NICKMERCS has always been at the top of the Apex community, constantly supporting the casual and competitive scene with multiple tournaments that highlighted alternate ways to play Apex, from requiring Loba in every composition during her season five debut to focusing his most recent MFAM Gauntlet all around Team Deathmatch in season 16.
Now, NICKMERCS has announced his biggest Apex tournament yet: The Gauntlet League, a three-week solo-queue invitational league that will feature the best players in North America from Aug. 7 to 28. A $50,000 total prize pool is set for the event, with payouts every week for the highest performers and at the Beta Season Playoffs, where players will compete for a cut of $35,000.
Matches for The Gauntlet League will run Monday to Friday from 3pm CT to 8pm CT each week, with no restriction on players streaming their POVs during any point of the tournament.
Participants in the league will start with 1,000 points and will gain or lose points based on their team’s placement, eliminations, match entry fees, and inactivity penalties. The top 20 players in the points leaderboard each week with receive a share of the weekly $5,000 prize pool, with the top 60 players at the end of the regular season qualifying for the $35,000 playoffs, where finals teams will be drafted live on NICKMERCS’ Twitch channel.
Currently, The Gauntlet League only operates in North America on a closed-invite basis, with eligibility based on three requirements. Any participants must have current or prior experience in the ALGS Pro League, placed in the top 20 in any Challengers Circuit Split, or proven themselves with the Apex Predator rank in seasons 15, 16, or 17. Players who meet one of these three requirements and have not been directly invited can apply on the official website to compete in The Gauntlet League.
Despite the beta season only accepting NA players, The Gauntlet League may feature a select number of invited EMEA players to gauge interest in a potential expansion into EMEA for the following seasons.
This is not the first time that Apex has seen a solo-queue league format. Realm, a matchmaking service, famously started its own league back in March, with similar rules and a prize pool format that also featured weekly winners and an end-of-season playoff tournament. But despite plans for a team queue and a champions league, Realm never followed up on any of its expansion plans, leaving many top players disappointed with the potential the solo queue league brought.
Related: After overtaking Apex Legends’ ranked mode, Realm could soon be the answer for pro practice, too
NICKMERCS’ Gauntlet League fills in the solo queue gap left by Realm and could easily become Apex’s most popular tournament following the ALGS. Fans can tune in for the inaugural matches on Aug. 7 at 3pm CT, where NICKMERCS will be streaming his POV on Twitch.
