What’s This About? (Intro)

Hi, my name is Alistair and I go by EMEF. Today I’ll be discussing the metagame of the first Code Red Apex tournament, in relation to the results and compositions used. I will take placing, scoring, and placement in the previous Twitch Rivals tournament into consideration for evaluation.

What Are the Rules?

The Code Red Apex tournament is played in a kill-based public game format (PK format), with 1 point per kill and no other scoring possibilities. Unlike the previous tournament, Twitch Rivals, where the players have the luxury of 4 hours of play to earn score, this tournament gives players a strict 3-game series. While this is of course more lenient than a 1-game series, the high amount of early-game RNG present in Apex means that teams can still easily fall victim to an unfortunate game costing them an entire series. Fortunately for teams, however, is the presence of a loser’s bracket for potential comebacks.

Brief Format Meta

The Twitch Rivals format where Apex Champion Victories award 5 times the score of a kill could be argued as the slower-paced mode for this slower paced incentive, the lenient time-frame of 4 hours and infinite games means that teams decided to opt for fast play, dictating their own game length by aggressing permanently and going for kill points in the densely packed early-games. Furthermore, in terms of the Code Red 3-game format, teams would do best to maximize their time in-game, to boost any potential chances of further score. Of course, kills are still the primary objective, so fast playstyles are still rewarded, but the risk involved with splitting for solo play is much higher than in previous formats. Just bear this in mind.

TEAM BREAKDOWNS

NickEh30, Ghost Enzo, Avxry: 0–2 (58 points)

With a strange pairing of intelligent yet saccharin-sweet Nick and infamously toxic Avxry, also coming right off the back of Enzo’s assumedly strict scrim schedule ahead of Fortnite’s Secret Skirmish, this team unsurprisingly finished 0–2. What is surprising, however, is the depressingly low score of 58, far, far below even the teams of content creators in the bracket. One would expect the mechanical skill of Enzo and Avxry to at least get this team a second-to-last place finish, but something evidently didn’t click. I would love to analyse further, but I cannot find any VODs online of this showing. Perhaps for the best.

Goldglove, Ernie, Di3sel: 0–2 (98)

Personally, I only know Goldglove as a content creator, never as any kind of competitor, and I can’t imagine there’s more to that story considering this team was first rounded in both brackets. His teammate di3sel was one of the original OpTic CoD players, but has not competed in over 10 years, while Ernie I am not personally familiar with, and could not find any information about. Again, I can’t imagine there’s much more to it, as they exited swiftly. Admittedly, their rigid use of the Bloodhound/Bangalore/Pathfinder comp brought them to a 1-point series against would-be finalists DrDisrespect, RealKraftyy and TSM_Viss, but their inconsistency cost them in the LB, losing by over 30 points to a mid-table team of Summit1G, JoshOG and Buhbye.

JoshOG, Summit1G, BuhBye: 1–2 (146)

The team of former CS:GO pro Summit, child-gambling enthusiast JoshOG and friend of the family BuhBye took the lowest scoring of any 3-series team. Summit is obviously a mechanically talented player, but it seems his lack of open mindedness hinders his gameplay in most games, and none more so than Apex. After a misuse of a Bloodhound/Wraith/Pathfinder hyperagrro comp, perhaps not having the talent pool spread out enough across the team to make it function properly, Summit forced his team into a cookie-cutter WBB comp, which would eventually lose them their game against TSM Vsnz, TSM ChocoTaco, and Rogue Huskerrs, the objectively better team of 3 professionals. By not understanding the team’s inability to win a mirror match, and writing off any other kind of composition to alter their win condition, the team had no way to win, and deservedly finished third from last.

LyndonFPS, Liquid Rogue, TrainwrecksTV: 1–2 (160)

This team consists of the typical archetype of Fortnite competitor-turned-streamer LyndonFPS, streamer TrainwrecksTV, and Rogue, member of Liquid’s short-lived Blackout competitive team. This team was obviously talented, and felt they did not need to originate, opting to play the comfort picks of WBB. They were understandably knocked out at first by the obvious victors of Ninja + NRG duo Dizzy and KingRichard, barely breaking 20 points under the pressure. When in Loser’s Bracket, they didn’t even play particularly badly, losing on a 65-point series. Unfortunately for them, their opponents, TSM HighDistortion, FaZe Tennp0 and WantedOW, just played exceptionally well, dropping a 90 point game and ejecting them from the tournament.

