Underdogs Lazarus posted a massive Pro League result in this weekends Apex action. We caught up with zDavis to find out how they did it. Meanwhile, all eyes were on TSM and their new signing, Verhulstt.
The Apex Pro League returned for the first half of a quadruple gameweek weekend. After LAN was cancelled and replaced by a 20 team playoff, a much greater number of teams had something to play for.
All eyes were on TSM with fans wondering how they would be affected by arrival of Verhulst? He made his ALGS debut for TSM this weekend.
How would some of the underperforming teams like Team Liquid fare, how that Playoff qualification is Top 20? With time running out, a poor performance on Friday would put unbelievable pressure on their final matches on Sunday. Furthermore, Cloud9 were high on confidence following their Knights Carnage Cup victory.
NRG continue strong form, TSM make average start
TSM experimented with the same Valk, Gibby, Caustic legend composition that Verhulst used on ESA. this in part explains their middling performance, securing 6th. However, after the removal of LAN, their playoff spot is essentially secured. TSM will now be using this time to adopt a strategy that works with Verhulst ahead of Playoffs in January.
NRG, who have been in incredible form over the last few months, secured a strong 2nd place. This was in large part down to an absolutely electric final game.
Following up a strong first 5 games, NRG turned on the style in Game 6. NRG eliminated almost a third of the enemy players, and closed the victory out in Climatizer.
NRG will be sorely feeling the removal of LAN, in their current form they would have been a heavy favourite to win. However, this disappointment is clearly not impacting their motivation.
Lazarus give playoff chances a huge boost
The best Pro League performers of Friday were underdogs Lazarus. The all American trio of Viizay, zDavis and G7Dank put in a strong performance to secure 3rd place. This was by far their best result of the Pro League.
Lazarus came into the weekend in poor form, having placed 19th in the BFC qualifiers and 18th in the Knights Carnage Cup.
To find out exactly how they achieved such a massive turnaround, we spoke to zDavis of Lazarus.
He put a lot of the success down to changing up their legend picks.
"We have been trialing different comps, I don’t think we had really played wraith Valk gib comp in pro league and if we had it was with very little experience. That combined with just taking our time in certain situations and landing in some spots we had never landed before during rotations helped us with placement a lot."
Lazarus showing you can be successful as a part time team in pro league
This performance is made even more impressive when you consider where Lazarus feature in the Pro League scene. Unlike teams such as TSM, Liquid, NRG Lazarus are not full time. All 3 of the roster have work commitments, and are on very limited time to work and improve their Apex skills.
We asked zDavis what advice he would give to other aspiring pro players who do not have the time to grind Apex 24/7.
"Make anytime you have to play the game worth it. Don’t think just playing ranked is going to get you there. If you only have a couple hours to play, put them into scrims or somewhere where it’s going to benefit your competitive career."
zDavis also credits the Lazarus coach, pfitter. This helps them split workload, and saves time doing their own post match review.
"Also if possible get a coach to help do the Vod reviews and take notes if you’re a challengers team or on the way up. Pfitter typically just takes our vods, makes notes with time stamps, and then sends them to us and we implement that into our games."
Lazarus are now up to 14th in the overall standings. They are set to benefit from the cancellation of LAN. While Saturday's games are still to play, they have guaranteed a shot at a top 20 finish in Sunday's finale. Can they keep this momentum going?
ESA, Sentinels in Pro League action tonight
The bumper weekend of Pro League action continues tonight. ESA, with new arrival Knoqd, will he hoping to keep their unbelievable form going. ESA are yet to place lower than 3rd in any given game week.
Sentinels will also be looking to head into the Playoffs as high up the leaderboard as possible. The top 10 teams start playoffs with a scaled points advantage, so there is still a lot to play for.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Apex Legends news and updates.