Apex Legends Global Series: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs, 5 Teams to Watch
Who to Watch in the Apex Legends Global Series Split 2 Playoffs
- ImperialHal and TSM won the last title LAN in London at the ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs, but had a mediocre performance in the Split 2 Pro League.
- DarkZero Esports continued to perform well despite losing Sharkky, picking up RamBeau, dropping him and recently switching coaches.
- XSET and Alliance are both poised to have dominant performances that could outshine teams who hold previous title wins.
The Apex Legends Global Series Split 2 Playoffs are here after a nearly 2 month break following the Pro League. A lot has changed in the professional scene in that short amount of time including some massive changes to a meta favorite, Seer. As the 2023 ALGS season draws closer to its inevitable championship conclusion, what are the teams and storylines to keep an eye on during the Split 2 Playoffs?
Will DarkZero Esports Claim Another Title?
DarkZero Esports has had one of the more interesting years, filled with plenty of drama and controversy. They’re considered amongst one of the top teams in the ALGS because they have the achievement and records to back it up.
They’re the ALGS: 2022 Champions as DarkZero Esports and they also earned the ALGS: 2022 Split 2 Playoffs Champion spot under the banner of Team Reignite. They also won the ALGS: 2022 North American Pro League in Split 2, though XSET came out on top overall in points.
But the bigger story for DarkZero has been their constant roster changes since Rick “Sharky” Wirth stepped down back in April. DarkZero shocked and upset the professional Apex Legends world when they announced that Beau “RamBeau” Sheidy would be joining them for the remainder of the ALGS Pro League barely two weeks after he announced his retirement from Sentinels.
Most recently, with only a week until the London LAN for the ALGS: 2023 Playoff Split 2 finals, they’ve dropped their coach Jamison “PVPX” Moore, who has been with them since November of 2022 for Coach Zz.
Any other team making roster and coaching staff changes in the middle or end of the season wouldn’t be expected to perform as well as a team who has been together for the entire duration. But DarkZero proved in the Pro League that Rhys “Zer0” Perry and Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose are a force to be reckoned with and whatever third they have simply augments their pre-existing synergy.
Can TSM Bring Their A Game?
You can’t talk about the best Apex Legends pros without bringing up TSM and Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen. There’s a reason fans call him the CEO of Apex. Just like DarkZero, TSM has multiple titles under the belt including ALGS 2022: Split 1 Playoffs for North America, ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Pro League for North America and most recently, ALGS: 2023 Split 1 Playoffs.
ImperalHal and TSM are easily one of the biggest forces to be reckoned with at the London LAN for the ALGS 2023 Split 2 Playoffs, but despite that, they struggled their way through the most recent Pro League and ended up at 6th place.
In some matches they’d be one of the first teams out and leave fans wondering what was going on and what they could possibly be thinking. But then they’d come back in later matches to stomp the competition with an ungodly amount of kills and take first place.
As the most recent defending the Champs with their 2023 Split 1 Playoffs win, they have more to lose than any other team. Their performance here matters more than most. TSM isn’t just trying to win, they’re aiming to prove they’re still the best and they still deserve to sit at the top.
Will Alliance Dominate Internationally?
One of the strongest teams coming out of the EMEA region is Alliance, who topped the leaderboards all throughout the Pro League. Week to week they remained in the top contending teams with their lowest points placement for any single day being 6th place.
Their history throughout the Apex Legends Global Series has been admirable with some top 10 and top 5 finishes. But they still have yet to carve their names as champions on a global scale. Unlike a lot of teams that are constantly shifting players around from event to event, Alliance has had a stable team roster that has continued to improve with time.
Team captain, John “Hakis” Håkansson has been with the team since January of 2020, with Oscar “Yuki” Jiang joining in late 2021 and Miron “Effect” Novikov is the newest member of Alliance having joined in November of 2022.
Throughout the ALGS 2023 season Alliance has quickly become a fan favorite thanks to their ability and willingness to experiment with off-meta picks. While everyone else was running Catalyst in the early weeks of the ALGS 2023 Pro League for Split 2, Alliance was choosing to run with Rampart, a Legend with a notoriously low pick rate.
Though Alliance didn’t stick with the Rampart long term, a couple other teams started to field her throughout the Pro League as well. Alliance also cemented their team composition with a Newcaslte pick, who helped them win the EMEA Regional Finals for the Pro League Split 2. Another off-meta pick, Newcastle is currently the lowest picked Legend in the game according to ApexLegendsStatus.com at 1.1%.
Alliance is a major contender to win the Split 2 Playoffs and doing so would secure their name in the conversation for the most dominant team in the professional Apex Legends space.
XSET Looking to Make Their Mark
Another team looking to leave a permanent mark on the Apex Legends Global Series is XSET. They were brought together mid December of 2022 and have been grinding away at the competition in the professional Apex Legends space.
XSET, led by team captain Brandon “oh Nocturnal” Singer with BRandon “FunFPS” Gloombridge and Nicholas “sSikezz” Odom were one of the only other North American teams to give a consistent, dominant performance in the Split 2 Pro League.
Nocturnal and FunFPS both joined XSET after Team Liquid dropped out of the professional scene. While on Team Liquid they took 2nd place at the ALGS: 2022 Split 2 Playoffs. They’ve been on the edge of glory multiple times and are now poised to finally achieve a major title win as the XSET squad.
Despite DarkZero Esports winning the North American Split 2 finals, XSET came out on top of the leaderboards. They took 4th place in February at the ALGS: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs, so they’ve got something to prove and they’ve already shown that they have what it takes to overcome the other heavy hitters in the region.
A win for XSET on the global stage leading up to the ALGS: 2023 Championship would immortalize their team and the players for years to come in the professional scene for Apex Legends.
Snip3down & FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan is one of the most recognizable names in esports and Snip3down is one of the most recognizable names in Apex Legends. Snip3down started his professional Apex Legends career with Team Reciprocity before joining TSM. He left the pro Apex scene to play Halo 6 professionally with FaZe Clan.
But eventually, he returned to professional Apex Legends with FaZe Clan where he helped to build out two different rosters. The short lived team of him, Albralelie and SlurpeeG, which famously crashed and burned at 20th place in the ALGS: 2022 Split 1 Pro League in North America.
Despite how that iteration of FaZe Clan played out, Snip3down and FaZe Clan were intent on rebuilding a winning squad to finish out the ALGS 2023 season. They added Joseph “Frexs” Sanchez and Josue “Phony” Daniel Ruiz to the roster in early March and ended up taking 5th place in the North American Pro League for Split 2.
Frexs has been to every LAN in ALGS history with his former team at Space Station Gaming before they split up. Phony, has seen tremendous success with Team ESA and is looking to prove himself further under the leadership of Snip3down.
There have been rumors and talks of Snip3down and his future in competitive FPS as he’s a member of the over 30s club, considered by some to be old man status in professional gaming. As one of the OGs of the space, taking a title win at the ALGS: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs would be a crowning achievement for FaZe Clan and their captain. They have the skill and it’s hard to argue if there’s another single player who deserves their time in the spotlight more.
Where to Watch the ALGS: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs?
The Apex Legends Global Series 2023: Split 2 Playoffs are happening on July 13th through July 16th. The group stages are set for July 13th and 14th, with bracket stages following on July 15th and the finals on July 16th.
The event will take place in London and can be watched live on the official Play Apex Twitch Channel or the official Apex Legends Global Series YouTube Channel.
Read more about all you need to know about the ALGS: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs here.
