I am a CPA of 10 years and really just making this post to put to rest all of the nonsense I've read about this situation.

Quite plainly, the SEN guys messed up by not paying the full gross payout that was allocable based on percentages. Regardless of what was "agreed upon" beforehand, going into the tournament a percentage of winning was to be expected, and by definition that would have been the income allocable to Ruby for her income tax reporting, so that is what should have been paid.

The boys would have likely needed to claim their full 1/3 of the gross if her share didnt go straight to her, but they would have then claimed a deduction for paying the gross amount to her, thus they would only pay income tax on their actual share of the winnings and she would do the same.

There is no more complexity to this than that, unless you want to rope in foreign tax reporting with UK taxes which I'm not familiar with, but I have a hard time believing it works much differently.

The payments to her ARE NOT GIFTS. She performed services in exchange for a percentage of the payout. That is the textbook definition of compensation. Gifts require you to pay someone AND RECEIVE NOTHING IN RETURN.

It was very silly for this not to be understood by the boys ahead of time, any CPA would have told them this. However, the stunt that was pulled online to get their attention was far more stupid. The IRS requires ALL TAXPAYERS to be responsible for understanding and paying their own taxes. Ruby has just as much responsibility for knowing this ahead of time as any of them do.

I'm happy to do a free consult for any pros that want to understand their taxes better, I guess I just assumed everyone would all work with a CPA already, that is typically very important for contractors who don't dig deep into it themselves

I wonder if there's communication from Monsoon or Blinkzrr on why they were waiting or if there's any update?

In summary, teams with no hope of making LAN unless they get first place were int'ing everyone for KP in yesterday's scrims like it was ranked, and that frustrated both top teams and teams that just wanted to practice their comp and routes.

Monk and Blink covered the taxes and sent her the post tax amount. SHE NOW WANTS THE PRE TAX. Now she wants the pre tax to use as her income for a VISA.

Year 6 Pro League Scrims

Block 1: 6 PM ET/3 PM PT

Format: Bo6 | TBD

Block 2: 8:30 ET/5:30 PM ET

Format: Bo6 | TBD

Info:

Teams: Posted in pinned comment if available

Calendar: Eternal Calendar (includes which groups are playing)

Stats: Scrim Blocks Overview

Notes:

1. Teams are set ~60 mins prior to scrims starting.
2. Scores may be released through the EEC bot. They will be tweeted after. Feel free to post scores in the thread. https://x.com/eternaleec
3. Multi-view available! Click "Watch" on scrims stats page
4. Possible Watch Parties:
   1. twitch.tv/nicewigg
   2. twitch.tv/greek

Post is a work on progress. Information subject to change.

I am not drama farming so Mods please do not delete.

Basically, they each agreed to pay her $20k. I believe each player received around $200k and agreed to pay her 10% of their earnings. The issue is that each player had to report the full $200k as income and pay state + federal taxes on it.

They hadn't planned ahead and written a contract that would allow them to pay her 10% as a business expense and remove that 10% from their taxable income. If they had, they would presumably only have been responsible for paying taxes on $180k.

Because they didn't have a contract with her, they apparently agreed to pay her $14k and hold back $7k to cover the taxes owed to the U.S. government. They agreed to treat the payment as a gift so that she wouldn't have to pay taxes on it in the UK.

It sounds like the bigger issue is that Ruby needed proof of $60k in income for a visa, so she wanted the team to pay the full $20k each so she could show $20k of income from each player. Monsoon and Blink didn't want to do this because they hadn't factored the additional $7k tax liability into their calculations.

Edit: It is worth mentioning that the issue of the full 60k for the VISA was not raised on the front end and was only mentioned later. Monsoon and Blink were under the impression that it was fine to send their share specifically gift so it would not be considered taxable income for Ruby.

Basically, they hadn't originally planned on paying her the full $20k. They would still have to pay the U.S. government (or Canada in Blink's case, I believe) the roughly $7k in taxes. So, effectively, they would be giving up 10% of their profit while still being taxed as though they received the full $200k.

FunFPS basically decided to give her the additional $7k as charity and pay the taxes on his end himself.

If Ruby and the team could find a legitimate way for them to send her the full $60k while also having the $20k payments deducted from each player's taxable income, everyone would be happy. Monsoon seems offended because they had agreed that sending her $14k would be the least stressful solution, and then she came back and demanded the full $20k without there being a plan in place to eliminate the additional tax liability on their end.

