Apeks
From Liquipedia VALORANT Wiki
Apeks
Team Information
Location:
Region:
Manager:
In-Game Leader:
Approx. Total Winnings:
$81,137
Links
History
Created:
2013-??-??
2023-01-10
Apeks is a professional esports organization founded in Norway in 2017. Originally known as Kingpin Esports, the team was acquired by ProUnite AS and renamed Apeks.
Apeks is known for building competitive Challengers rosters and competing in Challengers Northern Europe: Polaris. Making a name for themselves by signing strong ex-VCT talent with the goal of ascending to the International League to compete at the top echelon of VCT.
- See also: Apeks: Biography
History[edit]
Timeline[edit]
Player Roster[edit]
Active[edit]
| ID | Name | Join Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 AvovA | (Auni Chahade) Auni Chahade | Join Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | ||
 hype | (Tautvydas Paldavicius) Tautvydas Paldavicius | Join Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | ||
 MOLSI | (Michał Łącki) Michał Łącki | Join Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | ||
 florescent | (Ava Eugene) Ava Eugene | Join Date: 2024-12-05 [19] | ||
 batujnax | (Mehmet Batu Özaslan) Mehmet Batu Özaslan | Join Date: 2025-01-15 [21][22] |
Former[edit]
| Former Players | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | |||||
 Enzo | (Enzo Mestari) Enzo Mestari | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [24] | Leave Date: 2023-11-02 [16] |   Team Liquid | |||||
 keiko | (Georgio Sanassy) Georgio Sanassy | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [24] | Leave Date: 2023-11-02 [16] | Team Liquid | |||||
 Magnum | (Martin Peňkov) Martin Peňkov | Role: (Inactive) | Join Date: 2023-08-21 [14] | Leave Date: 2023-11-02 [16] |   Karmine Corp | ||||
| Mistic | (James Orfila) James Orfila | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [25][24] | Leave Date: 2023-11-02 [16] | Team Liquid | |||||
 ShadoW | (Tobias Flodström) Tobias Flodström | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [24] | Leave Date: 2023-11-02 [16] |  KOI | |||||
| Magnum | (Martin Peňkov) Martin Peňkov | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [24] | Leave Date: 2023-08-21 [14] |  Apeks (Inactive) | |||||
| otom | (Tom Hart) Tom Hart | Role: (Substitute) | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [26] | Leave Date: 2023-06-26 [9] |   apinaorkesteri (Stand-in) | ||||
Organization[edit]
Active[edit]
| Organization | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | |||||||
 Leonieahh | (Sabína Jankovič) Sabína Jankovič | Role: (Team Manager) | Join Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | ||||||
 DANNYTO | (Danail Sofroniev) Danail Sofroniev | Role: (Head Coach) | Join Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | ||||||
 oderus | (Chad Miller) Chad Miller | Role: (Strategic Coach) | Join Date: 2024-12-09 [20] | ||||||
 aNdz | (Anders Kjær) Anders Kjær | Role: (Founder & Co-Owner, COO) | Join Date: 2017-??-?? | ||||||
| Denise | (Denise Anfinnsen) Denise Anfinnsen | Role: (Founder & Co-Owner) | Join Date: 2019-??-?? | ||||||
| Olera66 | (Ole Anfinnsen) Ole Anfinnsen | Role: (Founder & Co-Owner) | Join Date: 2019-??-?? | ||||||
| Zpikey | (Einar Grannes) Einar Grannes | Role: (Business Development) | Join Date: 2022-07-01 | ||||||
Former[edit]
| Former Organization | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | |||||
| DANNYTO | (Danail Sofroniev) Danail Sofroniev | Role: (Assistant Coach) | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [24] | Leave Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | Apeks (Head Coach) | ||||
| Forrest | (Sam Forrest) Sam Forrest | Role: (Strategic Coach) | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [24] | Leave Date: 2023-10-13 [15] |  EXO Clan (General Manager) | ||||
| itopata | (Dimitar Staev) Dimitar Staev | Role: (Head Coach) | Join Date: 2023-01-10 [24] | Leave Date: 2023-10-13 [15] |  Leviatán (Head Coach) | ||||
| Phatlegs | (Peter Valderhaug) Peter Valderhaug | Role: (Performance Coach) | Join Date: 2023-05-12 [8] | Leave Date: 2023-07-17 [13] | |||||
| Desmo | (Casper Rasmussen) Casper Rasmussen | Role: (Assistant Coach) | Join Date: 2023-07-01 [10][11] | Leave Date: 2023-07-16 [12] | Apeks (Assistant Coach) | ||||
| Former Organization | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | |||||
| Desmo | (Casper Rasmussen) Casper Rasmussen | Role: (Assistant Coach) | Join Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | Leave Date: 2024-10-25 [18] | Leviatán (Assistant Coach) | ||||
 chachi | (Chimène van Eenbergen) Chimène van Eenbergen | Role: (Content Manager) | Join Date: 2023-12-08 [23] | Leave Date: 2024-05-31 [17] | |||||
