NRG's Lulu calls out Apex toxicity, controllers on top, Hill and Unnin quit

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NRG’s Lulu, one of the most popular Apex streamers, brought attention to toxicity in the Apex community with a tweet on Sunday night, prompting responses from TSM’s Hal, among others.

Of course, anyone who’s watched TSM screaming angrily at each other while they stream a tournament or seen Hal’s chat knows that his response is partially defensive—as one of the most popular Apex streamers himself, Hal and his team set a really bad example of conduct.

Call it fierce competitive energy, an abusive dynamic, petty squabbling among friends, call it whatever you want—hearing TSM team communication can be a profoundly awkward experience for the viewer: one moment borderline comical, the next moment extremely cringe. And Hal’s reponse to Lulu doesn’t exactly inspire confidence on the positivity front.

Controllers on top

A big congrats to Dezignful, Gentrifyinq, and Resultah for winning this weekend’s tournament, the second in the official Apex Summer Circuit.

Zac Conely, or Tab, an EA employee who coordinates competitive Apex, has put together a really interesting spreadsheet of the top fraggers of the second Summer Circuit tournament, with the bonus stat of average damage per game as well.

Notice anything interesting about this list? Controller players are absolutely crushing it. Dezignful, Gentrifyinq, Rogue’s Snip3down, Resultah, Sola Fide’s Pride, and Pandxrz all use controller. Team Liquid’s Casper, in seventh place, had the dubious honor of the top mouse and keyboard fragger.

Players have been talking on stream about using both keyboard mouse and controller, to maximize the advantage of each input method.

Meanwhile, we’ve seen mouse and keyboard players take a second look at the virtues of the controller input method.

Hill and Unnin Quit

HRN’s Hill and SMILE’s Unnin have decided to stop competing in Apex for now. Both are talented players, and, while some amount of player churn has to be expected, Apex fans should pay close attention to the tone of Hill’s tweet—the state of the game doesn’t seem great for many pros, and there are other compelling options in the battle royale space right now, with the launch of Hyper Scape and Warzone still going strong. Both offer greater financial opportunities, whether it’s the potential for growth in a fresh game like Hyper Scape, or just more prize money up for grabs in Warzone.

Ekko ships out

Finally, Premier’s Ekko was unexpectedly recalled to the Marines. It’s easy to imagine Apex pros sitting around getting rich, playing their favorite games for a living. But for most of them, competing in Apex is a passion—and life’s other commitments have to take priority. Looking forward to having Ekko back home safe.