ALGS Year 5 champion Miguel “Blinkzr” Quiles talks post-championship reflections and his love for his family.
In the tournament featuring the best of the best Apex Legends squads in the world, the org-less squad Oblivion emerged victorious. The newly-minted ALGS Year 5 Champion and Finals MVP, Miguel "Blinkzr" Quiles, shared his thoughts on the win, his teammates, and family in an exclusive interview with esports.gg minutes after his win.
Oblivion lifted the trophy after nine matches in the match point finals of the ALGS Year 5 Championship. They took home $600,000 USD for beating out all the other teams in the competition, including powerhouse Team Falcons and fan-favorites FNATIC.
Blinkzr was awarded the Finals MVP for his performance. After the nine matches in the grand final, he led the squad with 16 Kills, 15 Assists, and 17 Knocks.
I'm Blinkzr, and I just won my first World Championship
I'm Blinkzr, I've been playing Apex Legends for four years, and I just won my first World Championship.
Fresh off the win, Blinkzr shared his and his team's sentiments. "I'm feeling good, for sure. The first, like, two minutes [after the win] didn't feel real. Even for my teammates, it didn't feel real for them," he said. "It's the first time for all of us to win a world championship, and that was also my first finals lobby ever."
Oblivion reached match point by game 6 and became eligible to win in match 7 afterwards. However, the series stretched until game 9 before they finally got their win. Their win in game 3 was their first of the event, and greatly helped toward their placements. It catapulted them from 7th place with 14 points to 3rd place at 32 points.
"That win was actually massive. That's when I actually realized — I looked at the leaderboard and I was like 'Oh s***, this is actually doable. We might actually win.'"
Blinkzr and his squad would then earn another 17 points in the following map, bringing their point total to 49: one point short of match point.
"We died super early in game 5, so we had to play one extra game to get match point," Blinkzr recalled. "It was a realization that it was actually going to be harder than we thought."
"These lobbies are textbook."
Even if this was his first finals lobby, Blinkzr thought that the highest-level of professional Apex Legends was easier than the other matches. This is surprising, considering many prominent names and teams in ALGS were involved, including Team Falcons' Phillip "ImperialHal" Dosen, Rhys "Zer0" Perry with Team Liquid, and FNATIC. The reason? Predictability and preparation.
"I think these lobbies are easier because we scrim against these people online every single day. We can prepare, unlike the other lobbies where some people are going to play differently," Blinkzr explained. "Lobbies like the one in the finals are textbook."
2 uncs, 1 fun team
Reflecting on the ALGS Year 5 Championship, Blinkzr's conclusion was simple. "Champs has been so fun. This is actually the first time that I'm on a team and I actually have fun," he said.
"These guys are so fun to play with. They were like my two uncles. 27- and 29-year old guys who just believed in me," he said, referring to his teammates Bowen "Monsoon" Fuller and Brandon "FunFPS" Groombridge.
Blinkzr's year has been eventful, going from Oblivion, to being signed by KOI, then back to being unsigned as Oblivion. "It feels rewarding, you know."
He also expressed his love to virtually everybody after the win: "I love my fans, I love my family. I love everyone who watched the games," Blinkzr excitedly said. "Crowd was insane. Every time I looked up during a game, it just felt surreal that there's more than 10,000 people cheering. So much people actually enjoying this game is absolutely surreal."
"I would've loved to play with my brother."
Blinkzr then shared that he safely landed in the host city of Sapporo, Japan, earlier than the rest of Oblivion who were subjected to delayed arrivals due to the inclement weather.
"Yeah. there was a little bit of panic, because our substitute player was actually my brother. I mean, my brother's a great player but I'm glad Fun made it in time," he said. Raphael "CcobraxX" Quiles, Blinkzr's older brother, is also a competitive Apex Legends player competing in Challenger Circuits and BLGS, among others.
I would have loved to play with my brother, but Fun is a great player and playing with him is just safer. I think that's the word.
He then talked about his mother, who was also among the thousands of fans in the stands cheering for her son. "It's actually crazy, because when I was younger, my mom always wanted me to play outside and stop playing video games," Blinkzr reminisced. "As I got older and getting serious, she actually started believing in me. Now, she follows me to most of my LANs and it's nice to have someone close to me watch me follow my dreams."
Competitive Apex Legends continues with ALGS Year 6, which boasts a bigger prize pool across three LAN events.
