Apex Legends: ALGS Split 2: Lots of Apex goodness, substitutions and Team Empire in the Top 8

Apex Legends tournaments have been gaining popularity recently, and the ALGS Split 2 finals were a great confirmation of that: a million dollars prize money, a tight schedule of matches, 40 top teams from around the world, including Team Empire and Players (former Gambit), 500 thousand viewers at the broadcast and an intense battle to the last map.
Unlike the PUBG, where the organizers are trying to stretch the content over several weeks, dividing the competition into many stages, the guys from Respawn decided to fit the entire tournament into just three days.
Therefore, during the group stage, the teams had to play three sets of six matches with small breaks.
Of course, from the viewer's point of view, this is a huge plus, after all, it is quite fun to watch the incessant flow of matches.
But it also increased the workload on the players, which could have a negative impact on the results of some teams.
We should also note the huge number of forced substitutions.
Some faced various restrictions on flights, others on reaching Stockholm managed to get sick with Covid, but one way or another, many teams had to look for a third team in an emergency.
For example, Players lost Artyco at the last moment and had to play with pkmk as a stand-in.
As for the tournament itself, it was interesting to watch it mostly because of the good play of our teams.
After a good game in the group stage, the former Gambit squad had problems in the playoffs and in spite of the fact that they kept fighting in the bottom part of the group, they never got lucky and in the end Hardecki and team were one step away from the final.Empire was in a much better situation and before the last day they could claim the status of one of the favourites.
But then the rules of the tournament intervened.
You see, in the finals, teams need to score 50 points, and then win a game to become champions.
That said, the first two games, which are crucial to securing enough points, must take place at World's Edge, where Empire historically hasn't had good strategies.
So by the time the teams got to Storm Point and the Imperials began to score points, they were too far behind the leaders and could only make it to the top 8.
First place went to the Australians from Reignite, who even with a substitute didn't stop them from quickly reaching Match Point and then completing the tournament with a victory on Map 7.
ALGS Split 2:1 place winners - Reignite - 250,000 $2 place - Team Liquid - 150,000 $3 place - Team UNITE - 100,000 $4 place - Optic Gaming - 80,000 $At last I would like to mention that the number of spectators interested in Apex tournaments continues to grow.
The official broadcast of the ALGS Split 2 finals was stably keeping the online audience around 70-80k and approached 150k at the peak, and with all kinds of restrims the number of Apex Legends viewers in the last day exceeded 500k.