After initially being snubbed from the inaugural Teamfight Tactics Galaxies Championship, Oceanic players will now have a way to qualify for the colloquially dubbed “TFT Worlds” through North America.

Despite having a larger player base than Japan, Turkey, and Latin America, Oceania were snubbed of a spot in the initial TFT Galaxies Championship plan. However, on May 1, Riot announced a backflip of their plans, incorporating OCE into the North American qualifiers.

The top four OCE players will be invited to the 24-player OCENA final in September. However, they won’t qualify directly from ladder, instead using a fused ladder-qualifer model to determine who deserves to represent the region in the finals.

The top 32 players, based on nine weeks of ladder ranking starting on May 19, will be invited to a closed qualifier.

They will then play three rounds in a single elimination tournament. However, it’s unclear how exactly groups will be seeded, and how many series’ players will need to play.

The top four players from the OCE qualifier will then join NA’s best 20 for a chance to get two seats at the global Galaxies Championship.

The OCE qualifiers will only be open to players residing in the region. While the server has become a hotbed for Taiwanese and South East Asian players in the absence of TFT Mobile servers for their respective regions, only players residing in Australia, New Zealand, and selected Pacific islands will qualify for the closed finals.

The Teamfight Tactics Galaxies Championship is the first major Riot-backed esports endeavour in the autobattler’s 12 month history. 16 players from 10 regions across the world will be competing for $200,000 in the first TFT Worlds, as Riot looks to expand its esports ecosystem in 2020.

More information about the TFT Galaxies Championship can be found on the LoL Esports website.

Imagery supplied
Produced by Josh Swift

ESL and DreamHack branded events will be exclusively broadcast on Twitch following this year, as the Turtle Entertainment companies have announced a partnership that turns the streaming platform options exclusive from 2021.

In an announcement today, esports giants ESL and Dreamhack have announced a three year deal with Twitch which will see CS:GO, Starcraft II and Warcraft III tournaments broadcast exclusively on the streaming platform for 2021 and 2022.

Whilst Twitch will operate as a non-exclusive partner alongside YouTube for 2020, this will see tournaments, such as the ESL Pro League, Intel Extreme Masters and DreamHack Open, move to a single platform for 2021 and 2022.

As well as their global tournaments, ESL also operates competitions within the SEA / OCE region, with the ESL ANZ Championships offering players from the three featured titles a chance at qualifying to international events to compete with the world’s best.

pic.twitter.com/hKoxKqQZSI

— ESL (@ESL) April 28, 2020

ESL teased the new partnership on Twitter

The plan is for Twitch to work directly with ESL and Dreamhack to provide a hub for their competitions. The partnership will springboard coordinated broadcasts and sponsorship efforts into the new decade.

Frank Uddo, Senior Vice President at ESL Global Media, said live streaming esports had belonged to Twitch in recent years.

“As we continue to host some of the world’s largest esports tournaments, it feels only natural to work even closer with Twitch to provide the best gaming experience for fans, as well as safeguard the future of the esports industry.”

Alongside the ESL ANZ Championships, ESL have also begun hosting weekly cups for Starcraft II and Warcraft III.

The weekly competitions are held Tuesday nights (for Starcraft) and Saturday days (for Warcraft). Both tournaments have a $100 prize pool and have open registration for anyone based within the SEA / OCE region.

As the battle for content access heats up and each streaming platform jockeys for positioning, this deal is one that stands out for the old guard of esports standing firm with each other.

In the current environment, it is noteworthy as well that Twitch has opted in with the TO that is promoting grass roots participation for those joining in from home. We’ll see as this deal plays out how this maneuvering benefits both sides.

Produced by Josh Swift

Legacy’s drought is over. After ten crownless campaigns— including four grand final defeats, three bronze-place finishes, and a year best left to distant memory ?— one of Oceania’s storied founding fathers has finally claimed the throne in 2020 Split 1.

