Verhulst slams ImperialHal and claims he made playing Apex on TSM “miserable”

Evan ‘Verhulst’ Verhulst slammed Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen on a livestream, saying playing with him on TSM’s Apex Legends team and even in ranked games was “miserable.”

Verhulst joined ImperialHal on TSM in December 2021 and placed top 10 across five different ALGS LAN events with the team. The two have won multiple North American pro league titles and claimed the top spot at the 2023 ALGS Championship and 2023 Split 1 Playoffs before Hal left TSM on May 13, 2024.

But while they seemed to be on good terms even with Hal joining Team Falcons, Verhulst revealed what it was like playing with one of the best players in Apex Legends esports during a June 6 livestream.

“Playing with Hal somedays was miserable, it was miserable. That’s what sucked. It was hard,” he said answering questions from his Twitch chat.

The TSM player explained that ImperialHal would often get angry while playing the game and say things he did not mean in an emotional state. Verhulst said it got to the point where he and TSM’s third member Jordan ‘Reps’ Wolfe would avoid grinding ranked with Hal.

The 21-year-old pro then recounted a time when Hal needled him constantly about a mistake at the 2023 World Championship.

“Hal kept bringing that mistake up, brought it up like 20 times and he kept bugging me about it. I told him to stop… Like I get I made a mistake… He was acting in person like he does online. I literally told him I would punch him in the face if he didn’t shut up. Then he’s quiet the rest of LAN… And then we win Champs,” Verhulst said.

He did go on to say that Hal’s intensity is the reason he’s been able to win so much. He also applauded the player for his consistent form, and willingness to grind Apex Legends as much as he does.

ImperialHal has not been shy about his toxic tendencies and has admitted to being hard on his teammates. Fans can also see how intense the player gets in matches via his POV streams during NA pro league matches.

The Team Falcons player shot back at Verhulst on his stream the same day, saying his former teammate is just saying these things for clicks and views. He said he and Verhulst have tried to talk about the friction in their in-game relationship before but his former teammate would brush him off.

“All this sh** that he said on stream, we’ve talked about as a team. This was a thing before. So now, all of a sudden, he wants to talk about it on stream as if Twitch chat is going to help him or something,” ImperialHal said.

Hal explained that he knows he is hard to play with, but that it was also hard to play with his former TSM teammates when they stopped trying in ranked or slacked off in pro matches.

“Them two wanted to have fun, f*** around, take a hike, and have a picnic. Hold hands-type sh**. And I just wanted to not see the lobby every f***ing game,” Hal said.

The Team Falcons player said at the end of the day, no one was forcing Verhulst to stay on the team, and ultimately he walked away from TSM to pursue other opportunities.