The explosive end to the ALGS NA Finals saw EIGHT teams on match point by the ninth game. It was a superb Finals, we revisit just how Kungarna NA came out on top.
ALGS NA Finals even bigger thriller than EMEA
With the amazing Apex that was played yesterday at the ALGS EMEA finals, the entirety of the apex community was hyped for the NA finals. The NA finals featured 20 of the best North American Apex teams, and one underdog team came out on top. The finals came to a stunning conclusion, with Kungarna NA sneaking up out of nowhere with a game 9 victory.
The recently signed team Kungarna NA (formerly Bottom 20) won a stunning $265,591 USD and the title of ALGS NA champions. An incredible feat given by game 9, there were 8 teams on match point, from TSM, to ESA Black to Cloud9.
Game 1 and 2, ESA Brotherhood claiming an early wins in game 1 and 2
Games 1 and 2 were relatively peaceful with small skirmishes and the main chaos towards the end the final rounds. However, in both games, the favorites like NRG or CLT were eliminated early off. Around round 5, the kill feed exploded as so many teams become concentrated in one small area and shots were fired.
The finale of the first game had the ring close around fragment east, the underdogs of ESA White survived an endless onslaught of shots and swooped down and wiped TSM and Spacestation Gaming with mastiffs and clutched the game.
In game 2, it was a similar story, but this time he drill tower around Overlook. Obey Alliance was positioning on the high ground and the game looked over. But ESA Black had other ideas. The brother squad of the game 1 winners shut them down, as Obey had to drop down due to the ring. And so early on, the smaller, underdog teams were in the lead. The start of the ALGS NA finals had the ESA teams off in a great lead.
TSM Snip3Down's amazing melee knocks in game 3
Game 3 of the ALGS NA finals was a Liquid and TSM story. After having a rough rotation and seemingly the whole lobby targeting Liquid. They managed to scrape by and get a golden position with a Valkyrie ultimate but unfortunately they fell short as they got eliminated by G2.
TSM slowly gatekept as they rotated early and towards the end of round 5, Snip3Down got eliminated. However by s stroke of luck, TSM had a respawn beacon. And so, capitalizing on the chaos of the final circle, Snip3Down knocked 2 players with his bloodhound heirloom only and Reps put out damage to clutch the game on a sliver of HP.
Game 4, TSM qualifies for match point
With the success of game 3, TSM was at on the verge of match point eligibility with 49 points. But in a fight at harvester NRG and TSM duked it out, and NRG came out on top but Alpine came in right behind and took the only survivor of NRG out. In the end, it came between Spacestation gaming and ESA black. With ESA Black playing on the high ground, it still wasn't enough to win against the patient and methodical Spacestation gaming.
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TSM not catching a break in game 5 and 6
In game 5 and 6, TSM couldn't catch a break in the ALGS NA Finals. From MLP wiping them with a Revenant push to using a different composition to camouflage. After game 5 Spacestation managed to rack up 49 points. Unfortunatley in game 6 they couldn't manage even one point. Game 5 ended with Alpine claimed the heavily contested train tracks with their unique Crypto composition. Lurking in the tracks and towards a chokepoint in their favor, Alpine lurked in the shadows and wiped C9 and Letter E for a win.
In game 6, TSM tried to switch up their composition to fly under the radar and clutch a win. But unfortunatley it didn't work and C9 ended up wining the game. With C9's Zach snatching up a Kraber, he wiped the lobby and with the destruction that they caused, they qualified for match point.
The absolute chaos of games 7 and 8
Game 7 and 8 were pure organized chaos. In game 7, TSM and C9 who were both on match point and tried to play passive to sneak a win. The game ended with Cloud 9 aggressively bounce padding to the high ground on a bridge near skyhook. In a 3v3 fight with ESA Black, the game 2 winning squad decimated Cloud 9. But the high kill crazy game allowed ESA Black, Alpine, SSG and Letter E into match point.
With 6 teams on match point, the stakes have never been higher for the ALGS NA finals. In game 8 everyone in the lobby thought that the final circle will end in Lava City. But the ring actually pulled towards the outskirts, where C9 rained hell with spitfires. The final circle was between Sentinels, Cloud9 and TSM. With TSM pushing Cloud9, Sentinels came through and kept everyone's tournament lives alive.
Game 9, The stunning conclusion to the ALGS NA finals
After game 8, Kungarna NA and Sentinels achieved match point status after racking up huge points in the game. In a chaotic game 9 most match point teams exited the tournament. And the survivors in the final ring had Spacestation, Renegades and Kungarna NA. With the circle forcing Renegades and Spacestation to fight, the underdogs came in and cleaned up house. And with that, the underdogs won $265,591 USD and the illustrious title of ALGS NA Champions.
With a year long buildup to the ALGS NA finals, everyone was looking forward to see the games go all the way to game 9. Just like with our ALGS EMEA finals recap, massive credit to all the players, cast and production involved in the championships. We cannot wait for what news for the next year of competitive Apex will look like!