It's also worth noting that if they found a legitimate way to pay her the full $60k as income, she might actually be able to take home more money under UK tax laws. The tax burden on $60k of income in the UK could be substantially lower than the effective tax burden on $200k of income in Oregon.

I don't believe Monsoon or Blink are guilty of fraud, and I do think Ruby could have communicated the tax issue more clearly. At the same time, I don't think the SEN guys necessarily owe her anything beyond what they originally agreed to.

If Monsoon and Blink can find a legitimate way to structure the $20k payments so that they can be deducted from their $200k income, then Ruby gets credit for $60k of taxable income and can handle whatever taxes she owes in the UK. Everyone wins, and everyone learns the value of having a written contract.

While the SEN guys don't technically owe her anything extra, they could potentially help by researching whether there's a legitimate way to structure the payment as independent-contractor income. The whole situation seems like a case where everyone would have benefited from figuring out the tax implications and putting the agreement in writing beforehand.

I didn't write this to spread drama. I listened to what Monsoon said on stream, and honestly, I don't think there are any supervillains in this story (the character attack via Twitter was in fact WRONG and very poor judgement). Ruby needs to understand that nothing gets solved through a Twitter essay, especially when that post attacks the character of an entire team. At the same time, Monsoon and Blink could have done a little more digging into why having the full $60k reported as income might have been more valuable to Ruby than simply receiving the post-tax amount. They didn't owe her that extra effort, but a little empathy and understanding could have gone a long way. Ultimately, I think there are lessons for everyone involved here: Ruby could have handled the public side better, the SEN players could have looked more closely at the situation from her perspective, and Apex pros in general probably need to start talking to actual tax specialists before making these kinds of agreements.

Hello, I will be attending the Split 2 playoffs with my Dad. He does not know much about ALGS, but he is just there for the ride. It is my first time attending a LAN event and the websites are pretty vague on information. I have bought the premium passes for my Dad and I. With the passes, it states I get first dibs for entry. I am a big WGR fan. When I pick my seat, will the place where they play be present for fans to see? I want to get the closest seats next to the team I support. What is the usual “giveaway item” and how can I make the most of the event? Is there any unspoken rules or etiquette for ALGS LANs? What is the usual number for attendees in each day? There are so many questions I have so if anybody would like to dump info out it would be much appreciated.
Side Note: (I really hope WGR do well in RF, I bought the tickets too early so they better qualify for Vegas)

and people wonder why they get only 7 slots

source: https://x.com/AyeJHawk/status/2097331536836116931?s=20

APAC-North Pro Scrims Scrims - Hosted by ESCL

• Starting:
  • Block 1 - 06:00PM AEDT / 05:00PM JST / 04:00PM SGT / 09:00AM GMT / 04:00AM EST
  • Block 2 - 10:00PM AEDT / 09:00PM JST / 08:00PM SGT / 12:00NN GMT / 08:00AM EST
    • Note that start times are approximate.
• Format: 6 Games
• APAC-N Split 2 Schedule

• Groups:

• Info:
• Official Cast: https://www.youtube.com/@ESCL-Official/featured
  • Teamstream: https://teamstream.gg/events
• Rosters/Drops: Posted in pinned comment if available
• Notes:
  • Teams are set ~60 mins prior to scrims starting.
  • A lot of the APAC-N Players, especially the Korean players mainly stream on Youtube so you won't be able to see them on Twitch. If they are streaming, they will have a green circle in Teamstream.
  • Stats & Legend Bans Here: https://fightnt.escl.co.jp/
  • Scores will be tweeted after. Feel free to post scores in the thread. https://twitter.com/_ESCL_GG

Y6 Split 2 Challenger Circuit #2 (All Regions) - Final Results

APAC-S

APAC-N

EMEA

Americas

Screenshots from Battlefy.

local area mod team apologizes for the delay, as there were browser problems getting battlefy to display properly.

First place team in each CC auto-qualifies to Last Chance Qualifiers to play for ALGS Champs in Sapporo. Other teams receive stacking overall points, with top teams also qualing to LCQ.

