We’re all excited for LAN, and for good reason. Apex Legends Global Series’ first in-person tournament is a landmark event (get it, LANdmark?) and we’ll see players from all across the world battle it out for the first time in the series’ history. The ALGS Playoffs will defy expectations, we’ll get spicy Legend picks, and eventually one team will be crowned the victor.
However, things might get a little bit confusing, exactly because of it being the first in-person event so far. Until now, tournaments have been regional, with whole continents fighting for their respective titles. Now, continents collide, and the seismic quake caused by this clash makes for a more complicated tournament.
However, I’m here to break it all down, and I’ll go day by day to make things easier. First things first, the teams are divided into four groups, which you can see below. On the first day of the tournament, April 29, these four groups will each play each other once. These six, six-round matches will create a final ranking of all 40 teams. So far, so good? If you’re confused at this point I fear there’s no helping you, because we’ve done groups plenty of times before. If you are, read this paragraph again and see if it makes sense now. Got it? Good.
On day two, the field is split into two lobbies, a Loser’s and a Winner’s Bracket. The bottom 20 teams from the first day’s leaderboard will play six rounds in the Loser’s Bracket, and the top 20 play in the Winner’s. Simple.
The Winner’s Bracket consists of another six-round lobby. After this is complete, the top ten teams qualify for the Grand Final, with seeding points according to their placement. The bottom 10 play again. Who do they play? Well that depends on what happens in the Loser’s Bracket.
The Loser’s Bracket also has a six-round match, and the bottom ten from this are eliminated from the ALGS Playoffs. The top ten, however, survive to play again, and play the bottom 10 teams from the Winner’s Bracket. The final match of day two is this six-round contest between the best losers and the worst winners. The top ten from here advance to the Grand Final. The bottom ten are eliminated.
That was the confusing bit. It’s pretty straightforward if you’ve watched other esports tournaments, but if Winners and Losers brackets are new to you then it might sound odd. Use the graphic above and you should be sound, though.
Then we get to the Grand Final, which will be played using Match Point rules. This means that there is no limit to the number of rounds that can be played on day three of the ALGS Playoffs. Technically it could be all over in two rounds. It won’t be, but it could. It’s more likely that it goes on for hours.
To win the Grand Final, a team must first rack up 50 points. You get a point for every kill and more points the higher in a round you place. Win a round with 13 team kills? 25 points, you’re halfway to being Match Point Eligible (closer if you started with any seeding points from the Winner’s Bracket). Go out in 17th with no kills? Nil points.
After getting to 50 points, a Match Point Eligible team must win a round to be crowned champion, which is harder than it sounds. The anonymised kill feed helps a bunch, but it’s still a difficult task, even for the most hardened veterans of Apex Legends esports. Racking up kills at this point can also be handy, because if another Match Point Eligible team snatches the win from your grasp, kills will propel you up the leaderboard and reward you with a bigger slice of the prize pool. Will teams rat it out and hide until the final moments, or will they go gung-ho and win the ALGS Playoffs while dropping a 20-bomb? It’s more likely to be the former, but it’ll be exciting nonetheless.