After withdrawing from competition 9 months ago, Apeks show no signs of slowing down

Apeks called a timeout on their roster last September; now, led by rookie Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski, the team's redemption arc is near completion as they aim to challenge the world's best at the Major in Paris.

"Our results have been far from good enough and we need time to reflect and evaluate until we feel ready," read Apeks' shock statement in August 2022.

The Norwegian organization had just announced a temporary pause to their Counter-Strike operations, hitting the brakes and withdrawing their team from competitions after a slew of poor performances. It was time for Apeks to go back to the drawing board and start fresh; a pivot that differed from the usual remedy of opening up the checkbook and signing even more players in hopes of steering the ship back on course — the Counter-Strike equivalent of placing yet another bandaid on top of a gaping wound.

Apeks' withdrawal from competitions in September, though drastic, was hardly unexpected. For years the organization had tried to make inroads into becoming a household name amongst the very best teams, attempting to remain close to home with the signing of Norwegian and Swedish rosters. The organization even attempted to merge the two nations together in a last-ditch effort to remain true to Scandinavia, adding Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk as the sole international piece of the puzzle to complete their early 2022 revamp.

Alas, this semi-multinational pivot fell flat. A first-place finish at the Tipsport Bratislava Cup, a tournament consisting of mostly Czech and Slovak lineups, was their highlight. By June 2022 the wheels were in motion to start again from scratch. Asger "⁠AcilioN⁠" Larsen and Hugo "⁠chawzyyy⁠" Günther were both moved to the bench, a move which was hastened by the team's inability to qualify for the PGL Antwerp Major earlier in the year. A two-month radio silence ensued, during which the organization bided their time and scoured the market over the off-season in an attempt to bolster their ranks with some of the more intriguing options up for grabs.

By August Apeks were ready to hop back into the server. Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius had put pen to paper and joined the squad following a stint with ex-MAD Lions, although the biggest of surprises came a short time later, when Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon was unveiled as the team's new fifth. He linked up with the team after a failed stint with Liquid and was easily the most seasoned player on the lineup. His breadth of experience was expected to be of great value in assisting STYKO in his new adventure as in-game leader.

"Expectations were high," STYKO explains about the new-look roster's fair degree of optimism in regards to their chances moving forward. "The duo was nicely balanced in a young rifler and an experienced veteran. We thought it was a good move. We originally had some other players in mind, but some talks fell through and in the end we went for shox and jL without any trial period as we had to sign a player and start the season with a full lineup."

Regardless, disaster struck almost immediately. The European combine, which had a hefty weight on their shoulders after such a lucrative off-season shuffle, quickly found themselves watching the IEM Rio Major from the sidelines. Admittedly, the team had little practice time to get their new team in shape, but after four open qualifiers, Apeks' Major-qualifying aspirations had been well and truly shattered — a hiccup which STYKO believes had a knock-on effect for the lineup moving forward.

"[Missing out on the IEM Rio Major] was important. It was a goal of the organization's to participate at the Major — that is why we signed the players we signed," the 27-year-old admits. "After we missed out, we tried to salvage the season, somewhat, but unsuccessfully. After we failed to qualify for the [IEM Rio] Major, which in our defense we had limited practice for, I felt like some players gave up and they didn't believe in the roster anymore."

There was little time to mope around, though, and Apeks opted to look stateside in a bid to gain some much-needed practice for the new roster. They flew to the North American city of Philadelphia to compete at Fragadelphia 17 after having their confidence knocked in the Major qualifiers for a chance to get some wins on the board and to start seeing some progress. The competition was theirs for the taking, it was just a sea of North American rosters — most of whom were only used to playing in smaller, domestic tournaments — standing between them and a trophy. It was akin to the previous roster's win in Slovakia.

An easy victory was far from what came to fruition, however, and the first cause for concern was narrowly making it to the playoffs. The STYKO-led lineup went 2-1 in the group stage, barely progressing further after suffering an unexpected defeat to Squirtle Squad. It only got worse in the knockout stage. Apeks moved past ATK only to be felled by BIG Academy — a developmental roster which was only stateside in an attempt to garner some experience on a stage — in the semi-finals. It was a humiliating defeat which did little to instill the confidence the team was so desperately craving.