TSM HighDistortion, FaZe Tennp0, WantedOW: 2–2 (276)

Sound familiar? Fortnite competitors HighDistortion and Tennp0 are both consistently at the top of their game, and ranked Overwatch streamer Wanted is known to win with his raw aim, however poor his game knowledge. That was the trouble with this team, however, as they were at the top of their game, and the former’s transition of perspective, and the latter’s transition of strategy cost them. They were in the right direction, with their unique composition of 2 solo roamers in Bangalore and Wraith, topped off by Tennp0’s decision to play Lifeline giving them a certainly specific kit. However, the lack of consistency that dropping a Bloodhound brings does not counterbalance by gaining a Lifeline. The potential of the composition is there, but any team without a Bloodhound in the current meta is doomed to fail.

TSM ChocoTaco, TSM Vsnz, Rogue Huskerrs: 3–2 (344)

Finally into positive ratios, the other all-pro team in the tournament consists of TSM PUBG duo ChocoTaco and Vsnz, and former pro H1Z1 player turned variety BR streamer Huskerrs. While the gamesense of the majority Fortnite competitors is typically lower than the PUBG/H1Z1 veterans in a vacuum, this team decided to default to WBB to win their games, and wisely so. They performed well, consistently outslaying every mirror match they played, but had an unfortunate spell of luck against DrDisrespect, RealKraftyy and TSM Viss. They dropped 66 points across the first 2 games, drastically outscoring their opponents by 23 points. However, in the third game, their opponents accrued 30 points in a game, while Choco Vsnz and Huskerrs all died within seconds, getting a mere 2 points across all three players. In the end, they lost by 5 points, and overall I believe it should have been them to face Ninja Dizzy Richard in the finals, but the nature of PK format is that not always the best team wins an individual series. They finished with the same record, and gained more points than them overall, but couldn’t make it to the finals. Roll on ranked play.

RUNNERS-UP DrDisrespect, TSM RealKraftyy and TSM Viss: 3–2 (343)

Finalist team of twitch superstar DrDisrespect, variety FPS streamer RealKraftyy and PUBG competitor TSM Viss played well, but their biggest success was their role selection. Their composition wasn’t inventive, it was a typical WBB, but the decision (or circumstance) of fielding their self-admittedly weakest player DrDisrespect on the typically star-players role of Wraith helped them immensely. This meant that TSM duo Kraftyy and Viss could use their intangible gamesense and communication synergy to aid their character synergy between Bloodhound/Bangalore. Where other teams would have a Wraith play more of a roamer role and Bangalore play a supportive role, transitioning Viss’ Bangalore play to a main slayer and having DrDisrespect do his own thing on the more “crutchy” character of Wraith meant that everyone stays alive longer, and fights are more tactical.

VICTORS Ninja, NRG Dizzy, NRG KingRichard: 4–0 (414)

A surprise to no one who was paying attention, and even no surprise to those who weren’t this team beat the next highest scorers by 70. Playing an entire series less than them. High-profile Fortnite streamer KingRichard accompanies young prodigy Dizzy, who many consider to be “the best Apex player”. With stats like he has, it’s hard to argue, but I think it’s far too early to crown anyone as the best player considering the game has

A) Had 2 total tournaments

B) Had 0 open bracket tournaments

C) Been out for 2 weeks

Of course Ninja requires no introduction, but the team’s combination of hard-carry Dizzy, flexible composition of Bangalore/Wraith/Pathfinder, and overall menacing psychological pressure on their opponents contributed to the team’s effortless win. The composition featured Bangalore piloted by the least impactful, but still highly competitive player, KingRichard. Ninja utilized Pathfinder as a Zip-line dispenser, completely wasting it’s potential while simultaneously using Pathfinder the best of any player in the tournament (it’s a low bar). Dizzy used his signature comfort pick of Wraith, as nobody was going to tell him otherwise, and he surely wasn’t going to switch himself.

What’s Next for this Apex Dynasty? (Outro)

I imagine as open bracket competitions are introduced and real competitivity evolves, sub-optimal strategy such as Ninja’s mediocre Pathfinder play and Dizzy’s over-reliance on a frankly wasteful character will be punished, and teams like this whose dominance is relative will fade out, but in competitions with talent pools such as this, the trio can not lose. I am transparently cynical of their success, but cannot deny their mastery of the format. I mean, they won without Bloodhound. That’s got to count for something.

I’m not entirely happy with this article, as I was unable to watch the matches live, and it is incredibly difficult to follow a 3rd party online tournament in any kind of detail after it has occurred. However, that being said, I hope you enjoyed and learned something, and to be updated about more of these waffles follow me on Twitter and/or Twitch. (Warning: I can’t aim)