Stallions picking up Sweetdreams could open the door for NickMercs

There is an opportunity for NickMercs and the Tripods to still play in the ALGS Pro League, after the ex-NRG spot was forfeited.

The ex-NRG spot was held by Sweetdreams and Nafen. The pair had to continue to compete together in order for that spot to exist.

However, multiple sources have told esports.gg that Sweetdreams will be joining team Stallions for ALGS Year 4. This has been seemingly confirmed by current Stallions player Retzi announcing he is looking for a new team.

Crucially, this will free up a Pro League slot for one fortunate team. The rules on how teams qualify for the ALGS Pro League are as follows:

"Split 1 of each regional Pro League Regular Season (“Regular Season”) consists of thirty (30) Teams:
● No more than eight (8) Teams that qualify through the Preseason Qualifiers; and
● At least twenty-two (22) Teams invited based on their performance in the ALGS Year 3, in descending order of priority:
○ Teams who competed in the Year 3 Championship, Pro League Split 1 Playoffs or Pro League Split 2 Playoffs.
○ Teams invited at the discretion of the ALGS.
○ Teams with an average Split Ranking of 15.00 or better across both Split 1 and Split 2 of the Year 3 Regular Season, invited in order of best to worst average Split Ranking
○ Teams with a Year 3 LCQ placement of 10th or better, invited in order of highest to lowest LCQ placement"

Some have speculated that the 5th placed Pre Season Qualifier team Oversleepers may get the spot. This would not automatically be the case. A maximum of eight teams can qualify from the Pre Season qualifiers and those eight teams are already set.

EA list teams eligibility in order of priority. All teams who made any of the LAN events are already invited. That moves attention down to teams invited at the discretion of the ALGS.

It seems likely that this slot will be filled via an EA invite.

However, despite rules clearly stating "No more than eight (8) Teams that qualify through the Preseason Qualifiers" in APAC South nine teams qualified from the Pre-Season qualifiers. This arose after a team did not accept their invite in time.

While this contravenes the rules, it could be that EA chose to simply award the discretionary invite to the next-best placing team in the ALGS Pre Season qualifiers. Technically, that would be a way for them to get around the hard cap of eight teams in their rules.

Of course, ALGS and EA make their own rules and are the ones responsible for enforcing them.

Frankly, who EA invite is anyone's guess. The two most likely candidates do seem to be either the Tripods, or Oversleepers.

Inviting Oversleepers would be a reward for their 5th place in overall Pre Season points. The team are not entitled to a spot, but EA could essentially take the decision out of their own hands and choose to invite the next best team.

However, the Tripods are some of the biggest Apex Legends personalities in the game. They pull plenty of viewership. The team is not without its controversy though. If EA wanted to invite the Tripods to the ALGS Pro League for viewership reasons, they had ample opportunity to do so before.

This situation arises with Sweetdreams set to join the Stallions. The experienced IGL was initially planning to keep playing with former NRG teammate Nafen. The long standing duo were trialling thirds, and seemed to had settled on Lou.

However, repeated difficulties in scrims, especially in a Checkpoint contest against E8 seem to have changed Sweet's thinking. Last week he announced he was "keeping his options open".

Now, it seems clear where he had headed. Multiple sources, as well as several pro players on X are indicating he will link up with Fuhhnq and Slayr on team Stallions. These two young controller players will give Sweet a fresh start to rebuild his career in Competitive Apex Legends.

A LFT post by current Stallions player Retzi all but confirms that this roster swap will be the case.

Retzi also confirms that the team now has an organisation backing them. Sweet has previously said that an organisation, believed to be Luminosity, is backing him no matter what team he ends up playing with.

All eyes will now be on EA. Many will expect the viewership and reputation of Tripods to encourage EA to invite them. Yet, EA have complete discretion on who to replace ex-NRG with. It would certainly be a surprise if it wasn't either Tripods or Oversleepers invited. But, stranger things have happened.

Stay tuned to see who will be invited to the ALGS Pro League.

For more coverage of the ALGS, stick with esports.gg.