Apex Legends Preseason Invitational: TSM's Top Plays, Prize Money

Following some strong map and play updates, Apex Legends continues to push into the forefront of battle royale esports with the Apex Preseason Invitational in Krakow, Poland.

It is the first international championship Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment have ever organized with a full prize purse of $500,000 and a new tournament format to test 80 teams from around the world. After three days of play, Team SoloMid led the class and pulled in a cool $105,000, the largest-ever cash prize for an Apex Legends event, thanks to some consistent play and some nutty frags.

With a double-elimination bracket leading into Day 3 on Sunday, TSM pushed through the new format and got the coveted gold. After Day 1 and 2's winners and losers' brackets wrapped up, Day 3's format was inventive. Once a team hit the 50-point threshold (based on placement and eliminations), it reached match point and only needed to win one more match to clinch the championship.

It took over five hours for a team that had hit the 50-point threshold to win a match, but TSM's Albralelie, Reps and ImperialHal clutched it out. To make things sweeter, it was Albralelie's birthday, so $105,000 will be some quality icing on his cake.

This makes it back-to-back championships for TSM, who just scooped first place and $30,000 at the 2019 X Games.

With just three teams battling out in a minuscule final circle, TSM outdueled GamersOrigin and MVP to bring home the gold. Using the recently upgraded Flatline assault rifle, TSM's Reps rattled through the team's foes to clinch the victory and give Albralelie a quality birthday gift.

When asked about TSM's progress throughout the match, ImperialHal explained that the team took it step by step: "We started realizing our mistakes, game after game, and we started improving ... game after game."

As for their comms, Albralelie indicated that they split shot-calling duties: "Our positioning was all on Jordan and Hal. I just call when we should engage on fights. I don't know, man. I got no words."

Finally, when asked about winning a second straight championship, Reps kept it short and let the record speak for itself: "Two-time, back-to-back."