ALGS roster rules need a rework
A guest post by Jevvy Media
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ALGS roster rules need a rework
The ALGS first introduced Group Stages during the 2021 Championship in June. Back then, the format calculated the points from each individual game, allowing teams that were inconsistent but capable of putting together big games to climb up the standings with just one great performance.
Pro League changed all that. Now, placement in each lobby is the only thing that matters. It makes no difference whether the winning team has 100 points or 50 points. The winners get 12 points on the leaderboard regardless. This new system means that there’s far less hope for teams struggling early. One ‘pop off’ day will not save you, which left teams at the bottom of the standings searching desperately for answers.
The first NA Pro League team to take action this split was the unsigned team ‘Unlucky’, consisting of Kasellos, oisenpai and Inhuman. The team was put together in the second half of the Preseason Qualifiers almost strictly because of their ALGS points totals, and they found themselves with only one point after the first two Pro League days, leaving them without a viable path forward. Kasellos and senpai took it upon themselves to drop Inhuman from their roster for ProdigyAces, a veteran in the competitive scene who failed to qualify for Pro League. Inhuman, who went through a grueling four weeks of open qualifiers to get into Pro League, was relegated to the Challenger Circuit after just 2 weekends.
Roster movements are common in pro Apex. In September, I documented every single roster movement in North America that involved players that qualified for the Championship group stages (spoiler: it’s A LOT of roster moves). There’s no issue with a team doing what needs to be done to improve.
The issue here is about fairness and competitive integrity. As long as a team keeps two-thirds of the original roster, they can drop their third at any time before registration closes. A teammate who plays through four weekends of open qualifiers with no compensation can be dropped from their team after just one week of Pro League. To add further insult to injury, that dropped player is now missing an entire first week of potential ALGS points in the Challenger Circuit, points that are crucial for potentially qualifying for split 2 of Pro League.
In professional sports like the NBA, there are strict rules about when a team is allowed to release, sign and trade players. Sports media dedicates significant resources each year into covering the NBA trade deadline each year because Championship-contending teams often make large trades near the deadline to increase the odds of them making the postseason. Once the deadline passes, it’s a sign to players left on the team that they need to gear up for a potential championship run. Locking rosters until at least the midway point of Group Stages would protect players that earned their right to compete against the best, and force teams that were put together at the last second to at least attempt to make things work with one another.
To be clear, I’m not placing blame on Kasellos and senpai for doing what they felt was right for their team. ProdigyAces is a great player, and I love rooting for underdogs. That doesn’t change the fact that Inhuman got the short end of the stick on a team that he named and put together.
Players who get abruptly dropped from their Pro League team are also at a severe disadvantage in the Challenger Circuit. Teams in the Challenger Circuit gain ALGS points from their final placement, and the top 22 teams from Challenger Circuit will get to play in the Split 2 Pro League Qualifier. Inhuman missed the first weekend of competition in the Challenger Circuit because he was playing in Pro League, leaving him with only three weeks to earn points compared to the four weeks that other players have had. SleepyPanda, who recently got released from Absolute Monarchy and now needs to play through the Challenger Circuit, missed two weeks’ worth of points. Qualifying for Pro League has actually hurt these two players more than it has helped them.
This is just a sample of the roster movements that have happened in North America’s Pro League so far:
Bronzey retires from competing, is replaced by joeyblackout on the Pittsburgh Knights
ProdigyAces joins Unlucky, replacing Inhuman
Estral Esports picks up Nelsinho7x as a substitute
JamesFearless replaces Nokokopuffs on Senior Service
Benchwarmers breaks up
Sheeeeeeesh breaks up
Knoqd joins Torrent, replacing Hill
Hill replaces Hambino on Premier
Rambeau joins Neanderthals, replacing Exile
Exile joins Absolute Monarchy, replacing SleepyPanda.
Hambino replaces Rolders on Oxygen Esports
Era Eternity drops TechedCandy, picks up Oxyares
Putting aside the many questions about should happen with empty Pro League spots, the likelihood of ex-Pro League players waiting for a shot to join a current Pro League team is incredibly high and will lead to more struggling teams dropping unsuspecting teammates in favor of names with more ‘clout’ behind it.
I’ve focused a lot on North America so far, but it’s time to shift gears over to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In that region, the unsigned squad UNDERRATED qualified for Pro League due to their impressive track record, including a fourth place finish in the ALGS Championship. Unfortunately Horizxon had to leave the team due to personal reasons, leaving Dazoh and team captain Kswinnie to recruit jaazzaz at the last moment instead. Every player on the roster is extremely capable—there’s no question about that. However, after a disappointing 0 points on Day 3 of Pro League, Kswinnie announced that he was leaving for 69iQ, a team that’s 13 spots ahead of UNDERRATED in the standings—a sizable gap in a format that’s very punishing.
In the NBA, it’s not uncommon for players to be dropped from their team in order to join a team that is considered a contender for the Championship. However, the team releasing the player usually has something to gain from dropping said player, whether that’s another roster spot opening up or giving available minutes to deserving players. In other situations, players will straight-up be traded to these contenders in a mutual agreement. UNDERRATED gained nothing from this roster move. They lost their IGL and have to scramble for a replacement, while Kswinnie jumps ship to a team in a better position.
I can’t blame players for acting within ALGS rules to advance their career. Ultimately, these problems are on EA to have the foresight to prevent things like this from happening: if they want to have a professional league, then it needs to have professional restrictions. There were many instances of players team hopping in Season 1 of the ALGS to gain the largest advantage. Considering the lengths people went to just to qualify for the chance of a LAN tournament during the height of the COVID pandemic, imagine what players will do for a spot at a confirmed international LAN Championship sometime in 2022?
Most players are hoping for changes to the points system for Split 2 of the Pro League, but I’ll be here hoping for roster rules that will save the integrity of this ALGS season.
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