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APA
Background Information
NameEain Stearns
Country of Birth
United States
BirthdayMarch 5, 2002 (age 23)
Residency
AME
Americas
Prev Residencies
NA
North America
Competitive
TeamTeam Liquid
Contract Expires2026-11-17
Role
Mid Laner
Favorite Champs

Competitive IDsalways plan ahea
Soloqueue IDsNA: BUZZCUTmanFIGHT#APA
See No Evil#APA
KR: TL YAPA#HONDA
EUW: TL El Debutante
BR: TL YAPA#APA
Social Media & Links

Eain "APA" Stearns is a League of Legends esports player, currently mid laner for Team Liquid.

There is a disambiguation page associated with the name APA. One other player shares this ID.

Team History

Combine Role Swaps:No|Yes
Dates:Approx|Exact
TeamStartEnd
NA
F3 Visuals
≈Jan 2019≈2019-01-??≈Feb 2019≈2019-02-26≈1mo 25d
ejel
NA
Lotus Esports
≈Apr 2019≈2019-04-??Aug 20192019-08-05≈4mo 4d
ejel
NA
Fruition Esports
Apr 20192019-04-10May 20192019-05-141mo 4d
ejel
NA
C H I N A
≈Aug 2019≈2019-08-17≈Sep 2019≈2019-09-01≈15d
ejel
NA
Lucky Esports
Sep 20192019-09-19[1]Jan 20202020-01-173mo 28d
ejel
NA
Aqualix Esports
Jan 20202020-01-17[2]Feb 20202020-02-1024d
ejel
NA
Supernova
Feb 20202020-02-10[4]Oct 20202020-10-23[3]8mo 13d
ejel
NA
Barrage.NA
Jan 20212021-01-09[6]May 20212021-05-07[5]3mo 29d
ejel
NA
Resolve NA
May 20212021-05-16[8]Nov 20212021-11-05[7]5mo 20d
ejel
NA
Maryville University
Dec 20212021-12-23[10]Dec 20222022-12-01[9]1yr 9d
ejel
NA
TL Academy
Dec 20222022-12-01[9]Jan 20232023-01-111mo 10d
ejel
NA
TL Challengers
Jan 20232023-01-11Jul 20232023-07-05[11]5mo 25d
ejel
NA
Team Liquid
Jul 20232023-07-05[12]Present2yr 15d
ej
TeamStartEnd
NA
F3 Visuals
≈Jan 2019≈2019-01-??≈Feb 2019≈2019-02-26≈1mo 25d
ejel
NA
Lotus Esports
≈Apr 2019≈2019-04-??May 20192019-05-29≈1mo 28d
ejel
NA
Fruition Esports
Apr 20192019-04-10May 20192019-05-141mo 4d
ejel
NA
Lotus Esports
May 20192019-05-29Aug 20192019-08-052mo 7d
ejel
NA
C H I N A
≈Aug 2019≈2019-08-17≈Sep 2019≈2019-09-01≈15d
ejel
NA
Lucky Esports
Sep 20192019-09-19[1]Jan 20202020-01-173mo 28d
ejel
NA
Aqualix Esports
Jan 20202020-01-17[2]Feb 20202020-02-1024d
ejel
NA
Supernova
Feb 20202020-02-10[4]Feb 20202020-02-23[14]13d
ejel
NA
Supernova
Feb 20202020-02-23[14]Oct 20202020-10-23[3]8mo
ejel
NA
Barrage.NA
Jan 20212021-01-09[6]May 20212021-05-07[5]3mo 29d
ejel
NA
Resolve NA
May 20212021-05-16[8]Nov 20212021-11-05[7]5mo 20d
ejel
NA
Maryville University
Dec 20212021-12-23[10]Dec 20222022-12-01[9]1yr 9d
ejel
NA
TL Academy
Dec 20222022-12-01[9]Jan 20232023-01-111mo 10d
ejel
NA
TL Challengers
Jan 20232023-01-11Jul 20232023-07-05[11]5mo 25d
ejel
NA
Team Liquid
Jul 20232023-07-05[12]Present2yr 15d
ej

News

  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2021
  • 2022
  • 2023
  • 2024
NA
F3January (approx.),
NotTheRealPhilip,
Nova Bot,
always think ahe,
corgi, and
jamican banana join.
NA
F3February 26 (approx.),
Draxyr,
Nova Bot,
always think ahe,
corgi,
jamican banana,
NotTheRealPhilip,
Qitong, and Conqueror Draco leave.
NA
LTSApril (approx.),
Srtty,
EricZYang,
always plan ahea,
Snitch, and
Wukie join.