| Gulden | (Frederik van Guldener) Frederik van Guldener | Role: (General Manager) | Join Date: 2023-02-02 [7] | Leave Date: 2024-05-31 [17] | |||||
Results[edit]
| Date | Place | Tier | Tournament | Result | Prize | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-01-24 | 9th - 12th | S-Tier |   | VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff | 1 : 2 |   | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024-09-15 | 1st | A-Tier |  | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 3 : 2 |  | $33,253.89 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024-07-26 | 1st | B-Tier |  | VALORANT Challengers 2024 North: Polaris Split 2 | 3 : 0 |   | $3,261.76 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024-04-22 | 1st | B-Tier | | VALORANT Challengers 2024 Northern Europe: Polaris Split 1 | 3 : 0 | | $3,199.47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024-01-13 | 4th | B-Tier |   | Superdome Egypt 2023 | 1 : 2 |  | $4,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023-07-16 | 2nd | A-Tier |  | VCT Ascension EMEA 2023 | 0 : 3 |  | $22,454.38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023-06-04 | 1st | B-Tier | | VALORANT Challengers 2023 Northern Europe: Polaris Split 2 | 3 : 1 |  | $7,488.78 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2023-03-12 | 1st | B-Tier | | VALORANT Challengers 2023 Northern Europe: Polaris Split 1 | 3 : 1 | | $7,478.31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Extended list of results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Tier | Type | Tournament | Score | vs. Opponent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2025 - 18:00 CET | S-Tier | Offline | | VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff | 1 : 2 | |
| Jan 16, 2025 - 21:10 CET | S-Tier | Offline | | VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff | 0 : 2 | |
| Sep 15, 2024 - 18:00 CEST | A-Tier | Offline | | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 3 : 2 | |
| Sep 08, 2024 - 18:00 CEST | A-Tier | Online | | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 2 : 0 | |
| Sep 07, 2024 - 18:00 CEST | A-Tier | Online | | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 2 : 0 | |
| Sep 04, 2024 - 19:50 CEST | A-Tier | Online | | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 2 : 1 | |
| Sep 02, 2024 - 21:30 CEST | A-Tier | Online | | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 2 : 0 | |
| Sep 01, 2024 - 18:00 CEST | A-Tier | Online | | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 2 : 1 | |
| Aug 31, 2024 - 18:00 CEST | A-Tier | Online | | VCT Ascension EMEA 2024 | 1 : 2 | |
| Jul 26, 2024 - 16:00 BST | B-Tier | Online | | VALORANT Challengers 2024 North: Polaris Split 2 | 3 : 0 |
Trivia[edit]
- First Affiliate team (partner with Team Liquid) to win a Challengers Split and Ascension event.
- Apeks has won every Split of VALORANT Challengers Northern Europe they have competed in: VCL 2023 Northern Europe: Split 1, VCL 2023 Northern Europe: Split 2, VCL 2024 Northern Europe: Split 1 and VCL 2024 North: Split 2.
Gallery[edit]
Rosters[edit]
Media[edit]
Organized Tournaments[edit]
S
Tournament
Date
Prize Pool
Location
P#
Winner
Runner-up
Dec 18 - 19, 2021
$5,000
United Kingdom
Nordic Countries
Ireland16 participants
Oct 30 - 31, 2021
$5,000
United Kingdom Nordic Countries Ireland35 participants
Biography[edit]
Entering VALORANT With a Splash (2023)[edit]
On January 10th, 2023, Apeks entered VALORANT by joining the Northern European Challengers League Polaris, with the aim of promoting to the VCT Partnership League. The team first signed former TSM Analyst Dimitar "Itopata" Staev as Head Coach, who along with Martin "Magnum" Peňkov, formed the core that the Apeks roster would be built around. Joining Magnum would be Georgio "Keiko" Sanassy, James "Mistic" Orfila, Tobias "ShadoW" Flodström, and their IGL Enzo "Enzo" Mestari. [27]
Apeks entered Challengers Northern Europe with a bounty on their head, with many seeing them as the team to beat for anyone looking to make it to Ascension 2023 and earn promotion to the International League. [28] Their performance lived up to these expectations, with Apeks only dropping one series across both Splits, losing a close 0-2 series to Les Petits Bouffons. With this, Apeks secured a first place finish in Polaris 2023, qualfiying them for Ascension 2023.
Ascension 2023 was the year-long goal for Apeks, and they finally had an opportunity to prove themselves and get promoted to the top league in EMEA. To boster their coaching staff ahead of the last tournament of the year, they added Casper "Desmo" Rasmussen as an Assistant Coach.
