Splatoon – Snowball Esports [Legacy] https://legacy.snowballesports.com Oceanic Esports News & Content Tue, 31 Dec 2019 06:03:13 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://legacy.snowballesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-sb-favicon-32x32.png Splatoon – Snowball Esports [Legacy] https://legacy.snowballesports.com 32 32 Snowball Esports: 2019 in Review https://legacy.snowballesports.com/2019/12/31/snowball-esports-2019-in-review/ Tue, 31 Dec 2019 04:50:48 +0000 https://snowballesports.com/?p=7548

As we close out the decade it’s time for our yearly wrap, and a look back at what we accomplished this year.

In 2019, we went through some major growth at Snowball in a couple of areas. At the beginning of the year, San Hoang and Chelsea Moss became the first content producers outside of myself on the team since Snowball began. Having them on board allowed us to maintain the same quality while continuing to pump out more content, especially during the OPL splits.

The team covering MEO 2019.

We hit up IEM Sydney, the Melbourne Esports Open and PAX Australia this year, and brought our flavour of coverage to those events.

In September, we announced that Snowball will partner with META High School Esports next year. We’re really excited to work with Nigel Smart, Woody Wu and the rest of the team on this for their 2020 season, providing high quality content and regular coverage.

I took a different approach with my year in review, going month to month and picking some key pieces from each to give you some insight into our year.

January

The likes of Andrew Wray and numerous others try and cheekily convince me to take on ridiculous time consuming projects all the time. After finding out there would be no tipping system for OPL like in 2018, we’d had discussions about trying to fill that gap and do something via Snowball but ultimately decided it wouldn’t be worth the time and effort to set up and maintain a competition.

We now know how weak-willed I can be when the community yearns for something. I ended up building an entire tipping league just days before the OPL returned in January. Over 200 OPL fans participated in the competition during the Split 1 regular season and some won some great RP prizes courtesy of Riot.

February

A great feature from Reece Perry on Jessica “ARTeMis” Majrouh and Carnage after their efforts at the WESG qualifier in Perth. This piece was also produced by one of our talented new additions at the start of this year in Chelsea Moss.

March

I am intensely proud of this piece from Ellis Longhurst. Ronan’s story is one that resonated with League of Legends fans both here and overseas, and is one of the most viewed Snowball pieces of all time. Ellis took a unique approach composing this story as if it were to become a six-part Netflix series, it’s an intensely inspiring read.

Also during March was the OPL playoffs for Split 1, which marked the return of Snowball’s Gauntlet Run series, kicked off by Harry Taylor.

April

I’m fairly sure this is the longest OPL recap of all time from Isaac McIntyre, and with good reason. It tells the tale of Order’s run through the OPL gauntlet, after barely scraping into the playoffs and taking down each team against all predictions on their path to the final.

Also worth noting in April was an interview ahead of the Mid-Season Invitational with Bombers coach Westonway which garnered international attention as people looked to find out more about the oceanic representatives, and announcing our IEM Sydney coverage, with the intent to bring a team to the event for the first time in Snowball’s history.

May

Along with a myriad of written and video interviews with CS:GO’s biggest names, we had one of our newest writers Ashley Whyte put together a great feature on IEM Sydney, and the legacy that it’s created in our region after we talked with Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz.

As part of our IEM Sydney coverage, the popular Survival Guides made a return, this time with Sydney local Bernadette Wong at the helm.

June

After a stellar split in the OPL, Victor “FBI” Huang became the first Australian to make the journey to North America following in the footsteps of New Zealand’s Lawrence “Lost” Hui as told by Isaac McIntyre.

Other notable pieces from June include Emma van der Brug putting a spotlight on the Girl Gamer Festival coming to Sydney, a foray for us into Hearthstone with Legacy signing Grandmasters star FroStee, and the acquisition of the Chiefs Esports Club by ICON.

July

Building up grassroots esports in Oceania has always been a focus for us at Snowball, so when Ashley Whyte pitched a feature on the latest BrisVegas LAN in July and why it’s important to have these kinds of events, it was a no-brainer.

