it out for Pro League entries. This is the crucible through which we find out just how good teams are. Will the BenchWarmers team with so much pedigree come good on the promise they showed in Qualifier 3? Will newer teams like Absolute Monarchy, Dudes Night Out, or CLX be able to surprise their competition? And can content gods like iitzTimmy, NiceWigg, and Apryze hack it when the teams they’re trying to push aren’t just punny team names filled with talented hopefuls, but TSM, NRG, G2, and others?
The answers all lie in the Pro League, whose first split kicks off on Oct. 16.