Apeks started their Ascension run with a flawless Group Stage against strong opponents in Case Esports, FOKUS, Gentle Mates and Team Falcons, securing themselves the top seed. Going into the Playoffs, the team had won 16 games in a row and were looking to continue that streak. Their first opponent was SAW, who they decisively beat 2-0. In the Upper Final, they met Acend. Acend gained the early advantage by taking map one, but Apeks bounced back, winning the series 2-1 and advancing to the Grand Final.
Their opponents in Grand Finals would be Gentle Mates, who had defeated Acend in the Lower Bracket in an upset. Apeks entered the Bo5 Grand Finals with the Upper Bracket advantage; two map bans and the first map pick. Apeks began the series on their best map, Haven. Despite this advantage, Apeks lost Map 1 to Gentle Mates 13-6, beginning the series 0-1 down. Apeks entered map 2, Ascent, but again struggled to find their form against Gentle Mates, losing the map 10-13. Map 3 was Pearl, which Apeks lost 10-13, ending the series in a devastating 0-3. Apeks ended their year with a match record of 24 wins and 2 losses.
Following their loss in Ascension, Apeks announced that they were releasing their roster, looking to rebuild for 2024. The International League hopes of the roster were not in vain however, with the core of Enzo, Keiko and Mistic joining Team Liquid for 2024. Former Head Coach Itopata also found success, joining Leviatán as their Assistant Coach. Following in their footsteps, Magnum was announced to be joining Karmine Corp, while ShadoW would go on to join KOI, marking the fifth and final member to make their individual ascension to the International League.
A Second Chance (2024)[edit]
Looking towards 2024, Apeks once again began scouting ex-VCT talent to build an Ascension-level team around, setting their eyes on a core of three players who had competed in the International League in 2023: former Heretics player Auni "AvovA" Chahade, Vitality player Michał "MOLSI" Łącki and Team Liquid player Dom "soulcas" Sulcas. Joining this veteran core would be Tautvydas "hype" Paldavicius, who had a storied history competing in Challengers, and Kajetan "kaajak" Haremski, a rookie making the jump from the Regional Circuit. Continuing from 2023, Apeks promoted DANNYTO from Assistant Coach to Head Coach, while Desmo returned as a full-time Assistant Coach for 2024. [3]
Apeks entered Split 1 of Challengers Northern Europe with high expecations, being one of only three organisations in the region, and the only one with ex-VCT talent, the pressure was on to perform, and perform they did, finishing the regular season flawlessly, 7 series to 0, and not dropping a map while doing so, averaging only 5 rounds lost per map. The team easily secured themselves first seed for Playoffs, opening their bracket with a rematch against Metizport, who Apeks had faced in the final week of the regular season. The result in Playoffs was the same, another swift 2-0 advanced Apeks to the semi-finals where they faced OnlyFins. OnlyFins were the only team to take Apeks to overtime in Split 1, but Apeks once again set the tone for the match, dropping only 8 rounds across the 2-0 series. The Grand Finals saw the rookie roster of SweetNSour challenging the seasoned veterans of Apeks however, Apeks showed no signs of letting up, closing the series before it could even begin, winning the series and claiming the Split 1 victory with a confident 3-0 victory.
Split 1 of 2024 saw Apeks become the first team in VALORANT Challengers history to not lose a single map across an entire Split of competition, finishing the season 21 maps won, 0 lost.[29] Split 2 saw Apeks begin to falter, losing their first map of the year to Formulation Gaming, followed shortly after by losing their first series of the year to SweetNSour, suffering an 0-2 loss to the free-agent roster. These losses raised some question marks, however the team regained compusure and proceeded to not drop a single map in their final final series of Split 2, qualifying Apeks directly to Ascension 2024 as the Challengers North representative.
Apeks came into Ascension with high expectations, but following the previous year's tragic Grand Final ending, many were not as quick to put the squad alone at the top of their predictions this time around. Many analysts had the likes of GoNext Esports, DSYRE and Joblife as favourites to take the Ascension title this time around.[30] The Group Stage saw Apeks claim the first seed from Group A with a 3-1 record, only faltering against GoNext Esports who themselves failed to make playoffs, seeing CGN Esports enter as the second seed from Group A. Group B was evn more tumultuous, seeing group favourites Joblife fail to qualify as the rookie roster from Turkey, Pcific Esports who had come from Premier just three months earlier swept the group with MENA representatives The Ultimates joinng as the second seed.
