Apex Legends history has just been made. Alliance took the Esports World Cup 2024 trophy, marking the EMEA region’s first Apex Legends LAN victory. It’s been a long time coming for one of the game’s top regions, and no team is more fitting to earn that achievement than Alliance.

Alliance Wins first ever Apex Legends Title for EMEA at Esports World Cup

Once a Group Stage Team…

Alliance came into the Esports World Cup 2024 as EMEA’s third seed. At this point in Apex Legends esports, it’s never a surprise that Alliance makes it to LAN, and it’s not even a surprise when they do well in the Group Stage. Over the years, Alliance has garnered the reputation of a team that can wipe the floor with the earlier lobbies.

Led by in-game leader John “Hakis” Håkansson, Alliance once again deftly navigated Group B, even in the wild EWC format that left maps up to a fan vote. They looked right at home, even on maps, never played in the ALGS circuit. Alliance’s 107 points on the day were good for the first seed and for second-most overall behind Team Falcons, who dominated Group A.

Despite not finishing in the top two in their home region, Alliance had the tools to be consistent on the international stage. Namely, Miron “Effect” Novikov has been making his case for the best controller player in the world for the past couple of ALGS seasons. With the raw firepower that Effect brings, Alliance is not afraid to call for any fight to claim a spot they want.

Of course, Alliance’s newest member, Andre “unlucky” Türk, had finally been coming into his role as their new anchor. Unlucky was picked up at the start of the ALGS year in February when long-time fan-favorite Oscar “Yuki” Jiang decided to take a break. With a controller player at his side and his back, Hakis turned Alliance’s aggression up to 11. The question is whether they could keep it up after the Group Stage.

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…Always a Group Stage Team?

Luckily for Alliance, the Esports World Cup 2024 format didn’t feature a Winners’ Bracket following Groups. This meant that their first-seed finish gifted them the maximum nine starting points in the Grand Finals on Sunday. The stage was set, though despite topping Group B, Alliance wasn’t really being given the talk that position deserves. They were overshadowed by the teams of Falcons, Twisted Minds, and even Team Liquid. Still, all that matters is showing up big on the final Match Point day.

Alliance didn’t shoot out of the gate, instead earning solid results and consistently racking up points. They earned top-four finishes in games two and five and racked up a huge ten kills with an eighth-place finish in game four. However, being slow but steady is a disadvantage in the Match Point format. Falcons earned the 60 points required after game six, while Team Liquid and regional rivals Aurora hit it after game seven.

With multiple teams now able to end the tournament with a single-game win, Alliance had a lot more to worry about. Not only that, but their consistent points had started to run dry. It took Alliance five games to earn 16 points. They finally crept onto Match Point going into game 11. In the meantime, the Falcons had been denied in multiple end circles, keeping the match going. Many other teams also hit the 60-point requirement. The tournament would end any moment now.

Showing Up When It Counts

A massive performance from Luminosity Gaming in game 11 saw them shoot up from the bottom ten into title contention. We now had over half the lobby on match point. Surely, game 12 would end it all. As the final ring closed towards North Pad, multiple match-point teams took position in an end-game spot. Team Falcons, Luminosity, DMS, and Alliance vied for the victory alongside only two non-match-point teams.

When Fnatic fell in sixth and Twisted Minds was reduced to a solo, everyone knew this would be it. However, during the chaos of the final zone, Twisted Minds made the play of the tournament to respawn their missing members. They took a 3v3 onto Alliance and won it, then cleaned up the remnants of the Luminosity Falcons fight to extend the series.

EWC 2024 was now the longest match in Apex Legends LAN history. In game 13, a whopping 13 teams could win the tournament. Anything could happen at this point. When the first circle showed a Tree ending, the pressure was immediately on Team Liquid, Guild Esports, and Alliance.

While the former two opted to take buildings in the center of the zone, Alliance played their tried-and-true hilltop between Thermal Station. Alliance funneled their opposition down into Tree as the ring shrunk and picked off players on repeat. Soon, it was time for them to make their move. Alliance dove down into Center Tree with their edge cleared and wiped every squad there. No one could stop Alliance as they cleaned up the remaining teams and earned the Esports World Cup 2024 Apex Legends trophy.

A Historic Tournament

EWC 2024 has been a blast for Apex Legends. While new and strange, the format brought a fun twist to the usual ALGS flow of only World’s Edge and Storm Point. Seeing maps like Olympus and Broken Moon in high-level competition was a fresh experience.

South America had both of their attending representatives qualify for the Grand Finals, a colossal accomplishment for Apex’s smallest region. Any region could have taken this trophy home, especially with how long the Match Point finals stretched out.

In the end, though, Alliance walks away with EMEA’s first-ever Apex Legends LAN trophy.  It’s been a long five years of competition, especially for Hakis, who has led this squad through highs and lows since the start of 2020. Alliance has shed its “Group Stage team” tag and become a world champion. And to do so during the longest match in Apex LAN history is nothing short of clutch.

The Apex Legends season is far from over, as the Split 2 Playoffs are just a month away. And with the last two LANs going to the only two regions that haven’t won one yet, anything could happen to close out the 2024 season.