Heroez drop Apex Legends roster after “rule breaking actions” cover image

Heroez drop Apex Legends roster after “rule breaking actions”

Heroez have dropped their Apex Legends roster after substantiated accusations of smurfing in the ALGS Challenger Circuit.

Heroez announced that they are dropping their Apex Legends roster. This follows a whirlwind 24-hour period with major accusations of cheating in the weekends ALGS Challenger Circuit.

It was rumoured that Quentin "Klemmy" Etienne, Florent "Faco" Thery and Tobias "BaByLoNs" Dévérité played the recent Challenger Circuit on smurf accounts.

This is a violation of ALGS rules. Players can only be registered onto one active ALGS roster at one time. All three players are still registered to the Heroez roster, and were already qualified for the LCQ.

Heroez dumps team following removal

Team "W Key" has been removed from tonight's ALGS Challenger Circuit finals, according to several participants. They are being replaced by Team Reds, who finished 11th in their Semi Final lobby.

There was immense suspicion around this team of unknowns the entire weekend. Level 50 players, with low ranks, dropping huge games in every single round. The accusation was initially that this team were cheating, with several complaints raised with admins as the tournament progressed.

It was only following a detailed investigation by several players that evidence started to emerge that it was in fact the whole Heroez roster competing under different names. There was previous steam names as well as footage of them playing on these accounts circulating. It also emerged that this roster had played Challenger Circuit number one, but not number two. The difference being Heroez did not play in the ALGS Pro League during Circuit one, but did during Circuit two.

Klemmy
Klemmy

Who was the Heroez Apex Legends roster?

Formerly competing as FromNowhere, this all French roster burst onto the scene in the Challenger Circuit. Famed for their use of Lifeline, they dominated the opening circuit back in November - earning a spot in the Pro League qualifier.

A super aggressive, fight heavy team, they raced ahead in the Pro League qualifier but stumbed on match point. However, they still managed to secure a spot in the most recent ALGS Pro League split and were promptly signed by Heroez.

Their aggressive playstyle did not translate well to the top level of Apex esports, and they struggled to a poor 27th place finish overall. They never finished above 12th in any given game day.

However, this was not a huge surprise for a relatively unknown and inexperienced team. They were qualified for the LCQ and had a good chance at being reinvited, or requalifying for, the Pro League in year four.

Heroez statement

On Twitter, Heroez shared the following:

"As part of today, we are splitting ways with our Apex Legends roster. The players have been engaged in rule-breaking actions that go way over our values and what we have been praising, without our consent."

Heroez official statement
Heroez official statement

Intention to grief fellow teams

There was a mixed reaction to them playing the tournament. It is a known and well documented problem that the EMEA region has no events to play when ALGS is out of season. Pro League teams who are not competing at LAN have one official tournament between now and October. There is also only currently one third party organiser in the region at present.

This led to some people praising them for their passion, despite it being against the ALGS rules. However, it seems that "passion" was not their motivation to take this risk. Instead, it appears team W Key specifically focused another team - dropping on their landing spots repeatedly during the tournament until they were eliminated.

Team risks expulsion from ALGS

As well as removal from todays finals, esports.gg understands the team is very likely to face expulsion from the upcoming Championship LCQ and a ban from competing in future. The length and terms of the ban is unknown, and will likely never be published. EA have never commented on any ALGS bans and will likely not share any details on this one. The only indication will come in July, when the ex-Heroez roster is either present or not present in the lobby. Unless of course, one of the players comments publicly before.

Faco
Faco

However, all indications point towards some sort of penalty from the ALGS team, and it is unlikely we see the former Heroez roster competing anytime soon.

The ALGS EMEA Challenger Circuit finals start at 1800 BST and will be broadcast on VersusGaming.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more Apex Legends coverage and esports news.