For many, it was a foregone conclusion as the season began in earnest. 2019 had seen one of the league’s original titans slip into a battle to avoid the misnomer of the spoon. Those struggles were forgotten as Legacy assembled a roster dripping with Oceania’s top talent.

Chief among them stood returning champion Leo “Babip” Romer. The youngster, once dubbed “Baby Bip” as he trained under veteran Pro League jungler Tim “Carbon” Wendel, had thrown off the mantle to become an OPL king.

The beginning of 2020 saw Mammoth crumble as their stars ventured overseas for international conquests, however, and Babip’s eyes turned home. He, alongside reigning MVP and 2016 victor Quin “Raes” Korebrits, signed as the core of the squad.

Joined by Mammoth’s Kim “Topoon” Ji-hoon, rookie pickup Jonah “Isles” Rosario, and lauded LCK trainee Jang “EMENES” Min-soo ?— the latter of whom would not last the split ?— the team marched to a 6–0 record. Only arch-rivals the Chiefs remained close.

Then, the season imploded, at least on paper. The world went into lockdown due to COVID-19. The Pro League, like many other League of Legends tournaments around the world, entered a state of limbo. A short Week 7 marked the high-water mark of the chaos.

The spreading global pandemic wasn’t the only moment in the season that threatened to derail Legacy’s march to the title either. EMENES, who had been one of the best performers in the OPL up to this point, was punted from the starting roster.

The official line was Legacy would not “compromise values” for star players. Between the inked release, it was clear there had been backroom drama forged by the Korean rookie. Despite his early strengths, he was quietly shown the door.

• Read more: Ties’ Takes – Emergency Back-Up Mids

Enter James “Tally” Shute. Formerly Order’s top lane, and before that Legacy’s bot laner, the OPL veteran had found himself teamless for 2020. According to sources, he was preparing for a big swap back to ADC. Instead, he was thrust into Legacy’s mid lane.

He clicked nearly immediately, outside of a “two week transition period,” Legacy bot laner Raes revealed. Many saw Tally’s hurried recruitment as a stop-gap method. Instead, he became the leading voice in the center of Summoner’s Rift.

“Having Tally join when he did definitely helped us a lot, I think,” Raes told Snowball Esports after the championship victory. “He’s communicative and has a ton of experience, and it helped us to have someone that could lead from mid lane again.”

At the same time, Legacy thrived in the online environment. There were a few slip-ups ?— before heading online, Tally’s debut weekend slipped to a 1–1 result with a major upset from one of the lower teams ?— but overall it was near-smooth sailing.

According to Raes, the shift was almost “more relaxing” than the usual rigmarole of Pro League life. Not having to travel made it “much easier on game days,” and the removal of the “long wait” in the studio eliminated any nerves the team may have had.

“That really was the only difference for us, that we didn’t have to travel anywhere for matches on gameday,” Raes explained. “Gameplay-wise it wasn’t that hard. Maybe we played better and I did not notice, but overall it was just better. We went better.”

The final weeks were like the seasons of old. Legacy and the Chiefs duelled for the top spot, with each trading it out across the bumper final rounds. A landslide 17–2 win in the very last game of the split, however, handed first-seed to the Trees.

Legacy only played two series in the playoffs after earning the top spot in the regular season. The first was an edgy 3–1 victory over their arch-rivals once more, with a “Baron throw” from Raes the only difference-maker in the overall scoreline.

“I was very confident. They always failed to perform when it mattered, and yeah… that seemed to happen again.”

The eventual champions then got to watch from the sidelines as the Chiefs locked horns with the Dire Wolves. It was an epic five-game series, and Legacy got to watch their arch-rivals ?— dubbed by Raes “the biggest threat” ?— fall out of contention.

It was a moment that Korebrits says “sealed the title” for the team: “Going up against the Dire Wolves [after they beat the Chiefs], I was very confident. They always failed to perform when it mattered, and yeah… that seemed to happen again.”