Seranok and Wak3r join as substitutes.
NA
FREApril 10,
eXyu,
always plan ahea,
Locke Lamora, and
Tomo join.
MattyMooo (Jungle to Bot) changes position.
Gible leaves.
NA
FREMay 14,
always plan ahea leaves.
NA
LTSMay 29,
Dragonminkim and
Yeonbee join.

eThug joins as substitute.

always plan ahea moves to substitute.
EricZYang leaves.
NA
LTSAugust 5, Lotus Esports transfers its roster to Hyper Nova and disbands.
Srtty,
Dragonminkim,
KT Impression,
Spawwwwn,
Gweiss,
VeryBitter,
always plan ahea, Coach Mike (Head Coach), and Nezzi (Internal Analyst) leave.
NA
C H August 17 (approx.),
Tony Top,
Siddywiddy,
always plan ahea,
Tomo, and
Mist join.
NA
C H September 1 (approx.),
Tony Top,
Siddywiddy,
always plan ahea,
CoreTienZ, and
Mist leave.
NA
LKYSeptember 19,
NotTheRealPhilip,
Kenv1,
always plan ahea,
Tomo, and
QTNG join.

Zhadox and Mitch leave.[1]
NA
LKYJanuary 17,
NotTheRealPhilip,
always plan ahea, and
Ugandan Royalty leave.
NA
AQLXJanuary 17,
NotTheRealPhilip,
Hyper,
always plan ahea,
Meech, and
Ugandan Royalty join.
[2]
NA
AQLXFebruary 10,
NotTheRealPhilip,
Hyper,
always plan ahea,
Meech, and
Ugandan Royalty leave.
NA
SNFebruary 10,
always plan ahea joins as substitute.
[4]
NA
SNFebruary 23,
Nuclear rejoins.

always plan ahea moves to starting roster.
Strompest and
Jurassiq move to substitutes.[14][15]
NA
SNAugust 1, always plan ahea renames to APA.
NA
SNOctober 23,
PCL,
APA,
EvanRL,
Clyde,
Kind, and Gbay99 (Analyst) leave.[3]
NA
BRGJanuary 9,
PieCakeLord,
Fanatiik,
APA,
Gorica, and
Winter join.
[6]
NA
BRGMarch 16,
PCL,
Fanatiik,
APA,
Gorica, and
Winter's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 14 May 2021.[16]
NA
BRGApril 16,
APA and
Winter are allowed to look for opportunities with other teams.[17][18]
NA
BRGMay 7, Resolve acquires the Barrage organization.
PCL,
Fanatiik,
APA,
Winter, Lucien (Head Coach), XT (Manager), Jeff (Owner), AJ (Head of Performance), Excite (Head of Social Media), Froomie (League of Legends Director), and Slimkins (Talent Manager) leave.[5]
NA
RSV.NAMay 16, Team is formed.
PCL,
Fanatiik,
APA,
Array, and
Winter join.
[8]
NA
RSV.NASeptember 14,
PCL,
Fanatiik,
APA,
Array, and
Winter's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 6 November 2021.[19]
NA
RSV.NASeptember 27,
APA,
Array, and
Winter are allowed to look for opportunities with other teams.[20][21][22]
NA
RSV.NANovember 5,
PCL,
Fanatiik,
APA,
Array, and
Winter are removed from the GCD.[7]
NA
MUDecember 23,
APA joins.
[10]
NA
MUDecember 1,
APA leaves.[9]
NA
TL.ADecember 1,
Mir and
APA are added to the GCD.
[9]
Mir and
APA's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 19 November 2024.[9]
NA
TL.ADecember 6,
Arrow and
Kim Down join.

Mir and
APA's joining is confirmed.
[23]
NA
TLCJanuary 11, TL Academy renames to TL Challengers.
Bradley and
Arrow's contracts are transferred to TL Challengers in the GCD, expiring on 21 November 2023.
Mir,
APA, and
Kim Down's contracts are transferred to TL Challengers in the GCD, expiring on 19 November 2024.[24]
NA
TLCJuly 5,
APA leaves for main roster.[11]
NA
TLJuly 5,
APA joins from academy roster.

