Start A Fight Esports began the EMEA Pro League Regional Finals outside of the LAN picture, sitting at 11th place in the overall leaderboard. With only the top professional Apex Legends ten teams heading to London, SAF had to top the lobby to secure enough Circuit Points for a spot at the Split Two Playoffs.
But, a game-ending bug affected the team in game nine, the very last game of Regional Finals, ending their Split Two run and the chance to represent EMEA internationally.
On Storm Point, SAF used Valkyrie’s Skyward Dive, intending to land at one of the gravity cannons to extend their rotation path across the map. Pawel “lighT” Haratyk, SAF’s Seer, landed on top of the canon and immediately died once it launched, leaving his teammates in a heavily disadvantageous situation from no fault of their own.
Despite taking the canon back to recover lighT’s respawn banner, SAF was spotted by Myztro Gaming and eliminated in 19th place, ending their final match with zero points.
Game nine proved to be SAF’s worst performance in the entire split as they ended the Regional Finals in 12th place, falling behind their direct competition of Ethernal’s fourth and Aurora Gaming’s sixth place finishes. Both teams overtook SAF by three circuit points in the overall leaderboards, claiming the last two LAN spots for the Split Two Playoffs and leaving SAF out of the playoffs picture.
Valkyrie’s ultimate has fallen under scrutiny by multiple teams in past ALGS competitions due to the potential game-breaking bugs that affect the ability. At the 2023 Split One Playoffs, APAC-S’ Moist Esports experienced a similar bug that nearly ended their tournament run. Upon landing on the ground, after the ultimate ended, all of Moist was teleported to the center of the map, far inside of the ring with no hope of returning.
Despite the setbacks, Moist still qualified for the grand finals of Playoffs by performing in the remaining games, but many players and spectators called into question the competitive integrity and ruling for a team affected by game-breaking bugs. Moist’s players brought their experiences with similar bugs up on social media, but Respawn never officially acknowledged or commented on the situation.
Pro players and content creators have actively spoken up about the massive amount of bugs and exploits plaguing Season 16 of Apex, describing it as “the worst state the game has been in.”
Audio issues for multiple weapons and actions, cheaters and server issues ruining the ranked ladder, and a lack of communication from Respawn have all been getting worse each season, leaving many wondering if any fix to Valkyrie’s bugs would ever come.
The Split Two Playoffs will take place from July 13 to July 16, featuring 40 international teams from the five Pro Leagues, with 10 EMEA representatives attending.
SAF will have one more chance to compete at the 2023 Championship by competing in the EMEA Last Chance Qualifier, an end-of-year competition for 40 teams that have not yet qualified for the 2023 Championship by Circuit Points. The top two teams will earn the last EMEA slots at the Championship, giving SAF one more chance to prove their skills and secure their first LAN appearance in Apex history.
