Winning My First APEX Legends Tournament

Each week we bring you two moments, one of epic success, someone who absolutely nailed it! And another of an epic failure, someone who totally failed it. This week for the Nailed It…it’s for me! There were two other guys there as well, but the story of how three 30-somethings took their first APEX Legends tournament entry and win is an absolute nailed it for this week.

I’m Not Very Good At Competitive Games

Let’s start with a full disclosure here when it comes to competitive games…I’m not all that great. I’m by no stretch a bad player either, but I’d fall right into the average. Depending on the game, maybe a bit above that, maybe a bit below that. In Overwatch I’m constantly on the verse of high Gold, grasping for a Platinum that will never happen. In APEX Legends I’ve gotten half way through Gold to Platinum and if I just applied myself a bit more and dedicated some more time, could probably get there.

According to my stats on APEX Legends, I have a career win rate of about 3-4% and a top 5 win rate of about 22%. I don’t get a lot of kills, but I have my moments. This tournament was small fry, there were no pro’s and no top tier ranked APEX Predators. Scoring was determined through 5 rounds with 60% depending on your placement and 40% dependent on your kill ranking within the teams playing. Everyone played in public lobbies and we were in 3rd place for most of it, then 2nd and tied for first in the final round.

APEX Semi-Legends

There was one other team in the tournament that reliably placed high and had 8+ kills each time. They were likely going to win as far as I was concerned. But, something interesting happened during the tournament, win or lose, I noticed our team was playing differently. Maybe it was because something was on the line? First place got $150, $75 in gift certificates and three t-shirts.

In five rounds we had placed second or won. That’s a 100% top 5 finish rate. We didn’t seek out a ton of kills, but we also didn’t run from fights unless we knew it was a losing encounter. Something about being in a competition just heightened the will and desire to win. Normally, there’s a clear carry in our team. Someone who dolls out the most damage or sweeps up the most kills. But at the end of it all, between the three of us damage and kills was almost even. I know there’s no path to the pro for me as a 33 year old. That’s basically the senior citizen leagues in esports. But for my first legitimate competition? Big or small, it was nice to take the win.

Check out this week’s Failed It, featuring Markiplier failing at Among Us.

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