Genome on why Bangalore and Crypto will dominate at ALGS Split 2

The ALGS Split 2 Playoffs meta is going to be a long way away from both the ALGS Split 2 Pro League and the Apex Esports World Cup. Some legends once obscure will now be mainstays on the majority of teams. Esports.gg spoke to ALGS caster Genome about how the meta looks set to shake out in Germany.

One legend that we will see a lot of in Mannheim that we didn't in Los Angeles is Crypto. However, we've seen a huge increase in the use of Crypto in scrims and events like the Knights Carnage Cup. This is as a result of a number of big changes that impacted Crypto in the Season 22 update. The ability for Crypto to go invisible has been seen as a huge buff by Apex players, but Genome thinks it's actually changes to Survey Beacons that is making Crypto so much more meta relevant.

"I feel like Crypto's kit, honestly, is less important than the fact that we've got the survey Beacons on every single POI now. That's definitely changing how people are playing the game quite a bit.

"I think it'll be really interesting to see who can adapt and if anyone who's had some experience with Crypto before maybe does a bit better. It's such a different playstyle. How fights play out is totally different with EMP timings and stuff."

Crypto was the direct and indirect recipient of a number of buffs. He got the Threat Vision that all Recon characters got, he has the new invisibility perk, Drone handling buffs, a Drone cooldown buff and extra scans. Genome adds that while Threat Vision might seem powerful for casual players, it isn't that impactful at the top level.

"[Top players] vision when they're watching the game is actually one of the things that I am consistently the most impressed with. I don't know if that's because like that's a weakness of mine, but their ability to spot someone who's like 200 meters away and is so good already that I feel like the threat vision is almost redundant for pros. It's obviously not the threat vision of old either where it genuinely helps you see through things like smokes or when skydiving.

"So I don't think that's a huge part of Crypto's kit at the moment. I really think it's mainly about Survey Beacons and access to them. Other recon legends aren't getting picked up anywhere near as much. Teams don't seem to want to play double recon. It doesn't make too much sense to do so unless you're really skittish about your team fighting.

"So now Crypto is picked kind of for the same reasons as he used to be, when you could remotely scan the next Ring. Knowing you can throw the Drone out and scan beacons from neighbouring POI's if you're stuck in a building makes a massive difference."

While Crypto has never truly been a must pick in EMEA and North America, that isn't the case elsewhere, especially in APAC North. Does Genome think that could give teams from APAC North, or just Crypto experience, an upper hand?

"Back before events like the Sweden LAN there was something like 17 Cryptos in a lobby of APAC North Pro League. I don't know if we'll get up to that high this time though. However, there could be an advantage for those teams.  There's a couple of different things I think you need to be good at and you need to learn with Crypto.

"Some are things like learning how to play around him. Crypto impacts the pacing of fights a lot of the time. You've got a character who has to pop EMP while he's not actually running around with you. Being able to manage that is a whole skill in itself.

"You also need to learn how to play in a lobby where there is a lot of Crypto's. That's something a lot of teams have only experienced in recent scrims outside of APAC North. There's not been long between Season 22 and this event so there hasn't been long for teams to get reps in."

One legend that Apex viewers are absolutely familiar with is Bangalore. She has been firmly the centre of the meta for several seasons. At some points she has even been at a 100% pick rate in some lobbies. The Apex balance team has tried to address this with several nerfs and adjustments to Bangalore. However, nothing seems to make much of a dent in her popularity in the ALGS. Does Genome think Bangalore can ever be knocked out of the meta?

"I think Bangalore genuinely is one of the best and most flexible legends in the game. Her kit just has so much versatility in it. Her smokes are super versatile, especially when you have two 'charges'. You can use them to rotate, reset with, block LOS with to get aggressive. Almost anything you can do in Apex on a tactical level, smokes help with.

"It's aggressive, it's defensive. If you get in a rough spot you can ward off other teams. You can use it to grief teams coming out of zone and get free kills. You can use it as a way to move from one spot to another and clearing out a team. Her entire kit seems so biased towards what is good in high level competitive Apex.

"I guess that's one of the key differences. If you look at casual ranked games or whatever, it's the likes of Revenant that everyone uses. Even the pros. But obviously Revenant isn't a problem in ALGS. His kit might be good for pub stomping but it doesn't help you that much in a high level lobby."

One area Genome thinks could help bring Bangalore under control is with her Ultimate.

"I think you could probably change Bangalore's Ultimate to be something else. For starters, it's very similar to Gibby's. I feel like when the game came out it was a bit like, well what's the difference between these guys really? I know obviously they do work differently but I feel like you could give her something that is a bit more unique and a bit different to Gibby. That could fix that problem of her being too good in so many situations."

Another group of legends that got a buff in Apex Season 22 are controller legends. Caustic, Catalyst, Wattson and Rampart all now get an extra 25 HP when inside the zone. That is a big benefit to teams who want to rotate early in the ALGS, reducing the need to get evo and delay rotations.

"I think we will definitely see a good amount of Wattson. It's a really good change. It did feel like it was impossible to get enough evo and get to zone on time. There was some ugly situations where you'd make the "correct" call to go to zone quite early and then you've basically never got an opportunity to get to purple shields. You just didn't really have the resources to do enough damage safely. In my view you should be rewarded for being able to correctly call zone early.

"Some of the extra changes with Pylon buffs will help out with shield economy even further. I think it's a great change for the game. Obviously some teams are preferring other legends like Catalyst for a bit more flexibility on rotations. Although she's obviously not as good when you're bunkered down. But the fact that some teams are even playing Catalyst and picking the door perk to be able to reinforce doors depending on where the zone is and whether that suits the kind of buildings that you want to play towards end game, I think is actually kind of cool. It's good there's variety."

These buffs to legends like Crypto and Wattson seem to be moving the dial back in the direction of fast rotate in the ALGS. Previous changes like the evo rework, survey beacons and Ring Consoles seemed to be beneficial to edge teams. Where does Genome sit in the debate of which playstyle is stronger at the moment?

"There's a lot of caveats in that question. I think it depends so much on your POI. A lot of people tend to say edge is stronger, but I think there's one very specific reason why they're saying that. That's because the teams who do best are the best at fighting. Somehow this is something that can be underrated is just how strong it can be to simply be good at team fights.

"But because there is so much strategy and so much decision making and so many other levers that you can pull in Apex as far as your legend composition or how you rotate or whatever it is, that people love discussing all of the little minutiae of strategy in high level Apex. Of course all of those things make a difference.  But at the end of the day, if you just win every single team fight you take, it's kind of hard to do badly."

Genome feels that teams like Falcons are simply so good at fighting that people's expectations are being warped about what it means to play 'edge'.

"So I feel like one of the reasons that people are saying that is because when you have a team like Falcons who are just so good at fighting that they would like very rarely lose a straight up 3v3. Of course Apex is a game of 20 teams so a lot of the magic and the skill in it is about being able to put yourself in positions where you can take even 3v3s or 3v3s that favour you and not get third partied.

"I think teams like Falcons have kind of warped people's expectations of that because they are just so good at building up that advantage coming out of, you know, Sky West Trials or whatever it is. Then just going around the map bullying people and forcing their way into a good position. So if you've got that, you should use it, right? But does that actually make Edge the better play style or does that just work for Falcons because they're the best team?"

Stay tuned to esports.gg to see exactly how the ALGS meta shakes out in Mannheim, Germany. ALGS Split 2 Playoffs action kicks off on August 29, and you can see Genome in action over on the PlayApex Twitch channel.

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