Apex Legends esports had its best year to date in 2022. After long periods of online-only play thanks to COVID-19, the Apex Legends Global Series finally brought the international Apex community back together for LAN tournaments which were viewed by hundreds of thousands of people all across the world.
While other tournament organizers and companies continued to support Apex with third-party tournaments and series, the ALGS was still the premier competition in the gameâand by and large, it also delivered the best moments of the year in its respective tournaments. From online triumphs to LAN surprises, competitive Apex had plenty of engaging stories to track and victories to celebrate.
Itâs hard to pick out just a few moments from 2022, but we managed it when thinking about the significance of each moment, as well as the history of competitive Apex as a whole. These were the biggest and best moments that came out on top.
DarkZero goes back-to-back
Since the early TSM days of LAN dominance, it was hard to say with any certainty if any team could confidently say they were the best in the world. That all changed in 2022 when DarkZero took home the ALGS Championship in Raleigh after also shocking the world with their first-place finish in Stockholm for the Split Two Playoffs under the Reignite banner.
Before LAN events, APAC South was generally viewed as something of a backwater in Apex, not evenly matched with NA, EMEA, or APAC North. But the performances of DarkZero, Team Burger/Moist Esports, EXO Clan, DreamFire, and Sutoraiku helped dispel that notion of the region as a weak one. And DarkZero ended the year with an undeniable claim to the best team in Apex when they took home the ultimate prize in Raleigh.
NiceWigg and Greek bring the hype
When the ALGS returned to LAN, they knew that the watch party culture that cropped up around many Apex pros on their individual streams had become an important part of watching competitive Apex. So they turned to two of the best to bring the same energy and vibe to the alternate broadcast stream of the event in the form of 100 Thievesâ NiceWigg and Charlotte Phoenixâs Greek.
Fans werenât disappointed, as NiceWigg and Greek quickly brought their unfiltered opinions and unbridled hype to the B stream of both the Split Two Playoffs and the ALGS Championship. The duo was a rousing success, and their stream room in Raleigh even garnered a crowd of its own while other games were happening live for viewers to watch. The pair recently announced they would be returning for 2023âs first LAN, the Split One Playoffs in London, and we wouldnât have it any other way.
COVID and visa issues cloud return to LAN
While the returns to LAN were great, they werenât perfect. The competitive integrity of both events was called into question thanks to visa issues and the ALGS COVID policy preventing many players from competing in either LAN, and forcing several teams to compete as duos across both events.
While the visa issues might have existed no matter what, as mostly they concerned Russian players struggling to travel due to Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine, the COVID policies were a different story. The ALGS maintained that any player that tested positive for COVID wouldnât be able to play in a LAN, and that there would be no accommodations for positive-testing players in either the Split Two Playoffs or the ALGS Championship. This ultimately resulted in no fewer than 33 separate players or coaches being ruled out of the ALGS Championship alone. While the LANs were great, losing out on so many players and crushing many teamsâ dreams was an undeniable stain on the competitive scene in 2022.
RamBeau goes Super Saiyan
In the very first game of the ALGS Championship grand final, what seemed like a game that would be decided in a three-vs-three fight between NRG and Cloud9 ended in a way few could predict. As the two NA heavyweights battled it out, it was the lonely solo figure of RamBeau descending from the heavens that would win the day, picking up the most unlikely of wins for GMT Esports.
It was a play that encapsulated everything that Apex is about: even with the most coordinated teamplay and best use of legend abilities, sometimes youâre all by yourself and realize thereâs a one in one thousand chance in front of you.
RamBeau wasnât even supposed to be playing at the Raleigh LAN, as his Torrent squad hadnât qualified, and he was only attending as a fanâbut a positive COVID test and an emergency phone call later, he suddenly was in a GMT jersey and on top of the world. GMT ended up finishing in 5th at the Championship, thanks in no small part to RamBeauâs solo heroics.
TSM returns to the top
Going into 2022, there were questions swirling around the TSM squad that had been so dominant in Apex for so long. They had looked less than convincing at the end of 2021, and it wasnât yet clear if Verhulst could actually fill Snip3downâs shoes after the latter left TSM to play Halo with FaZe Clan.
Then, the Split One Playoffs happened.
ImperialHal would later admit to Dot Esports in an interview that he had considered retiring from competitive play after the Split One Playoffs if they didnât go well for TSM. But TSM won it, and then followed that performance with consecutive top-10 finishes at LAN and first place in Split One of ALGS year three. TSM isnât just hanging on: theyâre continuing to push the competitive game forward and staying at the top, and their current momentum began in 2022.
PULVEREX captures the hearts and minds of Raleigh
While COVID decimated the ALGS Championship field and forced many teams into unwinnable situations due to a lack of emergency substitutes, it was also responsible for one of the best feel-good stories of 2022. Early on in Raleigh, PULVEREX were forced to play as a duo when saku and then-coach/emergency sub ChaNRiyo were both ruled out due to COVID.
Ftyan and Lejetta, however, didnât back down. Instead, they put together one of the most inspiring runs of the tournament while down a man.
Despite the hardships, PULVEREX still succeeded in making it all the way to the final stage of the losers bracket and ultimately finished in 25th, falling just short of making the grand final. The crowd went wild anytime that PULVEREX was featured on screen, and despite the Japanese squad playing far from home, it sounded like they were competing on home turf.
It was arguably the most inspiring performance of 2022, and easily one of the top moments of the year.
FURIA changes the game
A couple months before the ALGS Championship, FURIA were simply a a team looking to perform well at the Last Chance Qualifier. Then, they dropped former IGL TeQ for HisWattson, dominated the NA LCQ, and ran their form all the way to a second-place finish at the ALGS Championshipâall while bringing into fashion the most important character in the game over the second half of 2022, Seer.
Seer was an incredibly niche pick before FURIA. Many teams were still counting on their trusty Valkryie, Caustic, and Gibraltar compositions going into Champs, while others brought in rarer picks like Horizon or Bangalore. FURIAâs Seer, Valkyrie, and Horizon or Fuse compositions took the competition by storm, and they brought with them an aggressive playstyle to match the composition perfectly.
From also-rans to the top of NA and the world, FURIAâs meta-defining performance at the ALGS Championship was the most influential thing that happened in competitive Apex in 2022.
Fans return to LAN
Seeing Apex return to LAN at the Split Two Playoffs was great. But seeing an Apex LAN with a crowd in attendance? That was something else entirely.
Fans were the last element to be added to the ALGS cauldron at the Championship in Raleigh, and those fans didnât disappoint. From the TSM faithful to spontaneous fandoms sprouting up around teams like PULVEREX and Team Burger, the presence of a crowd made the Raleigh LAN that much more special, and more intense.
With more LANs planned that will bring fans close to the action in 2023, we canât help but give the nod to the most important people in Apex, the crowds that love the game and that love to watch their favorite players play, returning to LAN as the most memorable moment in competitive Apex in 2022.
