What happened during week one of the BLGS?

Week one of the ground-breaking BLGS has concluded, with three teams now having a ticket punched to the Regional Finals later this year. We've now officially seen E-District played by some of the best teams in the ALGS, a first look at new rosters, and much more.

Here's some of the key things that went down this weekend in the BLGS. Note that APAC North is running on a different schedule, and has not yet competed in their first qualifier.

Any seasoned Challenger Circuit player would tell you the risks of the early rounds of that competition. With the BLGS following the same format, some top level ALGS teams found out how tough the format can be first hand.

With four games per round in the early stages, and four maps at play, there is a lot of uncertainty and randomness. Add in no draft, and you could be contested on every map. You could get unlucky zones, poor loot, or get caught out by a play made by a team you weren't expecting.

Naturally, being experienced and strong in fights can carry you through a lot of this unpredictability. Teams often won't jump at the chance to contest an ALGS Pro League level team in an early round. However, not every team managed to make it through the gauntlet.

In addition, both Cloud9 and Team Falcons (who were without Zer0) were also eliminated in the Semi-Finals in the Americas BLGS. Both of these teams are qualified for the ALGS Championship and would have comfortably expected to make the finals, and perform well.

However, the bottom half of the BLGS draw in this region had substantially more Pro League teams than the top half. While Cloud9 and Falcons both under-performed, this is still a factor to consider when judging their performance. Additionally, North America had an extra round, due to extra signups.

The BLGS will conclude with a 20-team Regional Finals. Teams have two ways to qualify for this event, which is where all the Prize Money will be awarded. Either win one of the four BLGS qualifiers, or finish in the top-16 of the overall BLGS leaderboard. Teams earn points towards this through their placement in each qualifier. So, even the teams that were eliminated early have put some points on the board.

As a result, EMEA, Americas and APAC South all have their first team qualified for the Regional Finals. These are:

In terms of the overall standings, teams that performed strongly in these finals have taken a big step towards locking a top 16 spot, but still need strong performances in the remaining three weeks and are not yet secure in their spots.

The BLGS, particularly the finals on Tuesday, was the biggest run out that top level teams have had on E-District. We found out last week that E-District will be played at the ALGS Championship. This raised the stakes for the BLGS, with these games becoming important practice ahead of the biggest competition of the season.

E-District seems to be a fun map to play, with end games able to host a wide array of teams. However, we only saw two games played on this map in each of the finals lobby. There is a lot to learn about how this map plays out over the next few weeks. Additionally, make sure to keep an eye on if teams adjust their strategy for this weekends BLGS qualifier based on their experiences this week.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for full coverage of the ALGS, BLGS and all things Apex Legends.