The smoke has finally cleared after three days of battle in Krakow for the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational. Of the 80 teams that joined the tournament, it was Team SoloMid that stood tall and took the top win. This is their second tournament win after the EXP Apex Legends Invitational last August.
Members of the team include Phillip "ImperialHal" Dosen, Mac "Albralelie" Kenzie Beckwith, and Jordan "Reps" Wolfe. The win ensures that TSM gets to take home $105,000 of the total prize pool.
Held in Krakow from September 13 to 15, the Apex Legends Preseason Invitational is considered the first international championship organized by both Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts. The total prize pool for the competition was $300.000.
After the initial rounds, the top team was the Russian organization 789. The other teams that moved forward to the Tournament Finals included TSM, PENTA, Sentinels, and Virtus.pro, among others. In the Loser's Bracket, Natus VIncere, MVP, GamersOrigin, and G2 Esports were among the top ten teams that had a chance to join the Tournament Finals.
Moving to the Tournament Finals, Apex Legends has some interesting rules. The first is there was no match limit. However, once a team reaches 50 total points, the next match is considered "Match Point Eligible" for that particular team. There is no limit as to how many teams can be Match Point Eligible. This meant that the first team to win a match after being eligible is declared the champion.
With that rule in place, there was the expectation of a really exciting Finals, and it did not disappoint.
During the Winner's Bracket, it was 789 that took the top spot and all eyes were on them. Not surprisingly, it was 789 that took the top spot in Round 1 getting a whopping 22 points with the placement score along with 10 eliminations. However, by Round 2 PENTA claimed the number one spot, followed by Na'Vi in Round 3. Na'Vi reached the 50-point threshold by Round 5, putting the focus, and accompanying pressure, on them. Na'Vi had difficulty getting another win and heading into Round 9, seven other teams reached the match point eligibility, which included TSM.
MVP, who at this point was in last place, surprised everyone to get the win, though the team still did not have enough points to be eligible. By Round 10, Sentinels got the win and earned a place in the teams that would be match point eligible. By this time, Na'Vi had been eligible to win for almost five hours.
In Round 11, Na'Vi and 789, along with Sentinels and Wyvern, were among the first 10 teams to be eliminated. Rount 11 boiled down to three teams: TSM, MVP, and GamersOrigin. Both TSM and GamersOrigin were already match point eligible. However, if MVP took the round, they would also become eligible. GamersOrigin was eliminated first. MVP did what it could to prolong the Finals, but TSM would not be denied and ended the round with a win and the championship.
While the preseason is indeed done, both EA and Respawn confirmed that more offline and online tournaments are coming with the 2020 season.
