ALGS Year 2
Sports season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2021–22 Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) season or ALGS Year 2 was the second season of ALGS play. The series is organized by the game's publisher and developer, Electronic Arts (EA) and Respawn Entertainment, respectively.
| ALGS Year 2 | |
|---|---|
| League | ALGS |
| Sport | Apex Legends |
| Split 1 Playoffs | |
| Split 2 Playoffs | |
| Champions | Reignite |
| 2022 Championship | |
| Champions | DarkZero |
Game background and meta
Apex Legends is a battle royale-hero shooter. Developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, it was released on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC platforms in February 2019.[1] The game received a positive critical reception upon its release and went on to win the award for Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2019 ceremony in December.[2] That month, EA announced an open tournament dubbed the "Apex Legends Global Series", or ALGS.[2][3] The announcement led esports organizations to create Apex rosters.[4]
In February 2022, the map "Storm Point" was added to the ALGS' competitive map pool alongside "World's Edge".[5]
Schedule and format
The second year of the ALGS introduced a pro league and challenger circuit format, divided across five regions (North America, South America, EMEA, APAC North, and APAC South).[6] Upon announcing ALGS Year 2, EA laid out the season's schedule as:[6]
- Preseason Qualifiers: September–October, 2021
- Pro League Regular Season - Split 1: October–December 2021
- Challenger Circuit - Split 1: October–December 2021
- Split 2 Pro League Qualifiers: January 2022
- Split 1 Playoffs: January 2022
- Pro League Regular Season - Split 2: February–March 2022
- Challenger Circuit - Split 2: February–March 2022
- Split 2 Playoffs: May 2022
- Championship Last Chance Qualifiers: May 2022
- Year 2 - ALGS Championship: July 2022
Tournaments for the year were played under a match point format.[7] In the format, any team that crossed the match point threshold of 50 points would clinch an overall tournament victory by then winning an additional game.[7]
Split 1
The previous season had its tournaments forced online due to COVID-19-related restrictions. EA and Respawn intended for in-person playoff LAN tournaments for ALGS Year 2, though those plans were scrapped for the ALGS Pro League Split 1 playoffs, due to travel restrictions.[8] COVID-related restrictions once again had a logistical impact on the ALGS schedule during Year 2.[9] The winners of the regional Pro Leagues during Split 1 were: TSM (North America), NEW Esports (EMEA), Riddle Order (APAC North), DreamFire (APAC South), and Team Singularity (South America).[8]
Split 2
The Split 2 Playoffs LAN Tournament was held in Stockholm and began on April 29, 2022.[10][11][12] Led by their in-game leader (IGL) Zer0, Reignite won the Split 2 LAN Tournament.[10][13] The team was playing without Genburten, one of their key players; due to testing positive for COVID-19, he was substituted for JMW.[10] Reignite finished with the LAN with 78 points, nine ahead of second-place Team Liquid.[14]
ALGS Championship
Running from July 7 to 10, 2022,[15] the ALGS Championship was held as a LAN tournament at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.[9] COVID policies and travel restrictions affected the tournament, with many players failing to secure travel visas and left unable to attend. Some players were vocally critical of EA's COVID policies.[16]
Following their Split 2 LAN victory, the players on Reignite's roster were signed by DarkZero Esports.[15] DarkZero went on to win the ALGS Championship.[17][18] The championship's prize pool was $2 million, with DarkZero winning the top prize of $500,000.[16]