Image credit: PlayApex Esports
TSM is on top at the ALGS Championship 2023.
The world champions of the ALGS have just been crowned as TSM hoisted the trophy after a three-game win streak to take its first-ever ALGS Championship trophy. The grand finals went to eight games with seven teams on match point but it was TSM who came out on top in the end by taking out start a fight Esports in the final circle.
Throughout the entire five-day tournament, the TSM plot armour was writing itself out for the NA titans. Their latest victory had plenty of similarities to their ALGS Split 1 Playoffs win, which also went to eight games. Aside from winning on Storm Point once again with a similar end zone, another resemblance was the fact that TSM won despite not having the most points. This makes it their second LAN win where the match point format worked out in their favour.
However, this doesn't downplay TSM's performance during the ALGS Championship. TSM had a decent group stage showing with two top-three finishes on the first day. They ended up in seventh overall after the group stage, which placed them in the upper bracket.
Now this was where it started to get dicey for TSM. Out of the eight rounds played, TSM ended outside of the top 10 four times without any kills to their name. But it was the final match of the day that saw the true strength of TSM, who won the last game of the series on Worlds Edge to send themselves to the final stage in fifth after being outside of the top 10 for most of the day.
And speaking of the grand finals, TSM would end up having yet another slow start to the series. The first two matches on Worlds Edge saw them pick up only five points while the third game on Storm Point saw the team's IGL, Phillip "ImperialHal" Dosen die off-drop by The Dojo, who had two members camp in TSM's POI.
However, it was OpTic who would take match point first after they managed to win the first and third matches of the series with 25 kills. TSM would soon pull themselves together in game four with a sixth-place finish and three kills to boot to put some much-needed points on the board. But it was from the sixth round onwards did TSM started to truly put themselves in contention with crucial rotations and zone knowledge.
TSM ended up taking the sixth round with six kills, which placed them on 40 points, just 10 shy of being match-point eligible. Games seven and eight saw the map switch back to Storm Point and this was where TSM truly shined. The seventh match saw the final circles pull towards the north side at The Wall, which was highly favourable for TSM seeing as it is their POI.
They managed to fend off multiple teams from trying to take control of their rooftop whilst also taking out anyone in their crosshairs in the process. TSM ultimately won the seventh game, making it back-to-back wins and putting themselves on match point. In game eight, the zone ended up getting pulled towards the centre of Thunder Watch and Storm Catcher.
TSM's early rotations proved vital in their eventual victory as The Dojo was their first casualty, having rotated towards the zone quite late. From there, TSM managed to catch stragglers to add to their kill score whilst also securing the god-spot for the final circle. A clutch Dark Veil wall from Evan "Verhulst" Verhulst managed to give TSM the advantage in the end zone before they took to the skies once more to clinch a third map win in a row and the ALGS Championship trophy.
With that win, TSM has solidifed itself as the best team in the ALGS right now with ImperialHal taking home yet another Monster Energy MVP title, which was also the case in the Split 1 Playoffs. His teammate Verhulst also took home the EA Positive Player award, the first of its kind. TSM also ended up with a lion's share of the $2 million prize pool with $600,000.
ALGS Championship - Winners List
| Position | Team | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | TSM | $600,000 |
| 2. | OpTic Gaming | $320,000 |
| 3. | BLVKHVND | $210,000 |
| 4. | The Dojo | $170,000 |
| 5. | LG Chivas | $130,000 |
| 6. | FaZe Clan |
$100,000 |
| 7. | DreamFire | $80,000 |
| 8. | Pioneers |
$60,000 |
| 9. | REALIZE |
$50,000 |
| 10. | Iron Blood Gaming |
$40,000 |
| 11. | Acend | $32,000 |
| 12. | Moist Esports | $30,000 |
| 13. | Element 6 | $28,000 |
| 14. | start a fight Esports | $26,000 |
| 15. | NRG | $24,000 |
| 16. | Oxygen Esports | $22,000 |
| 17. | PULVEREX | $21,000 |
| 18. | MDY White | $20,000 |
| 19. | Alliance | $19,000 |
| 20. | ENTER FORCE.36 | $18,000 |
