ALGS Year 4 Championship recap

The ALGS Year 4 Championship concluded this weekend in Sapporo, Japan. TSM took the title, beating DarkZero in the grand finals 4-2 in a best-of-seven. The $2M top prize makes it the largest Apex Legends tournament of 2026, and the most-watched ALGS event since the format change to LAN-only finals.

The bracket run

TSM came into the tournament as the #2 seed from the NA regional finals, behind only DarkZero. The two teams met in the upper bracket finals on day 2, with DarkZero winning 2-1. TSM dropped to the lower bracket and had to fight through four more rounds to reach the grand finals.

The lower bracket run was the story of the tournament:

Round 1: TSM beat XSET 2-0
Round 2: TSM beat Optic 2-1 (reverse sweep on match 3)
Round 3: TSM beat 100 Thieves 2-1 (the series went to match 3, game 3 with 3 squads left)
Lower bracket finals: TSM beat OpTic 2-0 (revenge match from earlier in the tournament)

The grand finals rematch against DarkZero was tighter than expected. DarkZero took the first game with a Circle-1 hold on World's Edge. TSM responded with four straight wins on three different maps (World's Edge, Storm Point, Broken Moon, World's Edge) before DarkZero stole one back. TSM closed it out on game 6, a fragmented-endgame on World's Edge with a final squad wipe to win the title.

The MVP: ImperialHal

Phillip "ImperialHal" Dosen was named Championship MVP, his third ALGS MVP award (2022, 2024, 2026). His IGL performance in the lower bracket was the difference: TSM's macro decisions in mid-game rotations were consistently 30-60 seconds ahead of opposing teams, giving them first access to high-tier loot and the best end-game positions.

The other two-thirds of TSM's roster — Genburten and Verhulst — also had standout performances. Genburten's Wraith and Valkyrie play was the team's strongest fragging identity, and Verhulst's Catalyst in the late-game zones was the consistent closer.

The meta: how Season 24 changed the bracket

The ALGS Year 4 Championship was the first major LAN on the Season 24 patch, and the meta looked completely different from the online regionals:

Conduit was banned in week 1 of the tournament due to a crash bug. She was unbanned for day 2.
Catalyst was the strongest controller pick by a wide margin, used in 78% of winning teams' compositions.
Bangalore was the second-strongest controller, especially on World's Edge.
Wraith was the most-picked legend overall, used by every team in the tournament at least once.
Newcastle underperformed expectations and was picked in only 12% of games.
Alter (the new legend) was the most controversial pick — high skill ceiling, but inconsistent results.

The biggest meta shift from the online regionals: teams stopped running double-controller compositions. Most teams ran one controller (Catalyst) + one skirmisher (Wraith, Valkyrie, or Octane) + one recon (Seer or Bloodhound). The double-controller comp that dominated online play didn't translate to LAN.

The $2M prize pool breakdown

1st (TSM): $600,000 — split three ways, $200k per player
2nd (DarkZero): $300,000
3rd (OpTic): $180,000
4th: $120,000
5th-6th: $80,000 each
7th-8th: $50,000 each
9th-12th: $30,000 each
13th-16th: $20,000 each
17th-20th: $15,000 each

The full top-20 distribution totals $1.83M of the $2M pool; the remaining $170k went to smaller side events and tournament staff.

What changes for ALGS Year 5

ALGS Year 5 is expected to start in January 2027 with the new Pro League split format. The biggest change announced at the Year 4 finals:

Pro League splits into 4 regional conferences (NA, EU, APAC, South America) instead of the current 2 (West, East)
Match format changes from 60-minute matches to 30-minute matches with faster zone closures
New legend pool with two more legends released between Year 4 and Year 5 (one of which is a support class)

The Year 5 changes are designed to address the two biggest complaints about Year 4: too long between major LANs (6+ months) and matches that drag on in the late-game.

See our Apex Legends hub for hero tier lists, the Season 24 patch breakdown, and the ALGS Year 5 schedule.

ALGS Year 4 Championship recap — TSM wins the biggest Apex tournament of the year