August

The Melbourne Esports Open was Snowball’s biggest event by far of 2018, and this year was no different. Armed with a team of 7 at Melbourne Olympic Park, we worked to bring high quality coverage to as much of the event as we could.

I’ve spotlighted the two OPL final previews, on Chiefs and Mammoth, because it marks something really important to myself, and the wider management of Snowball. These pieces show more than most the growth in both Harry Taylor and Emma van der Brug. Both of them were added as community panelists for Snowball’s OPL Power Rankings in Split 2 of 2018.

These features are a testament to their hard work and dedication to growing themselves, and I’m intensely proud of that. Pair that with some stellar creative work from producer San Hoang and you have some bar-setting content.

September

Although we capped off MEO coverage in early September, also with the unfortunate debut of Roaming Wray, this feature from Andrew Amos on James “Yuki” Stanton is my highlight for September. It’s not often you see players have careers spanning this long, and it’s even rarer when they span as many titles as Yuki has, and Ducky did an excellent job bringing this story to life.

Also at the tail end of September, Go Next Media was announced to the world.

October

I believe this feature is the crown jewel of Snowball’s 2019. It was an absolute pleasure to produce, and was a complete product of circumstance. Andrew Amos was in Korea to cover the Overwatch Contenders Gauntlet right in the middle of Raid’s stay in Busan.

This is the calibre of content we strive for. You don’t often see this kind of unbridled view from retired esports pros in Oceania, and I can’t thank Julian enough for sharing his story with us.

Another notable mention from October was our PAX Australia content, my personal favourite of which was Ellis Longhurst’s look at the Mortal Kombat tournament finals.

November

In one of the most worked-on investigative pieces in Snowball’s history, Andrew Amos with the help of Isaac McIntyre and myself aimed to tell the full story of the scheduling controversy between multiple Oceanic orgs and ESL Australia.

It’s a story we didn’t take lightly, and took the time to make sure we reported the facts of the situation after obtaining full email transcripts between the teams and various other parties.

Other notable pieces from November include my report on the Essendon Bombers leaving esports and selling their OPL slot to Pentanet.GG, Ellis Longhurst’s visit to the Red Bull Fight or Flight PUBG event in Sydney, and Kevin Walker’s Snowball debut with pieces exploring Overwatch 2 and its impact on competitive and a chat with New Zealand’s Overwatch World Cup team.

December

I love this feature from Isaac McIntyre, and it’s a good one to grasp the scale of the offseason oceanic League of Legends has had. We’ll have a piece recapping every move of the ‘OCE exodus’ as its been dubbed in the new year, but his chat with Stephen for this piece shows how dedicated these pros are, and I’m super happy to see so many of them head overseas next year.

Andrew Amos put in some work on the Australian Overwatch offseason this month, announcing the Sydney Drop Bears new roster and telling the story of a new super team being built on our shores.

I’ll leave you with a sneak preview of something that’s currently being worked on, our brand new site!

On behalf of the entire Snowball team, thank you so much for a great year, we can’t wait for 2020. There’s much more to come!

]]> Australian Splatoon collaboration building a bridge out of ink https://legacy.snowballesports.com/2019/11/02/australian-splatoon-collaboration-building-a-bridge-out-of-ink/ Sat, 02 Nov 2019 08:28:29 +0000 https://snowballesports.com/?p=7315

Splatoon isn’t your conventional esports title.

The four-against-four third person shooter doesn’t strike people as the most competitive game out there. After all, its cartoonish nature and platform – with the game only available on the Nintendo Switch – doesn’t make it easily accessible to your typical diehard esports fan.

But that’s what makes Splatoon so special. It goes against the grain, the norm of every esports concept you’d have in 2019, and provides an amazingly unique gameplay experience within the tactical shooter genre, and an entirely different community.

One thing it lacks though is international competition. Outside of the World Championships, very rarely do players get the chance to intersect with their rivals and their idols in a competitive setting. However, that’s all set to change this weekend with Firetail’s Invasion.

A major collaborative effort in Australian Splatoon, Firetail have assembled some of North America’s greatest talent, and Australia’s rising stars, to help build a larger community down under.

The eight-team invitational features players like “Latias,” Australia’s most decorated Splatoon player of all time, alongside North American talent like “Nine,” a popular content creator and commentator for the Splatoon World Championships.

