Image via SiegeGG
Five months since the last APAC Playoffs, the APAC League is back for the 2022 season today, starting with the APAC North Division.
As well as a change in the map pool and the introduction of both Attacker Repick and Thorn to competitive play, the APAC region has seen some slight format changes and a number of roster changes take place.
Here’s a rundown on everything you need to know before today’s games.
Format Changes
Firstly, the top four teams in each subregion – APAC North and APAC South – will now play in the double-elimination APAC Playoff tournament, with the top four qualifying for the subsequent Six Major event.
This means that the North and South Division winners no longer get automatic invitations to the Major -- they must all play in the Playoffs.
Additionally, the South Asia subregion has lost their APAC Playoff invites after teams from South Asia won just one out of their 12 playoff games played. The region will now likely slot in next to the SEA Championship and Oceanic Nationals, with APAC South relegation spots offered to the South Asia National victors at the end of the year.
As well as this, the league will adopt all the global changes introduced such as the new nine-map competitive pool and will be the very first league to debut the Attacker Repick mechanic.
Teams
The teams which will be competing for the $100,000 in prize money during Stage 1 will be as follows:
APAC North:
SANDBOX Gaming -- EnvyTaylor, Static, Harp3r, SyAIL, GoodBoy, and Nova (coach)
CYCLOPS athlete gaming -- Anitun, BlackRay, gatorada, SuzuC, Ayagator, Fuji3 (coach), and Hybrid (analyst)- DAMWON Gaming -- CATsang, yass, coted, RIN, Woogiman, HoundBird, and EroSA (two coaches)
- Fnatic -- Mag, Chibisu, Li9ht, Lily, Merieux, Yura, Dizzle, and Phenomene (two coaches)
- Talon Esports -- AzzyyyS, Soldier, Kanos, saeyeora, Demic, h3dy, zelgadiss, and DongUk (two coaches)
- FAV Gaming -- Afro, ShiN, Taipon, No2, K-RAISER, Ramu, OdeNMiso (coach), Tatsukin, and Nata (two analysts)
- T1 -- iLeven, CrazyBoy, Arukaze, PJH, Mephi, WATB, Fanxy (two coaches), and Rebvi (analyst)
- REJECT -- solty, Window, NoTimeGG, Take, tadaNiki, and Candy
While five APAC North teams made changes this window, most of them were small changes.
Starting in Korea, T1 picked up Juwan "Mephi" Park to replace their coach, Junhyuk "Fanxy" Lim, who stood in during Stage 3. Jiheon "GoodBoy" Lee is also set to join the SANDBOX roster ahead of his 18th birthday, as Sihun "Nova" Lee will move to a coaching role after Apr. 12.
Over in Japan, Masahiro "Candy" Minagi (who previously played on Nora-Rengo during the 2020 APAC North relegation match) replaced “VaNiSh” on the recently promoted REJECT roster. Another ex-Nora player, Ryuki "Ramu" Matsuoka, also returned to the top-flight leagues after over two years out replacing “Luugator” on FAV.
This leaves the biggest change of the period, where Fnatic dropped all its members except its Australian captain and coach, Etienne "Mag" Rousseau and Jayden "Dizzle" Saunders, and picked up four members of the GUTS Gaming roster, the rookie, “Chibisu”, and the ex-GAMMA Gaming analyst, Théo "Phenomene" Hentgen.
This means that Fnatic has finally arrived in Japan after their plans to move their Australian roster there were delayed by two years due to COVID-related visa issues. Mag will be unable to play until Stage 2 and will be communicating in Japanese when he joins them in Stage 2.
APAC South:
Elevate -- DCH, Sapper, Onigiri, Markshortboyz, MrPuncH, AnGryX, Nay..Pew, Dr.Bestsiaer (coach), and nanoKidz (analyst)
Chiefs Esports Club -- Dgtl, Worthy, Ethan, and Hell (analyst)- Knights -- Jsh, Juicy, Sageon, Stigs, Quiz, pikniq (coach), and Sketchy (analyst)
Invictus Gaming -- HysteRiX, SpeakEasy, Jigsaw, MentalistC, naate, Ultima, and GiG (coach)- FURY -- Darkk, Hajime, Lycolis, Producerboom, SpaceHead, Mopee, and DomeDominic (coach)
Dire Wolves -- Ed, JackyWu, Pikan, Souffle, HARAM3E, SHADOW, and Odin (coach)- Wildcard Gaming -- Oj, Kyro, Pat, Vincere, Milostka, EmoRin, r0usty, and Fluxx (two coaches)
Renatus -- adinepa, Ape, Hovenherst, Rixx, and Tolji
Last year, the APAC South League was by far the closest one in the world. Now, coming into 2022, a number of teams have made significant changes and it’s near impossible to predict how the league will play out during stage one.
The notable change saw Invictus Gaming replace three out of five of their players, including their in-game-leader, Glen "Lunarmetal" Suryasaputra. With two Australian pickups and the return of Patrick "MentalistC" Fan from Fnatic, the team is now a mixed-APAC roster.
Despite being APAC South’s only attendee at the 2022 Six Invitational, Elevate also made changes as they replaced Sumate "Nay..Pew" Srimabut and Siwa "Nerix" Kaewtossapone with two newcomers to this level of play.
Organization-wise, the only change saw FURY acquire the Thai QConfirm roster, while their fellow SEA roster, Dire Wolves, replaced Rui-Wei "Ray" Chen with Chih-Kang "HARAM3E" Huang.
Finally, looking at the Aussie squads, “OJ” and “Kyro” joined Wildcard while both the Chiefs and Knights saw two players leave with their replacements yet to be announced. Keep an eye out on SiegeGG for the announcements ahead of APAC South’s kick-off tomorrow.
Schedule
The APAC North play days will take place on Wednesdays and Fridays while APAC South is on Thursdays and Saturdays. This will continue until April 20th when the APAC Playoffs kick off on the following three Wednesdays and Thursdays:
At the moment the casters for these games are yet to be announced, but that’s likely to change as we get closer to the league’s start.
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