And so, Legacy were crowned Oceanic Pro League champions for the first time. It took a four game series against the Dire Wolves on April 24. It took a role-swapped mid laner settling into the team, and it took battling through new online conditions, but Legacy triumphed.

And yet… Raes admits it feels a little “hollow.” He’s happy, that’s for sure. But there’s just that next step missing from the puzzle: the 2020 Mid-Season Invitational, originally slated to be held in May, was first moved to July, then binned altogether by Riot Games.

Korebrits knows he’s standing in a special moment. It’s the first time in four years he’s been an OPL champion. It’s the first time ever Legacy have tasted success in Australia & New Zealand’s top-level League of Legends competition. But it’s not enough.

“Obviously it feels good… it’s been a long, long time. But I can’t help but think about wanting more. The situation… the massive exodus of good players to America, and Europe, and the fact MSI is cancelled. It doesn’t feel as rewarding,” Raes admitted.

“We had a fantastic split. We worked hard to get here, and win. I think we had some of the best players in the league ?— Ji-hoon [Topoon] was robbed of Most Improved this season I think, and Jonah [Isles] should have got the tip for Rookie of the Split. We had a fantastic season.

“It’s just that little bit more, you know? Before winning the title, that’s what I wanted. But for me it’s like 40% winning the title, 60% going international again, for the first time since 2016, to get the chance to prove Oceania isn’t the worst region in the world.”

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for Raes though. The 2020 World Championship is still full steam ahead, Riot has confirmed. There’s expanded slots for China and Europe, and OCE has retained its Play-In seeding. It makes Split 2 all the more exciting.

“We’re going to win again,” the now two-time champion bot laner said. “I don’t feel insane about winning this Split 1 title, but I know how much it means to our progress. We’ve only gotten better, and we will again. I want to take Legacy to the international stage.”

It’s an ambition shared by Legacy founder Tim “Carbon” Wendel, who has lived through the trials of tribulations of the trees since their classic wars with the Chiefs. He was there when the OPL was founded, and now he’s seen his team bring home the silverware.

“We are extremely excited to have earned our first OPL title, and to do it with a mix of former players and new talent makes it even sweeter!” he said. “It’s a shame MSI isn’t going ahead, but I’m choosing to take that as extra motivation to get to Worlds.”

Legacy have ticked that first box they’ve chased for so long: they are now Oceanic Pro League champions. Now their eyes are fixed on the World Championship.

Photography courtesy of Riot Games
Produced by Josh Swift

Gravitas top laner Jackson “Pabu” Pavone will be swapping allegiances ?— and roles ?— for OPL Split 2 2020, replacing Paris “Souli” Sitzoukis in the jungle for the struggling squad.

The OPL roster shuffle is kicking off with a bang, with a move set to shake up not just one, but two roles in the region.

Storied top laner Pabu, previously of Abyss, Avant, and Gravitas, will now be taking up a role swap into the jungle to replace Souli for Pentanet.GG, sources have told Snowball Esports.

Souli, in his first full split in the OPL, has struggled to find his footing. The hyped-up Pentanet roster fell flat, missing playoffs after a string of poor performances saw the team fall to sixth in the final days of the OPL.

Pabu, on the other hand, helped Gravitas find their footing late in the season. While they eventually finished in seventh, his stats were noticeably better than the likes of David “Beats” Nguyen-Dang and Lachlan “N0body” Keene-O’Keefe in the top lane in the five games he played.

He might not be known competitively for his jungle skill, but solo queue is a different story. He has ranked up multiple accounts playing jungle, peaking as high as 600 LP Challenger on his jungle-only account.

He will also bring a new set of skills to the role not necessarily seen by other junglers in the region. The fact he has played multiple lanes to the top of solo queue could prove to be the competitive edge Pentanet need to elevate themselves to playoffs in Split 2.

It is not yet known where Souli could be landing in the OPL off-season.