Latias, who has been to the World Championships twice, said that Australia still suffers from geographical isolation from the rest of the world in Splatoon.

“Nobody from the rest of the Splatoon competitive community really knows us, and it’s quite sad and frustrating when there’s so many talented people in this country who don’t get the chance to shine,” she said.

With isolation comes a weird sense of belonging. It’s not the feeling of being a part of something bigger, but rather just being a part of your own special something. For Nine, that’s something he’s noticed from the outside looking in.

“From my observations, being isolated has created a sense of togetherness and community that the bigger scenes don’t always have, and the genuine excitement AU approaches the game with is infectious,” he said.

Latias with team Yeah Nah at the Splatoon 2 World Championship. Source: Nintendo.

What the Firetail event is bringing though is attention, both from overseas and locally. Splatoon fans might have a favourite streamer to watch, but not understand that there’s a local scene booming with equally talented players to watch. Bringing the two together will only make people more aware of how far and wide the scene runs.

“Being given the opportunity to play with big streamers and competitive players from the NA scene would definitely help shed light on those in Australia who get overlooked and don’t get many opportunities to be noticed otherwise,” she said.

Events like Firetail’s Invasion brings relevance to the game’s scene in Australia in a wider scope, not just who makes it to Worlds. It opens the door to more event invites, which means more chances for players to compete on the international stage.

Most of all though, it’s building a bridge between scenes that has never been built before.

“No other shooter game crosses regions and remains playable like Splatoon does,” said Aaron “RamboAz” Dark, co-founder of Firetail. “This tournament isn’t the end goal, but a chance to build a bridge between OCE and NA.”

“People may only ever see the Australian team at Worlds each year and then forget we exist for the rest of the year,” added partner-in-crime Liam “Checkers” Kubicek “If they can play with some of these captains they can definitely compete with NA teams on a more regular basis.”

The Invasion is a culmination of hard work for the two tournament organisers, who have also casted community events in the scene for the last two years.

“The opportunity to make OCE closer to NA while entertaining everyone in the process was one that we couldn’t miss,” said RamboAz. “We need that exposure to keep growing out the OCE community.”

Splatoon 2 Australasian Open Grand Final champions Lime Soda. Source: Nintendo.

One thing Splatoon’s esports scene has that others don’t is gender diversity. Five players selected for the invitational are female, including Eels captain “Miss Click,” and Australia’s scene across the board has a much more diverse split of players compared to mainstay titles.

“It’s a much more welcoming environment for people,” said Latias. “I’ve never felt threatened because I’m a girl here, unlike other games, where people would put me down whenever they heard a girl in voice chat. Whatever the reason behind Splatoon’s diversity, I very much appreciate it.”

On top of that, Australia has been represented at E3 by four different females over the last three years. Latias is one of the only players across all regions to attend the major tournament twice, and it’s brought some memorable experiences along with it.

“After winning the AUNZ Cup in 2018 with my pickup team, and going over to compete in the World Inkling Invitational – that was a special experience,” she said. “Whilst we didn’t win, we still had a lot of fun and showed we could play well on the world stage.”

Being able to bring together amazing talent, without the stereotypes other games perpetuate, has turned Splatoon esports into a welcoming, inclusive community.

“Many of the competitors are young, and have grown up in a different era of gaming than the almost male-exclusive time before it,” said Nine. “I’ve seen with my own eyes how valued of an aspect our diversity is and the work that’s done to honor that.”

Aaron “RamboAz” Dark & Liam “Checkers” Kubicek, founders of Firetail Events.

The Firetail Invasion is the start of a link to unite players from all different backgrounds under their one common love – Splatoon. It gives a chance for Australia’s best players to learn from the best and improve, all while getting the attention the scene so desperately deserves.

“We don’t get to play [NA] often,” said RamboAz. “By providing this exhibition tournament, it gets people excited about the prospect of playing internationally, and meeting their Splatoon heroes in a fun setting.”

The Firetail Invasion Invitational starts at 11am AEDT on Sunday, November 3. You can find out more information on the Firetail Events Twitter.

You can also follow Latias on Twitter.

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