ALGS Pros Explain Their Off-Meta Picks Part 2

thegamer.com:

Storm Point changed the game for Apex Legends esports. As well as requiring pro players to learn the intricacies of a whole new - and incredibly large - map, it fully shifted the Legend meta. A further focus on movement characters has swayed ALGS matches, and the sky will be filled with Valkyrie Ultimates as teams try to make it to zone. There’s a reason for her meteoric rise, after all.

Whether or not Newcastle will overtake Gibraltar in the competitive scene remains to be seen, but we won’t know for sure until he’s released - well after the Playoffs. In the meantime, however, I’m looking into the off-meta picks that pro players are utilising in the ALGS - or those that are becoming meta, and you might not quite understand why just yet. After Jonathan ‘Kotigami’ Carlo, Douglas ‘Protectful’ Roberts, and Davis ‘wave’ Barone explained why they were using Ash, Loba, and Fuse respectively at the business end of Split 2, I decided to look into some more Legends that were seeing more action ahead of the Playoffs, the ALGS’ first in-person LAN event.

Related: What Not To Expect From The ALGS Playoffs

“Coming into the [ALGS Playoffs] scrims we saw that a lot of APAC teams play with Crypto and Wattson, [and that’s] what made us reconsider on using Crypto, Caustic, Wraith again,” explains Filipe ‘Hiarka’ Morgado. He adds that the benefits of Crypto are basically all to do with the information he can gather for your team.

“Crypto has a lot of strengths,” Hiarka tells me. “I would say not only the Ultimate but also the power that he has to scout positions and scan the beacon 200m away from your spot.” Information is king. And without a Valkyrie on their team - almost unheard of these days - zone knowledge allows you to rotate fast