Follow Snowball Esports on Twitter for the latest OPL offseason news.

Photography courtesy of Riot Games
Produced by Josh Swift

The Six Masters 2020 is kicking off on April 28 with more on the line than ever before, a $50,000 prize pool, and regional bragging rights to boot.

What once started as the FA Cup of Australian Rainbow Six, the Six Masters has now morphed into a title full of prestige and glory.

It’s making its return in 2020 for the third year running ?— and while we might not catch Siege’s biggest stars on stage, it’ll have big repercussions for the state of APAC in the future.

Eight teams will be matching up against each other in a single round-robin format, similar to how Pro League operates. However, this time, there’ll be no draws, with maps going into overtime if need be. $50,000 is on the line, with $15,000 lining the pockets of the winners.

Get excited Operators! The Six Masters is back for 2020! ???

To kick things off, we’re holding an Open Qualifier on April 18th!
Teams can register here ? https://t.co/bePgzZB4rD

More information to come soon – stay tuned… pic.twitter.com/iBa0TH7CFM

— Rainbow 6 ANZ (@Rainbow6ANZ) April 10, 2020

Seven Pro League teams ?— Elevate, TBD, Wildcard, SiNister, Knights, Fury, and Kanga ?— will be looking to lift the title at the end of the season. One Challenger League team, LFO, will also have the chance to make their mark, after qualifying via the Open Bracket on April 19.

“The Six Masters has truly become a flagship national tournament within the global Rainbow Six circuit and I’m incredibly excited to deliver another amazing season in partnership with ESL,” said Shane Bailey, Esports Manager at Ubisoft Australia.

“With Oceanic teams showing even more promise this past Pro League season in combination with our further dedication to Rainbow Six esports in the region, I’m certain this will be the most entertaining season of Six Masters yet.”

• Read more: Snowball partners with Ubisoft for Six Masters 2020

Fnatic is a notable exemption from the lineup for Six Masters. APAC’s perennial champions have just come off yet another Pro League victory in Season 11, however they will not be defending their 2019 title.

Six Masters 2020 will also be the first tournament after the global shift for Pro League Season 12. With leagues across the world moving to LAN events, APAC will be divided into two regions across the coming months.

The upcoming Six Masters will be tied into the new global landscape for Siege esports, with more information to be released at a later date.

The Six Masters kicks off on April 28 at 7pm AEST. Games will be played every Tuesday and Wednesday evening.

For more Six Masters coverage, including match predictions, wrap-ups, and interviews, be sure to stick with Snowball Esports.

The Six Masters is returning soon, and Snowball Esports is proud to be covering one of the pinnacle events on the Rainbow Six ANZ calendar.

Snowball Esports is proud to announce our partnership with Ubisoft Australia for the Six Masters 2020 season, providing in-depth media coverage and analysis for the event across all channels.

The best teams from across the country ?— from Six Invitational veterans to up-and-coming stars ?— will be colliding over a number of weeks to determine who is the best team in Australia.

• Read more: Six Masters 2020 to tie into new Rainbow Six global esports circuit

You’ll find weekly wrap-ups and predictions for the Six Masters, as well as player interviews and more right here on Snowball.

We are excited to keep telling the stories of the ANZ Rainbow Six scene, from grassroots to Pro League. With Pro League Season 11 wrapped up, and the future APAC expansion on the horizon, there’s never been a more exciting time to follow Siege.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on Snowball Esports, as well as the Rainbow 6 ANZ Twitter for all things Six Masters.

The past several days have seen a host of complaints by Oceanic players around the region, with many suffering from variable latency — you’ll know it as “ping” — in their League of Legends matches.

Normally, latency for Sydney players is the ‘perfect’ 8ms. Riot’s client doesn’t show a lower number than this. Melbourne players see a value of around 18-20ms, while Brisbane players clock in at around 24ms in most matches.

