APA (Eain Stearns)

APA
APA
Background Information
Name	Eain Stearns
Country of Birth	; United States
Birthday	March 5, 2002 (age 22)
Residency	AMEAmericas
Prev Residencies	NANorth America
Competitive
Team	⁠⁠Team Liquid
Contract Expires	2026-11-17
Role	; Mid Laner
Favorite Champs	; ;
Competitive IDs	always plan ahea
Soloqueue IDs	NA: LCS Villain#APA, TL YAPA#APA, Turtle hater#APA ; KR: owen nine#KR1, General Umti Fan#GUF, TL YAPA, SSG CoreJJ#APA ; EUW: TL El Debutante#mid
Social Media & Links

Overview

Tournament Results

Stats

Match History

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

	Team	Start	End
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 20192019-04-10	May 20192019-05-14	1mo 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 20202020-01-17	3mo 28d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Aqualix Esports	Jan 20202020-01-17^[2]	Feb 20202020-02-10	24d 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 20232023-01-11	1mo 10d ejel
NA	⁠⁠TL Challengers	Jan 20232023-01-11	Jul 20232023-07-05^[11]	5mo 25d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Liquid	Jul 20232023-07-05^[12]	Present	1yr 6mo ej

	Team	Start	End
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 20192019-04-10	May 20192019-05-14	1mo 4d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Lotus Esports	May 20192019-05-29	Aug 20192019-08-05	2mo 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 20202020-01-17	3mo 28d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Aqualix Esports	Jan 20202020-01-17^[2]	Feb 20202020-02-10	24d 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 20232023-01-11	1mo 10d ejel
NA	⁠⁠TL Challengers	Jan 20232023-01-11	Jul 20232023-07-05^[11]	5mo 25d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team Liquid	Jul 20232023-07-05^[12]	Present	1yr 6mo ej

News

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024

NA	⁠⁠F3	January (approx.), NotTheRealPhilip, Nova Bot, always think ahe, corgi, and jamican banana join. e
NA	⁠⁠F3	February 26 (approx.), Draxyr, Nova Bot, always think ahe, corgi, jamican banana, NotTheRealPhilip, Qitong, and Conqueror Draco leave. e
NA	⁠⁠LTS	April (approx.), Srtty, EricZYang, always plan ahea, Snitch, and Wukie join. Seranok and Wak3r join as substitutes. e
NA	⁠⁠FRE	April 10, eXyu, always plan ahea, Locke Lamora, and Tomo join. MattyMooo (Jungle to Bot) changes position. Gible leaves. e
NA	⁠⁠FRE	May 14, always plan ahea leaves. e
NA	⁠⁠LTS	May 29, Dragonminkim and Yeonbee join. eThug joins as substitute. always plan ahea moves to substitute. EricZYang leaves. e
NA	⁠⁠LTS	August 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. e
NA	⁠⁠C H	August 17 (approx.), Tony Top, Siddywiddy, always plan ahea, Tomo, and Mist join. e
NA	⁠⁠C H	September 1 (approx.), Tony Top, Siddywiddy, always plan ahea, CoreTienZ, and Mist leave. e
NA	⁠⁠LKY	September 19, NotTheRealPhilip, Kenv1, always plan ahea, Tomo, and QTNG join. Zhadox and Mitch leave.^[1] e

NA	⁠⁠LKY	January 17, NotTheRealPhilip, always plan ahea, and Ugandan Royalty leave. e
NA	⁠⁠AQLX	January 17, NotTheRealPhilip, Hyper, always plan ahea, Meech, and Ugandan Royalty join.^[2] e
NA	⁠⁠AQLX	February 10, NotTheRealPhilip, Hyper, always plan ahea, Meech, and Ugandan Royalty leave. e
NA	⁠⁠SN	February 10, always plan ahea joins as substitute.^[4] e
NA	⁠⁠SN	February 23, Nuclear rejoins. always plan ahea moves to starting roster. Strompest and Jurassiq move to substitutes.^[14]^[15] e
NA	⁠⁠SN	August 1, always plan ahea renames to APA. e
NA	⁠⁠SN	October 23, PCL, APA, EvanRL, Clyde, Kind, and Gbay99 (Analyst) leave.^[3] e

