Moist Esports’ Wxltzy talks ALGS Split 1 Playoffs, APAC South’s fight for recognition and his journey with new rising or Moist Esports.
Moist Esports is one of the newest rising organizations that have entered Apex Legends. Picking up the people's champion from last year's ALGS, Team Burger. Now with the support of internet streaming royalty MoistCr1TiKaL and Ludwig under the Moist Esports banner, the team has definitely made an impact.
In the group stage Moist Esports finished with 116 points qualifying them for the Winner's Bracket Playoffs on Day 3. From there a strong finish in the Winner's Bracket secured Moist Esports 9th place, which comes with a two point advantage heading into the Grand Finals Match Point format.
You can follow all of the action via our ALGS Split 1 Playoffs hub.
Wxltzy's thoughts on Moist Esports' performance so far
Maly: To qualify for this LAN you won three games back-to-back in your Regional Qualifiers. That's an amazing achievement. I'd imagine that's something you can draw power from here in the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs.
Wxltzy: Yeah. We were fifth going into finals for our region and we won three in a row. We definitely don't get caught up in the moment, we just try to bring what we've planned. In the last week we actually swapped comps and it was basically just a matter of switching up our mindset to believe we are good enough to adapt to any lobby. If we have to change character comps or playstyle to succeed, so be it.
For this tournament we've stuck to what we know but definitely that mindset we brought into the final week of Pro League has been applied since we arrived in London.
How significant was the swap in team compositions?
It was only from Seer to Crypto. But the change is pretty massive, just because Crypto is probably one of the harder Legends to adapt to and play around. So Seer being the third party Legend, the Legend that gives you infinite information or wall hacks, cancel heals, cancel res, all that stuff to then move to Crypto, who pretty much is just all information and an EMP. So it's a bit of a bit of a switch up. And obviously, Seer's ultimate is probably the most broken ultimate in the game right now. Not having that in fights is definitely difficult.
Maly: What were Moist Esports' goals for this event? Outside of points.
Wxltzy: As a team, I think top 10 was our goal. At the last few LANs, we placed 17th and 15th. So coming into this one top 10 is, you know, obviously doable, as we have made finals both times. And even in winner's bracket the first time round, we placed fifth, second time around placed 8th in winner's bracket.
We have the potential to capitalize and perform well. But I think when it came to finals in the past, we had a lot of things go wrong, and we weren't able to adapt. That was probably our biggest downfall. So I think top 10 is our main goal,top five of things go our way.
Maly: What do you think of the Match Point format in ALGS Finals?
Wxltzy: I'm torn because I think there are situations where the best team of the day didn't win. And I think you know, in some situations, that is tough, but I also love the format in the sense that teams that are having an unlucky string of games have the opportunity to sort of bring it back and still win.
Like DZ (Dark Zero), first three games of ALGS Champs, they were in the lockers, they were down in the dumps, they were not happy. And then they ended up winning simply because they are capable of winning those games. So I'm two minds about it. But I think overall, I'd probably say I'm in favour of Match Point format. I think it definitely is good for viewership.
The thrill of Apex comp
So from a fan perspective the last season of Apex Legends wasn't one of the best. What made you push through a perhaps uninspiring season?
Wxltzy: "I think Apex comp is the main thing that kept me going but also I stream as well. So I would definitely say those two things have kept me going. So it's the competitive side is like unreal, that don't think there's anything that'll match this in terms of like, pulling my attention and just keeping me locked in all the time.
The feeling of winning in this game is like crack that it's just you just can't get off of it. Yeah, and then as for my stream, its a very, very solid community that I'm super proud of. So I'd say they kept me going as well."
"So the feeling of winning in this game is like crack that it's just you just can't get off of it."
APAC South remains underrated
Do you think a APAC South deserves more love from the community and third party organizers?
Wxltzy: "Oh 100%. And I think I think anyone that has a really good understanding of the comp scene would agree. I think, even after our performances at LAN, including this one, I think before today, we were averaging the second most points per team. So that in itself is a pretty crazy achievement considering we are a region that only gets five slots.
I definitely think in terms of the party organizers, I think we do sort of go underrated or slept on purely because our viewership isn't only on Twitch which I do understand obviously isn't perfect for third party organizers but our viewership on other streaming websites like BiliBili, or other Chinese or Indonesian sites and stuff like that is actually quite insane.
People like Bolin, Taaaao or Tiltedwinnie I think go unnoticed just because the wider English speaking community might not know them. They kind of get slept but I think there is a lot of profitability in our regionals. So yes, definitely I think we go underrated."
Maly: What do you think it would take to change that perception of APAC South?
Wxltzy: "Well, we had Dark Zero, and that didn't change it. So I'm not sure what it would take. Having Genburten, averaging 3,000 to 5,000 viewers a stream, having the two time LAN champs didn't really seem to change much.
I think a big issue we have is actually we don't have everybody in tournament streaming as much as what NA does, and even the EU. So in NA, Sweet and Hal had always streamed their tournaments. If you watch Verhulst or Dropped, I think there are a lot of NA streamers who play comp in stream, but in our region, it just doesn't happen."
"When you have Charlie (MoistCr1tikal) himself messaging me before games and saying like 'Good luck', 'We believe in you' and 'we'll back you and will be watching', it's surreal."
Wxltzy on being part of Moist Esports
Maly: In terms of you and your team-mates from Team Burger, you joined Moist Esports, a rising organization which is pretty exciting, how does that feel? Were you aware of who MoistCr1TiKaL and Ludwig were? I'd love to hear what you're enjoying about it so far.
Wxltzy: "So I didn't know who MoistCr1TiKaL was, but I think after being a part of Moist Esports, the only way you could describe it as is surreal. Especially when you have Charlie (MoistCr1TiKaL) himself messaging me before ALGS games and saying like 'good luck', 'we believe in you' and 'we'll back you and will be watching'. It's honestly just a surreal experience.
Knowing that Charlie's (MoistCr1TiKaL) viewership of 10 to 20,000 people are watching you on top of the main stream is you know, a bit intense. But it does also prepare you for events like this where you have crowds in front of you and 1000s of viewers at home.
I think being a part of Moist Esports has been nothing but positive. I literally don't have a single thing to complain about, it has been nothing but support. Personally I didn't actually know Ludwig as much as I probably should have, but having him on board is also just another massive win. Moist Esports is going nowhere but up."
Moist Esports will continue their run at the ALGS Split 1 Playoffs in the Grand Final Bracket.