Oceanic players haven’t always had it this good either. In years past, when North American servers were the only option, latency was locked to around 140-180ms. Veteran League players from that time will attest to how poor an experience it really was.

If you didn’t play back in those days, and weren’t among the lucky few to be constrained by Australian internet as a housemate explores the wonders of streaming video, you could normally have a pretty great ping in League of Legends.

That is, until recently.

Players attempting to play solo queue in Australia on a wide variety of ISP’s have seen pings ranging from 80ms all the way up to a whopping 380ms, rather degrading the ‘good micro’ OCE players are well known for.

There has been no information from official Riot support channels, with nothing coming forth from their Service Status page or official Twitter feed.

Players expressed their discontent on social media. Specific comments were made about the fact ranked queues — both solo and flex — were still enabled, despite a past history of them being disabled amidst infrastructure issues to preserve competitive integrity.

Day 2 of OCE League servers with ridiculously high ping, and everything else is fine.@RiotSupport pls?

Like what in the fresh hell is this? pic.twitter.com/VVlDEWMxWS

— Mordred (@MordredOCE) April 18, 2020

Consultation with the more network routing savvy among our readers had us gather the opinion the routing to Riot Oceania’s datacenter was being interrupted, or poorly done in some manner. Some reports directed to Snowball even suggested “tromboning,” or traffic destined for Sydney, going to Los Angeles and returning to Australia, instead of a much saner direct route.

Player suspicions were confirmed when a Rioter posted on an Australian Network Operators Group mailing list revealing Riot Oceania’s servers had been migrated to a new facility. This migration seems to align with the period of high latency in League queues.

The same email from a Rioter — seen by Snowball sources — also revealed that due to “time constraints” new IP addresses were used on key peering exchanges in Sydney used by many ISP’s to provide a direct and optimized path for their customers to Riot’s servers.

According to our expert sources in Australia, moving an entire server fleet to another facility without downtime, is an impressive feat and the high latency experienced by the players is on the low end of potential impacts to your solo queue games.

Riot Games Oceania did not respond with a comment before time of publication.

Avant’s emphatic 3-1 victory over Order has become a statement of intent as they now look to be a dominant force in the new post-major qualification world.

Though they didn’t know for sure at the time, when Avant hit the server to face Order in the Grand Finals of Season 1 of ANZ Champs for 2020 it would be looked back on with some significance.

In the current health environment, Valve made the only practical decision they had in attempting to condense the year that would normally contain two Majors into one. In this, they also halved the chances for ANZ teams to prove themselves on the biggest stage CS:GO has to offer. In turn, this put even greater significance on those events that feed into the remaining international tournaments that domestic teams can qualify for (assuming these events run as scheduled).

The result was that ANZ Champs became the first cab off the ranks as the “Best of the Rest” suite of events – the first chance for teams other than Order, Chiefs, Renegades and Ground Zero to make an international presence. And Order was here to crash the party.

With a DreamHack Open invite on the line, Avant stalled momentarily off the line, before coming screaming to life and overwhelming Order, 3-1. It was a crushing victory and given Order had taken Renegades to 3 maps a month prior, came in a fashion that many did not expect. It may give some pause to wonder if this team can finally be the one in a long list of contenders to take the domestic crown away from Renegades/Grayhound.

Jared “hazr” O’Bree has his eyes on this prize, but is taking things one step at a time to get to this lofty point.

“We’re definitely setting our sights on taking over that top spot eventually. I know we have all of the pieces required to do so, it’s just a matter of constantly working hard together and making sure we don’t get complacent with ourselves so we can keep growing as a team,” he told Snowball.

Asked about the “Gentleman’s Sweep” that Avant handed to Order, and if they used Dust2 to work anything out strategically that Order were showing them, hazr credited the slow start to just that…a slow start, as opposed to any sort of “feeling out” of Order.