NA	⁠⁠BRG	January 9, PieCakeLord, Fanatiik, APA, Gorica, and Winter join.^[6] e
NA	⁠⁠BRG	March 16, PCL, Fanatiik, APA, Gorica, and Winter's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 14 May 2021.^[16] e
NA	⁠⁠BRG	April 16, APA and Winter are allowed to look for opportunities with other teams.^[17]^[18] e
NA	⁠⁠BRG	May 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] e
NA	⁠⁠RSV.NA	May 16, Team is formed. PCL, Fanatiik, APA, Array, and Winter join.^[8] e
NA	⁠⁠RSV.NA	September 14, PCL, Fanatiik, APA, Array, and Winter's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 6 November 2021.^[19] e
NA	⁠⁠RSV.NA	September 27, APA, Array, and Winter are allowed to look for opportunities with other teams.^[20]^[21]^[22] e
NA	⁠⁠RSV.NA	November 5, PCL, Fanatiik, APA, Array, and Winter are removed from the GCD.^[7] e
NA	⁠⁠MU	December 23, APA joins.^[10] e

NA	⁠⁠MU	December 1, APA leaves.^[9] e
NA	⁠⁠TL.A	December 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] e
NA	⁠⁠TL.A	December 6, Arrow and Kim Down join. Mir and APA's joining is confirmed.^[23] e

NA	⁠⁠TLC	January 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] e
NA	⁠⁠TLC	July 5, APA leaves for main roster.^[11] e
NA	⁠⁠TL	July 5, APA joins from academy roster. Haeri becomes inactive.^[12]^[13] e
NA	⁠⁠TL	November 30, APA, Yeon, and CoreJJ will remain with the team for 2024.^[25] e

NA	⁠⁠TL	June 14, APA and Yeon's contracts are extended through 2026.^[26] e
NA	⁠⁠TL	June 15, APA and Yeon's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 17 November 2026.^[27] e
AME	⁠⁠TL	October 31, APA changes residency from NA North America to AM Americas. e
AME	⁠⁠TL	November 20, CoreJJ's contract is extended. Impact, UmTi, APA, and Yeon will remain with the team for 2025.^[28] e

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.
His EUW ID El Debutante comes from the nickname he receives in the ToadAmarillo LCS costream.

Individual Awards[]

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

Pentakills

Date	Region	Tournament	Team	Vs	Champion	Pos	W/L	KDA	SB	VOD
2024-08-31	NA North America	LCS 2024 Championship			Corki	Mid	W	5/0/1	Link

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.

APA (Eain Stearns) Tournament Results
Date	Pl	Event	Last Result	Team	Roster
2024-10-13	9 - 11	Worlds 2024	1 : 2⁠⁠FLY	⁠⁠TL	Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Spawn, Reignover
2024-09-07	2	LCS 2024 Championship	1 : 3⁠⁠FLY	⁠⁠TL	Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Spawn, Reignover
2024-08-11	1	LCS 2024 Summer	7 - 0⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠TL	Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Spawn, Reignover
2024-07-06	3 - 4	Esports World Cup 2024	1 : 2⁠⁠T1	⁠⁠TL	Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Spawn
2024-05-15	5 - 6	MSI 2024	1 : 3⁠⁠T1	⁠⁠TL	Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Spawn, Reignover
2024-03-31	1	LCS 2024 Spring Playoffs	3 : 1⁠⁠FLY	⁠⁠TL	Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Spawn, Reignover
2024-03-10	4	LCS 2024 Spring	7 - 7⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠TL	Impact, UmTi, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Spawn, Reignover
2023-10-23	15 - 16	Worlds 2023	1 : 2⁠⁠GAM	⁠⁠TL	Summit, Pyosik, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Reignover, Dodo
2023-08-19	3	LCS 2023 Championship	2 : 3⁠⁠NRG	⁠⁠TL	Summit, Pyosik, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Reignover, Dodo
2023-07-21	4	LCS 2023 Summer	10 - 8⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠TL	Summit, Pyosik, Haeri, APA, Yeon, CoreJJ, Reignover, Dodo

Media[]

2021
2023
2024

November 10, "I think I was always more in control when I was younger, like during sports. So I think it just naturally led into being a good leader during games." - APA with Riot Games on Twitter
e
November 12, LCS Scouting Grounds 2021 Mock Draft by Robert Hanes on The Game Haus
e