Sure enough, a mere two weeks later the team was withdrawn from all of their tournament appearances. What was meant to be the start of Apeks' new beginning ended in disaster.

"The withdrawal was purely the decision of the organization," the Slovak rifler divulges. "We, as players, had no say in it. In the heat of the moment, we wanted to keep going and playing; we had a pretty decent chance to get deep into ESL Challenger League, I think. But in the end, the decision to withdraw was correct and we benefited as a team."

Their period of self-evaluation ended up lasting approximately four months. The roster spent the off-time practicing and trialing a handful of notable names, which included Hansel "⁠BnTeT⁠" Ferdinand, Mikkel "⁠Maze⁠" Sparvath, and Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade, as they looked to the future wishing to move on from their lackluster six-week stint alongside shox.

"We played individually and rested, we tried to reset mentally from the challenging period," STYKO explains, looking back at the downtime during Apeks' withdrawal. "We had frequent team talks about what is going to happen, what decisions are being made by the organization because, at that point, we knew that sticking with the same roster would be impossible."

Things went well, initially. Apeks, playing with Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller as a stand-in, completed a lower bracket run en route to triumph in ESEA Advanced Season 43 after defeating Monte 3-2 in a hard-fought grand final. Not only did their victory earn the rehabilitating roster a spot in ESL Challenger League, but it was also their first victory since the previous team's win in Slovakia eight months prior. It was a confidence-boosting win and one that raised eyebrows as Apeks came out of their withdrawal looking like a drastically different roster.

Although the team performed admirably with MICHU, the Poles' time as a stand-in eventually ran its course. Eager to settle on a fully-fledged side ahead of the new year, Apeks once again dished out another contract, this time to kyxsan. The Macedonian made the jump to the English-speaking roster on a transfer from BLUEJAYS, whom he was a part of for a little over a year. The 22-year-old's addition wasn't the obvious choice from the outside, but his "deeper knowledge of CS, overall meta, and our identity of how the team should work," was exactly what the squad needed, according to STYKO.

With just two months to settle their new recruit in and get accustomed to the leadership, Apeks began the long and strenuous journey to securing a BLAST.tv Paris Major berth. This path began with the closed qualifier phase, to which they secured an invite thanks to their placing on Valve's ranking, and thus bypassing the dreaded open qualifier stage. The international ensemble surpassed all expectations in the qualifier, making it to the RMRs in Denmark after putting up an unblemished 3-0 record with victories over iNation, Falcons, and 500 along the way. It was an all-important showing after bombing out of the IEM Rio Major cycle in the open qualifier stage. The team already showed progress by advancing to the RMR in Denmark, where they side had a genuine chance at making it to the Major itself.

Apeks' biggest test with kyxsan at the reins came at the RMR in Copenhagen. A victory over GamerLegion and a loss to FaZe allowed the side to end the inaugural day of play with a respectable 1-1 record, far from elimination territory but still equally distant from snatching a Paris Major spot.

Alas, disaster stuck on day two. An overtime loss to the ever-dangerous Bad News Eagles cast the European combine down to the 1-2 pool — Apeks' Major-qualifying dreams were slowly slipping away, the side now needing to dig deep if they were to recover in time. But that's exactly what happened, a 2-0 victory over a fledgling Sprout got them to 2-2 and from there it was just a case of clinching a hotly-contested win over B8 to qualify, a win STYKO feels was lucky for Apeks.

"Honestly, we maybe got a bit lucky with the last BO3 against B8," the Slovak rifler admits. "There were possibilities of us facing OG or MOUZ, which would have been a much more difficult game for us as they are more experienced and well-rounded teams. However, as we saw we face Sprout in the 1-2 game and then B8 in the 2-2 game, I personally had no doubt we would win. It was only matter of keeping things cool and not falling under pressure. In my opinion, the only loss conditions in those two games were if we lost to ourselves."

