What Can NICKMERCS Bring To The ALGS?
Nick ‘NICKMERCS’ Kolcheff is one of the biggest streamers in the world, and one of the biggest personalities in gaming. Whatever he turns his hand to, success seems to follow - along with brand deals, partnerships, and tens of thousands of avid viewers.
Kolcheff turned his hand to Apex Legends during Season 10, in around October 2021. By that I mean he started paying serious attention to the game. He’d played before, including sponsored streams at the beginning of new seasons, but had never stuck with it. However, due to the state of cheaters and lack of a ranked mode in Call of Duty: Warzone, which was formerly his tonic of choice for head-clicking action, he started grinding Apex a little more seriously.
Related: Is Apex Legends Esports' Match Point Format Fit For Purpose?
Fans of Respawn’s battle royale had mixed feelings about his switch, but Kolcheff soon showed that he meant business. He wasn’t playing just for glory or to take the piss out of the game, he was genuinely trying to improve. Hosting his famous MFAM tournaments for Apex instead of Warzone also won a lot of players and fans over, as the prize pools were often bigger than most ALGS competitions.
But he wasn’t very good at the game. He’s far better than me, don’t get me wrong, I’m not bitter or anything here. He can shoot as straight as a high-velocity arrow whether armed with a Bocek or R-301, and that transferrable ability carried him initially. His change of game was already putting more eyes on Apex Legends, and other big streamers like Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins tried their hand at it too. Ninja’s Fortnite prowess helped him with the movement and looting elements of Apex that Kolcheff still hadn’t got down, but he ultimately couldn’t stick with the game.
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