Cover-Credits:
Asia-Pacific (APAC) South’s Reignite has won the Apex Legends Split 2 Championship. The win comes after Reignite managed to close things off in just seven games. The team started the night with a first-place finish and ten kills and ended the night with a first-place finish and ten kills, putting Reignite nine points ahead of Team Liquid for the championship. Reignite will take home $500,000 USD out of the $1 million USD prize pool for winning the event.
Asia-Pacific dominated Apex Legends’ first LAN in three years
Reignite’s Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose was put out of commission with the player testing positive for COVID-19. Genburten was one of the players fans were excited to see because he is often regarded as the best controller player in the world and he has even taken down cheaters in 1v1 situations. But the star player had to be replaced by Kungarna’s Jake “Jmw” Walters who was brought in as a stand-in player because Genburten contracted COVID.
Despite six of the top ten spots being held by North American teams at the start of the final day, it was APAC that stole the spotlight. APAC North team Team Unite took home third place with Team Liquid being the only North American team in the top three. TSM and NRG who have had a rivalry for years, ended up with the same number of points (52) which means that the TSM vs NRG debate will go on even longer.
Team Liquid’s Brandon "FunFPS" Groombridge is taking home the Apex Predator award for raking in the most kills while Reignite’s Rhys "Zer0" Perry has been awarded the MVP award. The world championship for Apex Legends will take place later this year and APAC may come out on top as the best region in the world.
While the tournament drew significant viewership, the event was plagued with complaints from players and coaches. Players were unhappy about the PCs they had access to for the event and there were no vaccination requirements to participate in the event.
EA was also not prepared with a contingency plan for players who get infected with COVID-19 and instead straight up banned them from competing in the event. In comparison, Riot Games had made special arrangements for its recent LAN events to allow players to compete in an isolated environment even if they tested positive.
