Maksym “Max-Strafe” Stadniuk may be a familiar name to longtime Apex Legends Global Series fans but a completely unfamiliar one to newer folks. That’s because he hasn’t played on LAN since the ALGS returned to live events, despite qualifying for them all—until now.
Max-Strafe hasn’t been able to leave his native Ukraine in the past several years due to Russia’s invasion of the country. Despite this, he’s never been far from the top of EMEA, helping longtime teammates Casper “Gnaske” Præstensgaard and Matthew “SirDel” Biggins qualify for LAN as both Team GMT and Pioneers. Those times, however, his teammates were forced to field substitutes on LAN when Max-Strafe’s attempts to leave the country were unsuccessful. But alongside Ukrainian team PassionUA, Max-Strafe is finally on LAN, and he’s more than ready to leave his mark.
First, he and his teammates, Sanya and Artyco, needed to cross the border from Ukraine into Poland. From there, they needed to apply for visas to enter the U.S. on short notice. But this time, everything worked out for Max-Strafe and the team.
“I really, really enjoy endings in Thermal Station,” he said when asked where he imagined it would take place if PassionUA were to win LAN. “And not really the predictable [zones] that people can read… Succeeding in these games, when you read a tricky zone right, is the most satisfying to me as a player.”
And after what they’ve overcome just to get here, it’s hard to bet they can’t make that dream a reality.