Haeri becomes inactive.[12][13]
NA
TLNovember 30,
APA,
Yeon, and
CoreJJ will remain with the team for 2024.[25]
NA
TLJune 14,
APA and
Yeon's contracts are extended through 2026.[26]
NA
TLJune 15,
APA and
Yeon's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 17 November 2026.[27]
AME
TLOctober 31, APA changes residency from
NA
North America
to
AME
Americas
.
AME
TLNovember 20,
CoreJJ's contract is extended.
Impact,
UmTi,
APA, and
Yeon will remain with the team for 2025.[28]

Biography

APA is from Warren, Ohio. Starting out as an Aurelion Sol one-trick on an account named always plan ahea, he began playing competitively on a variety of minor amateur teams in the 2019 season. The most notable of these teams was Lucky Esports, where he played alongside future LCS players Philip, Kenvi, and Tomo.

2020 Season

At the beginning of the 2020 season, APA joined Supernova, a longstanding North American amateur organization. During this time, he continued to main Aurelian Sol despite its lack of presence in the meta, but gradually diversified his champion pool over the season. Supernova performed well, winning the FCS Season 4 Playoffs and ranking highly in many of the other tournaments in the amateur circuit, but fell short in the SGC 2020 Play Off, finishing fourth and not qualifying for Scouting Grounds. Despite this, APA qualified for Scouting Grounds individually due to his high solo queue rank. It was at Scouting Grounds that he officially changed his competitive ID from always plan ahea to APA.

Prior to Scouting Grounds, APA was rated highly by analysts. In Tim Sevenhuysen and Pastrytime's power rankings for the event, APA was ranked fourth of the twenty attendees. The analysts praised him for his roam-heavy style but criticized his champion pool, claiming he was still too reliant on off-meta picks like Aurelian Sol and Cho'Gath. At the event itself, APA competed on Team Mountain Drake, which placed fourth out of the four teams. While the other three mid laners at the tournament (Copy, Yunbee, and CptShrimps) eventually wound up on either academy teams or LCS-affiliated amateur teams, APA would not be picked up by an LCS organization.

2021 Season

APA left Supernova and joined Barrage.NA, the North American branch of a European organization. He was the only player on the team who did not have prior academy experience. Working on the weaknesses that plagued him during the previous season, he focused primarily on playing meta champions, only using Aurelian Sol as an occasional pocket pick. Midway through the season, Barrage was acquired by the Resolve organization and Barrage.NA became Resolve NA. Like Supernova the year prior, the Barrage/Resolve team performed respectably across the season, although it usually finished behind the other top amateur teams. At Proving Grounds, however, the team outperformed expectations and finished as one of the top two amateur organizations in the tournament, qualifying all of its team members for Scouting Grounds.

During his second Scouting Grounds appearance, APA was drafted onto Team Ocean Drake. However, APA's team once again finished last and APA was not picked up by an LCS organization afterward.

2022 Season

APA joined Maryville University, considered one of the best collegiate organizations in North America, where he split time with Oceanic mid laner Getback. Maryville performed well throughout the season in both the amateur and collegiate scene, but was not ever to finish first in either the Proving Grounds Circuit or the College League of Legends Championship. As Scouting Grounds was discontinued, APA's competitive season ended after being knocked out early in Proving Grounds. However, APA would get another chance to showcase his abilities. Because Worlds 2022 was held in North America, many of the top professional players from around the world played in the North American Champions Queue.

APA performed well in Champions Queue even against elite competition, even maintaining first place on the server for several days. This performance skyrocketed APA's profile as a top upcoming North American talent and he was invited to the broadcasted tryouts for Team Liquid Academy. APA received even more attention during the tryouts after a game-saving 2v5 pentakill; APA and his team would go on to win the tryouts.

Trivia

  • His ID APA stands for "always plan ahea," his solo queue ID.
  • Known for his Aurelion Sol and his Ziggs.
  • His EUW ID El Debutante comes from the nickname he receives in the ToadAmarillo's LCS costream.

Individual Awards

  • LCS Finals MVP (2024 Spring)
  • LCS First All-Pro Team x1 (2024 Summer)
  • LCS Most Improved (2024)

Pentakills

DateRegionTournamentTeamVsChampionPosW/LKDASBVOD
2024-08-31
NA
North America
LCS 2024 Championship
Corki
MidW5/0/1Link
Click here for a full list of pentakills by all players.

Tournament Results

This table shows up to the 10 most recent results. For complete results, click here.

