Crazy Raccoon among teams eliminated from ALGS Champs

Crazy Raccoon were among the first ten teams to be eliminated from the ALGS Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina.

They are also one of a number of teams who have been affected by restrictive COVID-19 protocols at the event. Big names like Alliance, FA Kitties (formerly Gambit) and GMT all made it through - surviving an early elimination.

Without star player Ras, Crazy Raccoon already faced an uphill battle to reach their true potential. However, they also were without Selly as well. This means that the roster that got 2nd in the APAC North Pro League and 2nd in last years online ALGS championship isn't here to compete.

With a full strength roster Crazy Raccoon would've been among the favourites to reach the finals.

In the group stage, they still put down a very valiant showing. They finished 24th with 87 points. For context, this was only 4 points behind Alliance, who had their full strength roster. They even finished above EMEA Split 1 playoff winners, Acend (formerly NEW esports).

What really let down Crazy Raccoon in the losers bracket was their lack of kills. They had only 5 kills across the 8 games. Furthermore, those kills came in just 2 of the games.

With the amount of duos in the lobby, and the imbalance of strength that created some teams were dropping huge kill totals. Alliance racked up 19 kills in Game 1, Rejects 12 kills on two separate occasions. GMT esports, who Crazy Raccoon finished above in the group stage also had two double digit kill games.

Clearly, it would be very harsh to call this result a disappointment for Crazy Raccoon considering the circumstances that surrounded their roster at this event. Ras, Selly and the rest of the team will be hoping that they get another shot to perform for this level of money in front of a live audience as soon as possible so they can show what they are really capable of.

Elsewhere, Elev8's run in Raleigh also ended. They surprised everyone by coming through the NA LCQ, beating big name teams like Sentinels and Complexity. They just missed out on a top 20 spot and a place in the winners bracket. This made them one of the favourites to cruise through the losers bracket, but it wasn't to be.

This was by far the biggest tournament that any of the Elev8 boys had faced, having not played in Sweden.

They will be no doubt frustrated to go out so soon having missed out on the winners bracket by such a small margin. However, to earn qualification through an LCQ in a very competitive region is still a big achievement. The extra experience will stand them in good stead for whatever format ALGS year 3 presents.

The top 10 teams now head to the losers bracket round 2, who meet the bottom 10 teams from todays winners bracket. For all the standings and schedule, check the ALGS Apex Hub on esports.gg.