The biggest names in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region of the Apex Legends Global Series took to World’s Edge on Saturday to determine who is the current best in the region. After ten games of multiple match point teams duking it out only for surprise underdogs to snatch the wins, NEW won the ALGS EMEA Split 1 Playoffs.
NEW win ALGS EMEA Split 1 Playoffs
Thanks to the ALGS’ Playoffs format, there is plenty of room for upsets. Teams who qualify for the Playoffs come into the tournament with points (if they earned enough during the regular season). The goal of the Playoffs is to reach 50 points. Once a team does, they’re at match point, which means they can win the whole tournament if they win the next game.
Tournament favorites Alliance looked poised to make a historic run at the beginning of the day’s competition, reaching match point within two games. But first seed Gambit denied them the shortest Playoffs ever by winning the next game for themselves. Aggressive and surprising wins were a theme of these Playoffs. We also saw clutch wins from MajorPushers, Solaris, Magicians, and our eventual victors, NEW.
The foundation of the Portuguese team’s triumph in this tournament was largely built in Game 8. NEW, consisting of Francisco “k4shera” Alves, Rafael “PostKiLL” Jesus and Ameer “VJEIX” Hassan, pulled the rug out from under six teams who had reached match point, along with Natus Vincere. This catapulted them up the standings (from #16 to #7) and brought them to match point as well, with 53.
In the next game, Solaris shocked everyone with an upset and clutch of their own, which pushed the tournament to a tenth game. This match looked like it would go to another round as Ethernal made their way into the final two, but NEW denied them. The squad upset favorites like Invictus Gaming, Gambit Esports and Alliance. NEW are going home with $100,000 and plenty of points towards their seeding in the ALGS Championship.
Fans who are still hungry for competitive Apex Legends action can check out the North America ALGS Split 1 Playoffs on Sunday.
