EMEA’s last ALGS Qualifier ends in confusion as team ban status hangs in ruling limbo

Nobody knows who got the last Pro League spot.

Mirage and Wraith look forwards, unhappy.
Photo via Respawn Entertainment

The final EMEA Preseason Qualifier has ended, which would have decided the final five teams to join the Pro League for Year Four of the ALGS. However, two teams have been stuck waiting for hours for a final decision from officials on who has punched their ticket for the Pro League.

Recommended Videos

THREEDRAGONS and 40%Worse could only qualify for the Pro League by finishing in the top four of the Preseason Points leaderboard, a cumulative score which is compiled from across all four PSQ tournaments. The final standings after PSQ Four had THREE DRAGONS qualifying in third place with 4,530 Preseason Points, with 40%Worse out in fifth with 3,890. However, one member of THREE DRAGONS was banned just prior to PSQ Four, leaving many to wonder if his points should actually count towards the team’s final total.

Horizon and Wattson put their hands together on Olympus.
THREE DRAGONS played the PSQ Four only as a duo. Photo by Respawn Entertainment

THREE DRAGONS’ Sunzyyy was banned 50 minutes before PSQ Four and was therefore unable to join his teammates, having previously shared his account with another player in Season 17 to maintain his Predator rank; a direct violation of Apex’s terms of service.

Not only does account sharing break the ALGS rulebook, but the player under Sunzyyy’s account also broke even more rules by using aimbot and wallhacks, leading to accusations from community members directly calling him out with photo and video evidence, and questioning the validity of the points he’s earned throughout the PSQ.

Spectators immediately drew parallels to the recent account bans of Redragon during the same PSQ, where all team members also had their EA accounts disabled alongside their Battlefy accounts. Despite confirmation their bans were due to a false positive, all their Preseason Points were stripped away anyway and the entire team was unable to enter the last PSQ, shutting down all their chances to qualify for the Pro League.

If EA and Battlefy followed up on their previous ruling with Redragon, then Sunzyyy would lose the 1,510 points associated with his account, THREE DRAGONS would drop out of the top four, and the fifth-place team, 40%Worse, would now qualify for the Pro League.

The lack of an official response from EA or Respawn has only been more amplified with 40%Worse’s notoriety, as their entire roster consists of some of Apex’s most popular streamers. Shivan “ShivFPS” Patel, Mikkel “Mande” Hestbek, and Franco “xeriffer” Korompai have all previously played in the ALGS as starters or substitutes and could miss out on trying to find a new team during the offseason if they are left waiting for officials to decide which team gets the final Pro League spot.

Many ALGS pros have stepped forward following the events in support of their fellow competitors and voiced out their discontent with the lack of communication from the devs concerning gamebreaking rules, pointing out how EA previously listened to their concerns before and put out statements clarifying rulings like in-game pauses at past LAN events.

At the time of writing, THREE DRAGONS sits in third place on the official Battlefy site. It will only be a matter of time before Sunzyyy or one of the members from 40%Worse clarifies their status, and who moves on to EMEA Pro League for Year Four.

Author
Image of Justin-Ivan Labilles
Justin-Ivan Labilles
Freelance Writer for Dot Esports covering Apex Legends, League of Legends, and VALORANT. Justin has played video games throughout all of his life, starting his esports writing career in 2022 at The Game Haus. When he's not spectating matches, he can easily be found grinding the ranked ladder.