July 8, TL APA was Told LAST MINUTE that He's Playing in the LCS with dGon on YouTube
e
July 17, C9 Blaber explains why "Not all deaths are bad" with Travis Gafford on YouTube
e
July 22, TL APA on his LCS Performance: "I've Been SH***ING on Opponents Lately" with dGon on YouTube
e
August 20, TL APA on heading to Worlds: "I've Come a VERY Long Way and I'm Getting BETTER & BETTER" with dGon on YouTube
e
October 24, TL APA on His Worlds Run: "I Was Holding My Own Against the BEST Mids" with dGon on YouTube
e

February 14, Why Teams Lose in the LCS? | PROS ft. Bwipo, Insanity, & APA by Jatt on YouTube
e
March 18, Does all-chatting tilt opponents or teammates more? by Jatt on YouTube
e
March 22, What TL APA learned in the BRAWL vs FLY: with Daniel "dGon" Gonzales on YouTube
e
March 30, Can Pros name these LEAGUE OF LEGENDS CHAMPION ABILITIES? with Travis Gafford on YouTube
e
April 5, HATERS BE DAMNED | TL APA LCS 2024 Spring Championship Interview with Daniel "dGon" Gonzales on YouTube
e
May 6, TL APA: "Yeah, EU is Trash, don't worry." with Armand Luque on YouTube
e
June 30, Inspired Killed the DIG Rivalry | PROS w/ Inspired, APA & Vulcan by Jatt on YouTube
e
July 30, TL v C9 Only 1 Stays Undefeated | Face 2 Face featuring APA and Jojopyun with Jatt on YouTube
e
August 16, "I have to stop being a b*tch" - APA reveals everything - The Sack Down Ep 4 by IWDominate and YamatoCannon on YouTube
e
September 2, How 100 Thieves shocked the world and eliminated Cloud9 by Jatt on YouTube
e
October 2, TL APA: "We used up all of our bad luck against FlyQuest [...] No one's gonna remember that we got 2nd place in the LCS as long as we perform at Worlds" with Armand Luque on Sheep Esports
e
October 4, Why APA is confident in Team Liquid's Worlds chances with Travis Gafford on YouTube
e
October 6, APA Gets Interrogated At A CIA Black Site with DonJake on YouTube
e
October 13, TL APA Post-Match Scrum Interview after facing GAM Esports | Worlds 2024 with Pedro Romero on YouTube
e

Post-Match Interviews

Date	Tournament	Match	Link
2024-08-04	LCS 2024 Summer	TL vs C9
2024-07-04	Esports World Cup 2024	TL vs FNC	Link
2024-06-23	LCS 2024 Summer	TL vs SR
2024-06-15	LCS 2024 Summer	TL vs FLY	Link
2024-05-15	MSI 2024	T1 vs TL	Link
2024-05-11	MSI 2024	FNC vs TL	Link
2024-03-31	LCS 2024 Spring Playoffs	FLY vs TL	Link
2024-03-22	LCS 2024 Spring Playoffs	100 vs TL	Link
2024-02-04	LCS 2024 Spring	TL vs C9	Link
2024-02-03	LCS 2024 Spring	TL vs DIG	Link
2024-01-21	LCS 2024 Spring	TL vs SR	Link
2023-08-13	LCS 2023 Championship	GG vs TL	Link
2023-07-22	LCS 2023 Summer	TL vs DIG	Link
2023-07-07	LCS 2023 Summer	TL vs IMT	Link
2023-06-11	NACL 2023 Summer	TLC vs MU
2023-03-18	NACL 2023 Spring Playoffs	TLC vs CLGC	Link
2023-02-26	NACL 2023 Spring	TLC vs DIGC	Link
2023-01-28	NACL 2023 Spring	TLC vs IMTC	Link
2022-07-01	Gateway Legends Collegiate Invitational 2022	UST vs MU	Link
2022-05-31	PGCQ 2022 Summer 1	FEAR vs MU	Link
2022-03-07	PGCQ 2022 Spring 2	MU vs SN	Link
2022-02-22	PGCQ 2022 Spring 2	MU vs NR	Link