A squad of unsigned pros going by the name GnaskeOliDel won today’s round of competition for the EMEA Apex Legends Pro League.
GnaskeOliDel had a clutch victory in the sixth and final game of the day, allowing them to eke out a win over Apex powerhouse Gambit, who finished just four points behind them. Defending ALGS champions SCARZ had a disappointing day despite winning a game and ended up in eighth place.
Though they’re currently not attached to an organization, the winners GnaskeOliDel are seasoned pros. Oliver “Badoli” Kurtuldu was previously on Alliance. The two other members of the squad, Danish player Casper “Gnaske” Præstensgaard and British player Matthew “SirDel” Biggins, were signed to the now-defunct organization Aqualix. On the Aqualix roster, they placed fifth at the ALGS Championships in June 2021, netting them a bit more than $35,000 in winnings.
Despite the success, they left Aqualix in late August. On Oct. 11, Gnaske alleged on Twitter that Aqualix had stopped paying them. Later that same day, Aqualix deleted their Twitter account and then restored it to announce their insolvency.
Today’s action marked the end of the first week of Pro League play in the EMEA region. There are five more match days in the first part of the ALGS Pro League season. The second is scheduled for next weekend, where talented teams like SCARZ will look for redemption. After the first split is over, if conditions allow, there will be a global LAN tournament with a $1,000,000 prize pool. The occasion would mark the first in-person tournament for Apex esports since 2019’s Preseason Invitational in Poland, a long drought for a growing esport.
