The $2,000,000 ALGS Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina concluded Sunday night with Australian squad DarkZero winning $500,000 and taking home bragging rights as the reigning monarchs of Apex Legends esports.
The Raleigh victory marks the Aussie team’s second straight Apex title.
This $500,000 triumph is all the sweeter for the DarkZero lineup after captain Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose was unable to play during the ALGS 2022 Split 2 Playoffs.
Genburten was sidelined with a COVID-19 scare in Stockholm and was forced to watch his Australian teammates Rhys “Zer0” Perry and Rick “Sharky” Wirth march to an incredible Apex win alongside British loan player Jake “Jmw” Walters.
In almost perfect fashion, Genburten was there the second time of asking.
The Australian team struggled to find their pace early in the ALGS Championship Grand Finals and failed to record a single kill on the opening two maps. DarkZero was able to grab three and finish thirteenth before the series rotated away from World’s Edge for the first time, however, and turned that momentum into 13 eliminations in three drops on Storm Point.
DarkZero hit match point in round 8 among a clump of other hopefuls, including Alliance, NRG, Fnatic, and Spacestation, the latter of whom also came within touching distance of closing out their match point.
In round 9, the Aussies collected six kills and first place to claim the championship.
In game one of the grand finals, NRG, Cloud9, and GMT Esports survived into a final circle on Storm Point that recalled the ending of the Stockholm LAN. On the cliffs outside Cascade Falls, a three-way standoff left only GMT standing, outperforming the bigger North American organizations.
Furia took game 2 outside the mill, vanquishing APAC North powerhouse AD as the final circle closed. Scott “Pandxrz” Maynard picked up seven kills alone, and that big win gave Furia 27 points and 15 kills in one game, putting Furia only 11 points away from match point—the magical 50-point threshold unique to Apex esports after which teams require just a single win to claim victory in the tournament.
Disaster struck, however, when Furia went out early in game three.
In game four, 100 Thieves fell to Alliance in the final circle, keeping the hopes of the EMEA region alive. 21 points for Alliance just got them started on the road to victory. After three games on Storm Point, GMT was only nine points away from becoming eligible to end the tournament. Furia was close behind and NRG knocked on the door as well.
The action moved to World’s Edge, where Furia once again fell early. Similarly, GMT couldn’t manage to post a strong result. Fnatic, TSM and Spacestation made the top three in a circle closing on Lava Fissure where Fnatic clutched up for a victory, sending them soaring up the leaderboard after earning 27 points in one fell swoop.
In game five, Furia and 100 Thieves fought each other early in North Pad on Storm Point and AYM Esports stepped up, a team using two substitutes sitting in last place before their victory.
That left Furia as the only team on match point, with 64 points, giving them a free game to win the tournament before any other team could catch them. GMT Esports and 100 Thieves were only a handful of points away, very close to the 50-point threshold.
Furia continued to look great, fearlessly pushing other teams and looking primed to win the Championship. But they went down in a blaze of glory in the midgame, perhaps biting off more than they could chew. SCARZ, EXO, and NRG lasted into the endgame, where SCARZ wiped NRG before they fell to EXO.
That game didn’t change the overall calculus, as Furia got another opportunity to finish the fight before anyone else. In the next game, they continued to take team fights with confidence, until being taken out to deafening applause from a crowd that wanted more games. 100 Thieves, Spacestation and DarkZero all made it to the final circle, where 100 Thieves won with relative ease.
Afterward, three teams were eligible for match point: Furia, 100 Thieves, and GMT Esports. But GMT and 100 Thieves died early in the next game, and Furia soon joined them, falling to Cloud9. Nine teams reached match point, including DarkZero, NRG, Spacestation, Fnatic, AD, and Alliance, as Alliance won a tough endgame to secure the crucial points.
Teams like OpTic, TSM, and Cloud9 then needed to secure a win to prevent the tournament from ending. But OpTic and TSM fought each other in a chaotic endgame and Spacestation, GMT and DarkZero were left in the final circle.
DarkZero triumphed, earning back-to-back wins at LAN, claiming a hefty $500,000 kitty, and proving they are currently the best Apex Legends team in the world.