Apeks have been hard at work since flying home from the RMR, preparing for what is their organization's first time at a Counter-Strike Major. "We are ready for whatever challenge," STYKO confidently states about Apeks' chances at the last-ever CS:GO Major in France. "But now the focus is on our opening match-up versus Liquid. We will come with the same approach as we did for the RMR. It worked and we focus on one game at a time."

The Slovak also believes that facing Liquid, a team who hasn't dipped outside of the top 10 since August 2022, is one of the more comfortable opponents for his side. "I feel like it is one of the easier match-ups," he begins. "Looking at the map pool, I would prefer to play them in a best-of-three, but I still think we have the upper hand in a best-of-one. A lot will depend on the usual: clutches, pistols, etc."

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage
08/05/2023	Apeks 14:40 Liquid	Match

Regardless of how Apeks do at the Major, the team's main goal of qualifying for it in the first place has already been accomplished. Their trajectory over the past year has been a turbulent one and they're just happy that the goal has been achieved. "It was definitely not easy [qualifying for the Major] and the team went through a lot, so I am proud how we managed to accomplish it," STYKO says, relieved that their most important goal has finally been ticked off the to-do list. "For me, I am incredibly happy to be back as I have been grinding ever since my first Major in 2013 to get to these events. Sometimes I failed, but no matter what, I learned from those bad moments and realized where to improve."

Apeks are on the right track looking to the future after having plummeted all the way down to No. 129 on the world ranking at the time of their withdrawal. Now, they have crossed the top-30 barrier — their first time being so high on the world ranking since February 2022. kyxsan's signing to the team has seemingly done wonders to get the Oslo-based organization back to where they aspire to be: amongst the very best.

"[There is] a lot of openness within the team, definitely, we're able to talk about problems, issues, and give constructive feedback. Honestly, I've played in many teams and it is still pretty rare to land in a team where people are open to each other with anything and you know that players won't go baby mode as soon as you say something they dislike. We create problems and we solve them as a team, together. It is a process that we have to embrace and those who won't, won't achieve much."

The Slovak rifler also praises kyxsan, the team's newest recruit, specifically. It's no debate that the squad has been revitalized since the Macedonian's addition, and his in-game leading has spearheaded the squad to a yearlong peak.

"I am impressed with how kyxsan is doing and improving. We obviously help him to some extent. Everyone has different responsibilities on the team, which we need to fulfill for this team to work. His close work with coaching staff is often well balanced and he is always open to ideas. He is independent and completely capable of leading this team, but when we help him with certain details, that is when he can really activate and perform, call and lead well all at the same time."

Apeks have had a tumultuous 12 months as a team. Their September withdrawal was a blight on the team's road to reaching the biggest of Counter-Strike competitions. It was an event that had the potential to derail the entirety of Apeks' Counter-Strike program. But in the end the players persevered and a fresh lease on life was brought in with the new in-game leader, who is only 22-years-old, coupled with a determined core of players who back the vision he has laid out.

Apeks' current lineup is a perfect blend of youth and experience. For STYKO and Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad, the two veterans of the team, their quest of returning to Counter-Strike's biggest stage is now complete after previously missing out on all post-Covid Majors. The old guard is flanked by a hungry trio, whose previous inability to punch their own Major tickets provides a source of hunger: Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson and jL lead the team statistically, putting up 1.14 and 1.16 ratings, respectively, whilst kyxsan is the brains of the operation. Rounding out the Major-bound team is veteran coach Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński, who can offer a plethora of knowledge after standing behind Virtus.pro at nine Majors over the years, including a grand final at the ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta.

Apeks' decision to dramatically withdraw its team from competition and undergo a renewal phase is paying off as they prepare their maiden Major in Paris following several failed bids to get on Counter-Strike's greatest stage. Now, only time will tell if they have the legs to keep rising through the ranks past the top 30, and if so, how far.