Reignite stun Stockholm, win ALGS Split 2 Playoffs

In a seven-game classic, Team Reignite overcame the rest of the lobby and a substitution forced upon them due to COVID to win the Apex Legends Global Series Split Two Playoffs. The team’s fighting ability and consistent placements reigned supreme on the final day of the Stockholm LAN, and the APAC South team took home the $250,000 grand prize.

Game one was frag-heavy, with just four teams responsible for 43 of the total kills in the lobby. Team Liquid and NRG both began strong, confidently taking fights. In the later rounds, this confidence proved to be their downfall. The teams succumbed to third parties in sixth and seventh place. Reignite continued APAC South’s impressive run in the Split Two finals, taking the win with 10 kills of their own.

After Japanese team GameWith looked to be in the strongest position in the lobby, cleaning up the remnants of Liquid and NRG, Reignite snuck in for the victory, taking control of the lobby thanks to the win and the four advance starting points the Aussies earned in winners’ bracket. 

Day two’s Cinderella story proved South American squad Elevate weren’t one-day wonders in the second game of finals, and they took home a victory to lift the team up the leaderboard.

The team defended their World’s Edge drop spot beautifully, getting out of the buildings in The Dome and taking control of high ground late on to secure an easy win for the only South American team in the finals. The victory propelled the team into fourth place, while a third-place finish for Reignite and an 11-kill game for Liquid kept the two teams in control of the lobby. The results ensured both Liquid and Reignite would enter the first Storm Point game of finals with the 50-point mark within reach, the magic number in match point format.

Storm Point flipped the script, with Reignite and Liquid as two of the first teams eliminated from the lobby. Instead, OpTic showed up after a slow start to the day, winning the game and launching themselves into the top five on the overall leaderboard.

The game ended in Lightning Rod, the most difficult rotation on Storm Point for most teams in the lobby due to its extreme elevation and location on the far northwestern corner of the map. OpTic, faced with one of the longest distances from their drop spot at The Mill to Lightning Rod, used their Valkyrie ultimates to perfection, consistently finding safe places to land and staying incredibly calm in the final zones. The game allowed the North American team, as well as GameWith, to close the gap between themselves and the top of the leaderboard.

TSM would make sure the games would not end early, however, making their mark in game four by eliminating OpTic and taking the victory.

TSM took advantage of a final zone close to their landing spot at Antenna. Despite losing Reps’ Gibraltar early on, the team brought him back into the game and navigated the final few fights perfectly. The victory prevented OpTic from reaching match point, ensuring at least two more games would be played while also propelling TSM into contention after a slow start.

OpTic, despite being only six points away from match point, suffered a last-place finish in game five and remained below the line. Instead, Liquid and Reignite moved into match point territory with big games. But no one’s game five was as big as Mexico’s lone representatives in Stockholm, and Luminosity Gaming took the victory and pulled themselves up from 19th in the lobby to 7th.

LG looked trapped in a small fissure just outside of Harvester. But the team took advantage of the remaining three teams in the lobby all fighting for a better position on the high ground, as well as star player GhanjaMen’s Spitfire, to get a much-needed victory. But with multiple teams in the lobby reaching match point, every squad was put on notice: the next game could be the last.

Liquid came agonizingly close to ending things on World’s Edge, but couldn’t seal the deal in game six, exiting in fourth place. Instead, Japanese representatives Team Unite took the win and jumped into match point territory, with five other teams within five points of match point status just below the top three. 

While most regions preferred more aggressive team compositions, Team Unite proved their Wattson, Crypto, and Valkyrie squad could still work on World’s Edge, using Wattson’s ultimate to negate dangerous Gibraltar ordinance and Caustic ultimates around them.

APAC South, however, reigned supreme. Reignite controlled the final circle in game seven and survived in the final three. Against all odds, they became the winners of the Split Two Playoffs.

Missing star Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose due to COVID, Reignite still took home the championship on the back of some stunning fighting ability and some of the best Kraber shots in the world out of IGL Rhys “Zer0” Perry. Fittingly, Zer0’s calls and shots earned him tournament MVP honors. Alongside Gibraltar player Rick “Sharky” Wirth and emergency substitute Jake “Jmw” Walters, the team remained consistent at or near the top of the finals table and proved both their worth as a team and the strength of their region. 

Liquid and Team Unite took second and third place, respectively, while OpTic and underdogs Luminosity rounded out the top five. Liquid Gibraltar player Brandon “FunFPS” Groombridge also took home Apex Predator honors as the player who finished the finals with the most eliminations. While the finals lobby was largely dominated by North American teams, APAC North and EMEA were also represented in the final top 10, in addition to one of APAC South’s teams taking home the trophy. The results also meant every team in the Split Two Playoffs finals would qualify for the ALGS Championship automatically. The final 10 spots for Championship will be determined by each region’s Last Chance Qualifiers, which begin next week.

After Sunday ended, however, Reignite could be considered the best Apex team in the world.

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