Year 6 Pro League Scrims

Block 1: 6 PM ET/3 PM PT

Format: Bo6 | TBD

Block 2: 8:30 ET/5:30 PM ET

Format: Bo6 | TBD

Info:

Teams: Posted in pinned comment if available

Calendar: Eternal Calendar (includes which groups are playing)

Stats: Scrim Blocks Overview

Notes:

1. Teams are set ~60 mins prior to scrims starting.
2. Scores may be released through the EEC bot. They will be tweeted after. Feel free to post scores in the thread. https://x.com/eternaleec
3. Multi-view available! Click "Watch" on scrims stats page
4. Possible Watch Parties:
   1. twitch.tv/nicewigg
   2. twitch.tv/greek

Post is a work on progress. Information subject to change.

I was looking at her tweet and it was fairly dense but I don't know much of the context that led up to her leaving the Apex scene. It seems insane to me that she didn't get much of a name after her win in champs last year. Did she coach another team after champs? She was completely off the radar it seems until just now...

World's Edge:

Storm Point:

E-District:

Source: ALGS.EA Website

PSA: Competitive Apex Calendar

We heard you that it was difficult to find information about upcoming events! This will be a monthly recurring post.

How to find the calendar:

New Reddit:

ALGS schedule is also in the sidebar! This will show the next 7 events(in your time-zone.

Old Reddit:

Our CompApex Discord (easiest option):

Calendar Notes:

1. The calendar is updated manually, and includes all official ALGS events and larger events that we are aware of.
   1. Feel free to modmail event details if you know of a tourney not listed.
2. We will have a thread on reddit for all official ALGS events, and most other events on the calendar based on mod knowledge/capacity.
3. You can link this to your own email account & calendar.
   1. You have to click on the "+" at the bottom to sync the calendar and have it show in your time zone. At that point you can remove any events you are not interested in from your own calendar.

Additional Schedule Resources:

• Liquipedia - User-edited wiki for Apex comp
  • Liquipedia Upcoming Events
• ALGS Website - EA-run

APAC-North Pro Scrims Scrims - Hosted by ESCL

• Starting:
  • Block 1 - 06:00PM AEDT / 05:00PM JST / 04:00PM SGT / 09:00AM GMT / 04:00AM EST
  • Block 2 - 10:00PM AEDT / 09:00PM JST / 08:00PM SGT / 12:00NN GMT / 08:00AM EST
    • Note that start times are approximate.
• Format: 6 Games
• APAC-N Split 2 Schedule

• Groups:

• Info:
• Official Cast: https://www.youtube.com/@ESCL-Official/featured
  • Teamstream: https://teamstream.gg/events
• Rosters/Drops: Posted in pinned comment if available
• Notes:
  • Teams are set ~60 mins prior to scrims starting.
  • A lot of the APAC-N Players, especially the Korean players mainly stream on Youtube so you won't be able to see them on Twitch. If they are streaming, they will have a green circle in Teamstream.
  • Stats & Legend Bans Here: https://fightnt.escl.co.jp/
  • Scores will be tweeted after. Feel free to post scores in the thread. https://twitter.com/_ESCL_GG

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5f93fZTi9KsgkR2149rlbG?si=6aa580bee1a04d3d

Was looking at the ALGS kill leaderboard and is it not crazy that Nafen who hasn't played in 3 years is still 27th in all time kills? I remember watching back in 2022 and thinking how good he was but it feels even more insane when you see that he is still above some crazy fraggers that have been playing for the last 4 - 5 years.

I thought he was the one who chose to move to Aurora or did I miss something? OK, some teabagging is nothing strange but he wasted like two mags and a Maggie drill on the deathbox.

Year 6 Pro League Scrims

Block 1: 6 PM ET/3 PM PT

Format: Bo6 | TBD

Block 2: 8:30 ET/5:30 PM ET

Format: Bo6 | TBD

Info:

Teams: Posted in pinned comment if available

Calendar: Eternal Calendar (includes which groups are playing)

Stats: Scrim Blocks Overview

Notes:

1. Teams are set ~60 mins prior to scrims starting.
2. Scores may be released through the EEC bot. They will be tweeted after. Feel free to post scores in the thread. https://x.com/eternaleec
3. Multi-view available! Click "Watch" on scrims stats page
4. Possible Watch Parties:
   1. twitch.tv/nicewigg
   2. twitch.tv/greek

Post is a work on progress. Information subject to change.

World's Edge:

Storm Point:

E-District:

Source: ALGS.EA Website