Minimum place

APA (Eain Stearns) Tournament Results
DatePlEventLast ResultTeamRoster
2025-06-084 LTA North 2025 Split 2 Playoffs
1 : 3SR
TL Impact,  Yuuji,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover,  Swiffer
2025-05-183 LTA North 2025 Split 2
2 : 0SR
TL Impact,  UmTi,  Yuuji,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover,  Swiffer
2025-03-145 First Stand 2025
1 - 3RR
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Swiffer,  Reignover
2025-02-231 LTA 2025 Split 1 Playoffs
3 : 0100T
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover,  Swiffer
2025-02-094 LTA North 2025 Split 1
0 : 1FLY
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover,  Swiffer
2024-10-139 - 11 Worlds 2024
1 : 2FLY
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover
2024-09-072 LCS 2024 Championship
1 : 3FLY
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover
2024-08-111 LCS 2024 Summer
7 - 0RR
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover
2024-07-063 - 4 Esports World Cup 2024
1 : 2T1
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn
2024-05-155 - 6 MSI 2024
1 : 3T1
TL Impact,  UmTi,  APA,  Yeon,  CoreJJ,  Spawn,  Reignover


Media

  • 2021
  • 2023
  • 2024
  • 2025

Post-Match Interviews

  • 2022
  • 2023
  • 2024
  • 2025
DateTournamentMatchLink
2022-02-22PGCQ 2022 Spring 2
MU
vs
NR
Link
2022-03-07PGCQ 2022 Spring 2
MU
vs
SN
Link
2022-05-31PGCQ 2022 Summer 1
FEAR
vs
MU
Link
2022-07-01Gateway Legends Collegiate Invitational 2022
UST
vs
MU
Link
DateTournamentMatchLink
2023-01-28NACL 2023 Spring
TLC
vs
IMTC
Link
2023-02-26NACL 2023 Spring
TLC
vs
DIGC
Link
2023-03-18NACL 2023 Spring Playoffs
TLC
vs
CLGC
Link
2023-06-11NACL 2023 Summer
TLC
vs
MU
2023-07-07LCS 2023 Summer
TL
vs
IMT
Link
2023-07-22LCS 2023 Summer
TL
vs
DIG
Link
2023-08-13LCS 2023 Championship
GG
vs
TL
Link
DateTournamentMatchLink
2024-01-21LCS 2024 Spring
TL
vs
SR
Link
2024-02-03LCS 2024 Spring
TL
vs
DIG
Link
2024-02-04LCS 2024 Spring
TL
vs
C9
Link
2024-03-22LCS 2024 Spring Playoffs
100T
vs
TL
Link
2024-03-31LCS 2024 Spring Playoffs
FLY
vs
TL
Link
2024-05-11MSI 2024
FNC
vs
TL
Link
2024-05-15MSI 2024
T1
vs
TL
Link
2024-06-15LCS 2024 Summer
TL
vs
FLY
Link
2024-06-23LCS 2024 Summer
TL
vs
SR
2024-07-04Esports World Cup 2024
TL
vs
FNC
Link
2024-08-04LCS 2024 Summer
TL
vs
C9
DateTournamentMatchLink
2025-01-27LTA North 2025 Split 1
TL
vs
DIG
Link
2025-02-16LTA 2025 Split 1 Playoffs
IE
vs
TL
Link
2025-02-23LTA 2025 Split 1 Playoffs
100T
vs
TL
Link
2025-03-10First Stand 2025
KC
vs
TL

Images

Redirects

The following pages redirect here:

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 UPL 2019 Fall Official Spreadsheet docs.google.com
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Aqualix Esports' Tweet twitter.com
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Supernova's Tweet twitter.com
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Super Nova's Tweet twitter.com
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Resolve's Tweet twitter.com
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Barrage Esports' Tweet twitter.com
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Archive Pages: before change - NA - 2021-11-04; after change - NA - 2021-11-05
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Resolve's Tweet twitter.com
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Archive Pages: before change - NA - 2022-11-30; after change - NA - 2022-12-01
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Maryville University's Tweet twitter.com
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Team Liquid's Tweet twitter.com
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Team Liquid's Tweet twitter.com
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Haeri's Tweet twitter.com
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 UPL 2020 Official Spreadsheet docs.google.com
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Super Nova's Tweet twitter.com
  16. Archive Pages: before change - NA - 2021-03-15; after change - NA - 2021-03-16
  17. APA's Tweet twitter.com
  18. Winter's Tweet twitter.com
  19. Archive Pages: before change - NA - 2021-09-13; after change - NA - 2021-09-14
  20. APA's Tweet twitter.com
  21. Array's Tweet twitter.com
  22. Winter's Tweet twitter.com
  23. Team Liquid's Tweet twitter.com
  24. Archive Pages: before change - NA - 2023-01-10; after change - NA - 2023-01-11
  25. Team Liquid's Tweet twitter.com
  26. Team Liquid's X Post x.com
  27. Archive Pages: before change - NA - 2024-06-14; after change - NA - 2024-06-15
  28. Team Liquid's X Post x.com