Alliance Unlucky not worried about second place “curse”

Alliance have picked up right where they left off at the ALGS Midseason playoffs at the Esports World Cup, by dominating. Effect, Hakis and Unlucky have truly established ownership over the EMEA region, with Alliance having several narrow-misses in Match Point finals on the International Stage.

The blend of Unlucky, Effect and Hakis seems to be as close to a perfect combination as you'll ever find in esports. Alliance have adapted to any challenge thrown at them. New maps, Legend bans, meta shifts have all had no impact on their consistently elite performances over the last year.

esports.gg spoke to Unlucky of Alliance at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh.

While Alliance have had a lot of Match Point near misses, the curse was finally broken last summer at the inaugural Esports World Cup event. Last year, that was a standalone event separate from the ALGS circuit. This year, it is the ALGS Midseason Playoffs.

Technically, this is a brand new event. That means some might not consider Alliance defending champions this time around. Unlucky disagrees with that, however.

"We are definitely defending Champions, absolutely certain!"

This year has been incredibly successful for Alliance. They haven't missed a beat in Year 5, performing really well at the ALGS Open and comfortably winning the EMEA Pro League. Unlucky explains how they aren't adjusting their gameplan for the international stage.

"I personally think there's not much difference [on LAN] - usually it's literally just the time zone difference. We just need to schedule our sleep, but [in Riyadh]  it's like the same for us, so I think there's not much difference honestly.

"I think we always play the same no matter what tournament. We're just playing hard edge always. We haven't changed up in a while now and it has been working out great for us. We just chop around the teams on the edge, the weaker teams in this case, and we work our way in with scan and ring console so we're great."

Teams also have to contend with a marathon 10-game group stage at the Midseason Playoffs. For one setting, that can be exhausting and requires some management. As Alliance did in their pool play group, Unlucky says that getting as many points as you can early on helps manage the fatigue you can experience playing for so long.

"[The number of games] definitely impacts [you] a lot because there's a lot of adrenaline going through your body during the games depending how exciting the game was for you, right? Let's say you win the game with like 16 kills or something and it's like only game three or something. You're to be high up and then you're to have like a, like a down like for a game four, maybe five, six, etc. So you've just got to take a good break. It's really like just focusing on the mental side at the end of the day."

The second place curse, or the perhaps even more insulting title of "group stage warriors" gets thrown around a lot when discussing Alliance. There is a risk that these things become self fulfilling prophecies of sorts. The more you think about it, the more you can be inside your own head and damage your confidence.

However, Alliance and Unlucky are focused on their performances and taking confidence from that. Alliance have found themselves short of a title, but with the most points, on more than one occasion.

"It's not getting into our head really. Our second places were very unfortunate. Like recently in New Orleans we just had no ring console, right? Like it was just an unfortunate event. Then in Champs, second place, we were very close twice, but it was just very hard end games to win. We did the best we could.

"So at the end of the day, match point is like, it has a lot to do with luck as well. And we're still the best team in the lobby. We always had the most points when we were second place, so it's just unlucky!"

One of the standout things about any event Alliance compete at is how well supported they are, anywhere in the world. Alliance fans have shown up in numbers time and time again, including in Riyadh this summer.

Unlucky reveals that the support truly does make a difference to players performance.

"I mean honestly I truly appreciate our Alliance fans. We have so many Alliance fans for so many years now already and they still support us till this day. I really truly appreciate them and they always come to these events. They're just very nice and warm.

"It 100% makes a difference. The fans are a very good boost if you're maybe down and they're cheering you up. They're hearing your crowd cheering your team's name etc. I think that's very important if you're feeling down."

Alliance gave their fans plenty to cheer in their opening performance, and will look to defend their title on Sunday during Match Point finals. Stay tuned to esports.gg for full coverage of the ALGS and all things Apex Legends.