“I think we just had a very slow start on Dust 2, we started to get into the groove of things in the second half, but it was just a bit too late. We didn’t really need to change anything for the next maps because it felt like we would’ve easily had that first map if we played like ourselves earlier on. It was a pretty smooth ride after that.”

Particularly impressive from Avant in this series was the performance of their veterans – Chris “Ofnu” Hanley and Mike “ap0c” Aliferis, who were at the top of the kill counts. Ap0c was every bit as cataclysmic as his namesake, leading the series in Rating and boasting a fearsome +21 kill differential. It was a stark contrast to the big-name veterans of Order, particularly Alastair “aliStair” Johnston and Karlo “USTILO” Pivac, who were each -30 or worse and had days they’d rather forget.

Ap0c noted that suppressing Order’s veterans was a conscious effort on Avant’s part. While Jireh “J1rah” Youakim, who had recently joined the team has experience in his own right, putting him in a place of fragging responsibility took away from the IGL the options he would normally have had at his disposal.

“You always try and contain aliStair as best you can (even if) most of the time he will still get his. I think minimizing the impact that Rickeh (Ricardo Mulholland) (CT) & USTILO (T) in particular had, really swung the series in our favour,” said Aliferis.

We’ve had a great run in Season 10 of the ESL #ANZChamps over the past couple months!

Here is a highlight reel of some of our craziest plays! ? ?

?? WATCH NOW: https://t.co/4OwuwMFbaE#AVANTARMY | @ESLAustralia pic.twitter.com/WP8C8H6iPZ

— Avant (@AvantGaming) April 14, 2020

The success that these efforts had really paid off in Avant’s utter dominance on their CT side. In matches that they won, they averaged nearly 10 CT rounds per map, and the only reason that number isn’t higher is that they took Train after only 9 CT rounds, having won all of them. Even factoring in their lost map, that average only dips just below 9 CT round wins per map. Ap0c credited the good blend of cohesion and confidence the team has built since this line-up had formed.

“We are really starting to click on the CT side. It was always going to take some time when we formed this new roster. We moved hazr to a completely new role for him (anchor) and BL1TZ was coming back to rifling after a year or so on the AWP.”

Meanwhile, for his part Ofnu has been nothing short of a revelation since joining Avant. Having watched the end of his time on Tainted Minds and into the Chiefs, I among others had wondered if we had seen the peak of Ofnu’s abilities and consistency pass him by. But since he left the Chiefs and longtime teammate Ryan “Zewsy” Palmer to join the new Avant roster, the resurgent Ofnu is showing the adage that form is temporary, but class is permanent.

“I think the resurgence is only just beginning, I was struggling individually and trying to find where I fit in our play style in comparison to last year in Chiefs but between working on myself and some tweaks on some of our rounds I’m starting to feel things click and can now perform to my own standards.”
Chris “Ofnu” Hanley

To this end, Ofnu acknowledged his long-time partner in Zewsy in finding his own role on Avant, and how he could bring success to the team and himself.

“I had recently been thinking about the qualities that he brings to teams he played in and trying to take some of those responsibilities on myself to help this team, he was always a selfless player and more so than ever in the Chiefs roster which can sometimes go under appreciated”

“The way in which he played and sacrificed definitely helped me to perform over the years.”

Now that the sun has set on the first season of ANZ Champs for 2020, we can begin to contextualize what this means for Oceanic Counter-Strike as it begins to adapt, as we all must, to the world we now face.

Avant may have had their second chance at a Major taken away by circumstances beyond all our control. Hopefully they and the rest of the region are not short of opportunities throughout the year to show their qualities on the international stage.

Despite competition ahead of them that has previously shown to be unassailable, crushing Order could be the shot across the bow of the scene that maybe we’re in for a new king of the mountain as we move through 2020 and beyond.

Header image credit – Avant Gaming

Esports today is a young industry, used to short half-lives. Teams and orgs constantly rotate out of relevance, players retire young, and the entire lifespan of a top competitive title is shorter than an individual career in traditional sports. But the Fighting Game Community, birthed in the arcades of the 90’s and nurtured in scout halls and living rooms ever since, stands as the exception.