Playoffs started strong for Apeks taking flawless victories over The Ultimates and CGN Esports to breeze into the Grand Finals in Berlin. Their opponent on the day would be Pcific Esports, the same rookie roster who had swept Group B and had now done the same in the lower bracket of Playoffs to compete for promotion to the VCT EMEA International League. It was a battle of proven experience versus the majority inexperienced Turkish side; however Pcific had the benefit of momentum, coming from a dominant 3-0 victory over CGN Esports the day before. Pcific started out extremely strong, pushing Apeks to map point in the Bo5 series before Apeks hit back on Lotus to equalise the series at 2-2. The final map, Ascent, was going to decide the future for both of these teams, one map to decide who would be ascending to the International League for 2025, and it was Apeks who rose to the challenge, dominating the final map to end the series 13-5, with AvovA beating out Lar0k in the final round of the series to secure the victory for Apeks.
With this victory, Apeks had secured their place in the VCT EMEA International League for 2025, with the possibility to extend this stay dependant on their performance.[31] But before the team could even get their footing for the 2025 VCT Season, Apeks saw their star-duelist kaajak acquired by Fnatic, a massive blow to Apeks, with many analysts calling kaajak the best duelist in Challengers across all of EMEA. [32][33][34] Alongside Kaajak, Fnatic also saw soulcas acquired by KOI, resulting in the team losing two of their Ascended players before even starting the season.[35][36]
References[edit]
- ↑ Apeks (2023-01-10). "Please welcome our Challengers Polaris roster for the 2023 season".
- ↑ [Inside source]
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Apeks (2023-12-08). "A New Chapter".
- ↑ Team Liquid (2024-06-07). "We're happy to announce our affiliation with @apeksgg as of today!".
- ↑ Apeks (2024-06-07). "We are excited to announce our new affiliation with @LiquidValorant".
- ↑ VALORANT Challengers EMEA (2024-09-15). "APEKS ARE YOUR VCT ASCENSION EMEA 2024 CHAMPIONS!".
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Please welcome our new VALORANT General Manager - Frederik @Guldenero van Guldener". Apeks. 2023-02-02.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Apeks (2023-05-12). "Give a warm welcome to our new Valorant Performance Coach, @PeterValderhaug. Peter will assist our team in preparing for the remaining part of the season!".
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Liquipedia has gained this information from a trusted inside source.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Transfer reference". 2023-07-01.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Transfer reference". 2023-07-01.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Desmo (2023-07-16). "Thanks for bringing me along on this journey, it’s been a pleasure working with you, and I know the future is bright for you".
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Liquipedia has gained this information from a trusted inside source.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Magnum (2023-08-21). "LFT. My goal is to become a franchised player no matter what -> I'll consider any offers".
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Apeks (2023-10-13). "Today, with heavy hearts, we announce the departure of two incredible coaches from our team @ItopataOW and @forrestvalorant.".
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 "Today we bid farewell to our current VALORANT roster". Apeks. 2023-11-02.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Apeks (2024-05-31). "A message from Apeks".
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 "Thank you". Apeks. 2024-10-25.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Apeks (2024-12-05). "Welcome Game Changers Superstar Florescent!".
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Apeks (2024-12-09). "Welcome Chad “Oderus” Miller".
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 S2G Esports (2025-01-15). "VALORANT takımımızın değerli oyuncusu Mehmet Batu ‘’Batujnax‘’ Özaslan, Avrupa'nın önemli takımlarından Apeks'e transfer olmuştur. " [Valuable player of our VALORANT team Mehmet Batu ‘’Batujnax‘’ Özaslan was transferred to Apeks, one of the most important teams in Europe] (in Turkish).
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Apeks (2025-01-15). "Welcome @batujnaxvlr to Apeks VALORANT".
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 23.7 23.8 23.9 "A New Chapter". Apeks. 2023-12-08.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 24.7 "Please welcome our Challengers Polaris roster for the 2023 season:". Apeks. 2023-01-10.
- ↑ "Transfer reference". 2023-01-10.
- ↑ Liquipedia has gained this information from a trusted inside source.
- ↑ Apeks (2023-10-30). "APEKS VALORANT // ON THE EDGE - FULL DOCUMENTARY".
- ↑ HazzaJC (2023-01-13). "VCL POLARIS POWER RANKINGS".
- ↑ VALORANT Challengers Northern Europe: Polaris (2024-04-22). "ZERO. MAPS. LOST.".
- ↑ Tombizz (2024-08-27). "The ULTIMATE guide to EMEA Ascension 2024".
- ↑ "Updates to VALORANT’s Path to Pro: Challengers, Premier, and Ascension for the 2025 Season". Riot Games. 2024-06-21.
- ↑ CongoBat (2024-10-31). "kaajak joins FNATIC".
- ↑ weivy (2024-10-25). "A retrospective on Apeks' journey through Ascension".
- ↑ Fnatic (2024-10-31). "@kaajakval joins Fnatic Valorant".
- ↑ Apeks (2024-10-25). "Thank you!".
- ↑ "Estamos listos para asaltar París. " [We are ready to storm Paris] (in
Spanish). 2024-11-07.
Apeks Roster | ||
|---|---|---|
| Team | | |
| Full Roster | ||
| Organization | ||
