In a shocking turn of events, yet another Apex Legends team has lost their chance to compete in the pro league after being banned for terms of service violations.
MDY Red, who won the fourth week of APAC South preseason qualifiers, were confirmed to have been removed from their qualifying position on Dec 19. The news broke after the official Apex Esports accounts announced which teams are advancing after qualifiers. MDY Red was not on the list of teams, leading APAC-South guru im_b_rad to confirm the team had been banned. Allegedly, the players participated in collusion, which is explicitly banned in the official ALGS rulebook.
Under the official guidelines, collusion is defined broadly with numerous examples. EA has yet to specify which instances relate to MDY Red’s ban. However, other members of the ALGS community believe they have pinpointed the exact actions that violated EA’s rules.
According to ALGS content creator and reporter JMeyels, MDY Red was convinced in a Discord message by EXC player Walsh to switch POI, landing on another team named Farmers Market in game five of the final. MDY Red were already in a solid qualifying position based on points, so were evidently able to afford last-minute changes in their plan. Their decision to land on Farmers Market led to their untimely elimination, benefitting EXC.
Following MDY Red’s ban, team Ocean Turtle, the next in line to qualify based on points accumulated over the preseason, will be competing in the APAC South pro league instead.
Astonishingly, this marks the third time in the space of a week a competitive Apex team participating in the ALGS preseason qualifiers has had its chance to compete in the pro league ripped away. Two days before the final weekend of qualifiers, EMEA team Redragon had two players banned for TOS violations relating to IP issues. Redragon were in an incredibly promising position to qualify and protested their ban heavily.
On Dec. 18, the region was hit with yet another shock twist. Three Dragons player Sunzyyy was banned mere hours before the EMEA preseason final, leaving his two teammates competing as a duo. Despite the two remaining players displaying impressive resolve, the absence of Sunzyyy meant they could not qualify. Mande and Shiv’s team, “40%worse”, were confirmed to take the team’s place earlier on Dec. 19.
These three high-profile bans in less than seven days have raised alarming questions surrounding EA and Respawn’s management of cheating. Up to six players are involved in these incidents, and the issues were not identified by EA until extremely late, causing immense confusion across multiple ALGS regions.
Hopes are this is the last ban impacting Apex pro league qualifications for 2024 and each region can finally prepare for the new season, starting Jan. 20. However, nobody can be sure considering these last few days. If there is one thing ALGS Year Four has taught us already, it is that nothing is certain in competitive Apex until it’s all wrapped up.