Australia’s FGC shares that proud pedigree, and boasts some of our strongest international competitors for any esports title. That strength and longevity can be attributed to the tight-knit community of players, who still assemble every week to play their tournaments face to face and train among their peers. It’s a unique atmosphere in the age of online laddering and tightly-controlled pro play, and generates a constant stream of fresh talent across many different fighting game titles.

For the past decade and a half, a grassroots organisation called CouchWarriors have been working to unify those local tournaments and player groups from around Australia, pushing for better cross-promotion and coordination of events at the state and national level. Now in direct control of tournaments across Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia with partnerships in other states, the organisation has announced a new framework for FGC competition – the CouchWarriors League.

This league combines the traditional monthly ranking battle (“ranbat”) events from each local area, and provides a single national leaderboard for four of the most popular FGC titles; Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate & Super Smash Bros. Melee. It also incorporates the existing calendar of recognised inter-state majors, tempting players from around the country with stacks of CWL points for making top 8. All of this competition leads into Battle Arena Melbourne, CouchWarriors’ biggest annual event and one of Australia’s only international majors for any esport. The top points leaders for each state will earn sponsored flights to BAM to face the best that Australia and the world have to offer as they battle for the #1 spot.

Getting a head start on the competition

The CWL announcement lays out the season schedule, which covers the first half of 2020. Since we’re already a few months deep into competition, the league is retroactively awarding the appropriate points to players who won tournaments in January and February – so we’re immediately aware of who our frontrunners are, and which players will be grinding to catch up.

Representing the ORDER army, Christian “ROF” Dedalija is the early points leader for Street Fighter V. One of Australia’s most consistent talents for any game, ROF has taken his Birdie to another level over the last six months, winning ranbat after ranbat in Victoria and taking down the CouchWarriors Crossup major in December.

Had the starting points been backdated to October or so, ROF’s lead would look nearly unassailable – as it is, he chose a tricky time to finally drop the invincible act, losing some of his possible points to fellow Street Fighter legend Xavier “DS|Somniac” Nardella in the February ranbat. Somniac, a Bison main, is also within striking distance of ROF on the standings thanks to that clutch win – as are top Brisbane competitors Dale Roy and Wade “WillingFoe” Ballantyne.

The standings for Tekken 7 show a pair of South Australian representatives as immediate threats for the overall points lead. Anna player Cheapies is tied for first place at present, with rival Moose and his Lee close behind. As the clear #1 and #2 in South Australia’s “Cheese League” ranbats, they seem likely to scoop a consistent amount of points every month and stay right at the top of the charts. But the duo have also proven themselves against interstate opposition, with both making top 5 against the field at their hometown major, “Big Cheese”, in 2019.

Their primary competition will be BAM Tekken champion Naveed “Chand NY” Iqbal, representing Kanga Esports, and Chang Seop “Rest” Park, an expat from the hallowed halls of Korean Tekken who intermittently dominates the Queensland scene.

The two Smash Bros. ladders have seen the most early movement for CWL, on account of Phantom 2020 – this month’s Smash-only, Sydney-based major. Dark Sided star Joshua “Sora” Lyras is soaring at the top of the leaderboard after taking first both at Victorian ranbat and then at Phantom.

Wrapped with Phantom 2020. As always the smash scene puts on, if you aient in it… you’re missing out. Catch da buddaz at BAM ? pic.twitter.com/vqoBGT9QL9

— OTG SLIWILL ? (@SliWill) March 8, 2020

But Sora he will be looking over his shoulder – not only is top Queenslander Auro breathing down his neck after back-to-back exceptional ranbats, but his main rival is yet to even debut at a pointed tournament for 2020. Te Tuhi “Spud” Kelly, a New Zealander playing out of Perth for Dark Sided, has been by far the best Melee player in the land for years, keeping Sora and others effortlessly in the shadow of his Marth. Sora is working hard, but it’s clear that he can’t consider that gap closed until he is able to win a major tournament over Spud.

