For Fun Esports' Tyler Reflects on ALGS Split 2 Playoffs Start

For Fun Esports' Tyler "Tyler" Wood said his Apex Legends team had an electric start to the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs group stage, winning the first two matches and placing second in the third.

"Our prep was actually really good," Tyler said. "I think we had a few mistakes leading up to LAN, but at bootcamp we kind of ironed them out a little bit."

He said the team was confident after bootcamp and felt much better than after the Pro League, but as a newer roster they were still working on understanding each other's playstyles and rotations.

"We've worked on it and our communication skills have been like, we've been working on that too because we've been lacking," Tyler said. "But now it's looking pretty good for us."

The strong start saw For Fun place second in the A vs B series, though they finished behind Alliance due to fewer kills.

"Game 1 was like, I'd say it was a pretty free win," Tyler said. "We worried about ourselves. So we just took it like step by step."

He said the team was super energetic and happy going into Game 2, but a 45-minute pause after the first win was "a little mental-destroying."

"We got like all the excitement from Game 1. And then it kind of got like drained out a little bit, but we didn't let it get to us," Tyler said. "We won Game 2 and we almost won Game 3."

For Fun then failed to reach the same heights in the B vs D series. Tyler said the team was in good spots but performance was lackluster, partly due to restarts.

He described a game where the team was in a terminal position with the zone pulling to them before a server crash caused a full restart.

"I wouldn't say we were tilted. Like we weren't, we were just a little bit distraught," Tyler said. "We knew we had a really good opportunity to win that game."

In the subsequent games, he said the team lost important fights due to a lack of fight calls and suboptimal Newcastle play, missing out on potential 20-plus-point performances.

"We could have had 20-plus-point games easily those games, because we were in a really good spot," Tyler said. "And then we just couldn't really get the ball rolling after that."

The team reviewed videos and learned they need to be calling on zone closers and priorities more clearly, lessons they aimed to bring into their Day 2 games.

Tyler said the LAN experience has been surreal, with fans asking for photos and autographs. "It feels amazing," he said.

Reflecting on the season, he said the team's fourth-place finish in Pro League was a good stepping stone given how last-minute the roster came together.

"I think this next Pro League, we will do like next year, next year's Split 1, will definitely show what we are capable of," Tyler said.

He believes the team is in a good spot for the Championship and has pretty much qualified already, allowing for extensive preparation.

"Of course we want to win," Tyler said. "We want to win every game we play, pretty much. But it is a momentum thing."

The main goal for groups is to advance to the Winners bracket, he said, and prove the team can win under pressure.

To maintain team morale, Tyler said they need to stay lighthearted and avoid fixating on mistakes.

"I think we just need to chill out after a game. Just take a breather," he said.

He instituted a routine of making teammates stand up and go for a walk after every game, a strategy he used with Alliance when they got third in Mannheim.

"It gets you walking around, not just sitting in your chair, tilting, just talking with your team," Tyler said. "I think it's a really good decision to do."

Seated in the middle by the team manager, Tyler said he acts as the team's jokester, doing fist bumps and throwing jokes to lift the vibes after games.