Meanwhile in the hotly-contested Smash Ultimate ladder, the top spot initially belongs to Jonathan “Jdizzle” Douglas, who has really come into his own over the last year playing Young Link. While the top level of Ultimate players are relatively even across the country, Jdizzle has shown remarkable consistency and definitely looks a chance to keep the top spot on lockdown until BAM in late May.

Jdizzle’s lead got an extra boost at Phantom – the tournament was won by visiting U.S. player Rasheen “Dark Wizzy” Rose, effectively sucking a chunk of points out of the standings as Wizzy won’t be sticking around Down Under to contest the CWL. Chasing down the Kanga maestro will be tough, but in the running are his long-time doubles bro Bradley “DD” Kun and top Queenslander Andrew “Shadrew” Isokangas.

Last but not least is Dark Sided’s mercurial Nick “Extra” McKenzie, winner of multiple national titles across Smash 4 and now Ultimate with his Game & Watch. While his ceiling of play is among the highest in the country, he gave up the top spot in the 2019 national rankings to Jdizzle and has had a slow start to the year, leaving him well outside the points lead. But if Extra can overcome his yips he will quickly become another hot favourite for the title.

Get ready for the next battle

With the CouchWarriors League off to a running start in its first season, now is a perfect time to join in on these rivalries and narratives and follow the tournament results heading into BAM. Battle Arena Melbourne 12 is going to be Australia’s largest open-entry esports event ever, and feature the world’s most elite players competing in official World Tour tournaments for SEVEN different games. It’s a rare chance to see our best local talent test themselves against the highest standard, and setting the stage to also host the finale of CWL makes things even more exciting.

I’ll be continuing to provide summaries of CWL events for Snowball over the next few months, so you can check back in on our players as the season progresses.

In the meantime, if you want information on BAM12, FGC tournament streams or CouchWarriors events near you, check out the official website. 

Header photo credit – James Alimboyong
Produced by Josh Swift

In a move that sees the former WCS Challenger tournaments by Blizzard replaced, ESL ANZ Champs has been announced as the new way for Oceanic and South-East Asian players to qualify into four Masters level events across the year.

ESL ANZ Champs has positioned itself as Oceania’s primary gateway event to international competition. With a corresponding move announced recently in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that will send a team to a DreamHack Open event, the Champs series is forming a key part of ESL’s wider global network to feed local players into the international stage across a range of titles.

ESL Australia’s Product Manager James Fletcher is excited for the opportunities this new event will provide.

“With the addition of StarCraft II to the ESL ANZ Champs, we’re excited to also unveil this new global pathway for players in our league.”

“Competing at an ESL Pro Tour Masters level event is an aspiration that we hope many local players share, and we look forward to seeing our region represented on the global stage.”

As the replacement for Blizzard’s WCS Challenger tournament, there are now four global events that Starcraft 2 players will be able to take part in from ESL’s SC2 Pro Tour.

The move had recently been speculated on the Esports Social Club’s Not Another Podcast and the opportunites that have been announced largely mirror what was discussed there.

Three DreamHack events will form the first three opportunities, in Dallas, Valencia and Montreal and the fourth Masters level event has not yet been announced.

The StarCraft II portion of ESL ANZ Champs this year will allow players from across Oceania and South-East Asia to compete, including players from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.

Each qualifier will consist of three stages and will award $6,600USD in prize money along with the global pathway to each respective event.

The new event streamlines Starcraft 2’s pathway to the global stage along the range of events that fall under ESL’s banner and locally enables pro Starcraft 2 to be broadcast from the marquee ANZ Champs flag.

You can read more as the event progresses at https://pro.eslgaming.com/anz/sc2/

Header image credit: ESL