2022 Avatar World Championship

2022 Avatar World Championship

2022
Tournament information
Sport	Avatar
Location	Verlois
Dates	December 2022–
Administrator(s)	Glace
Tournament format(s)	10 team single round robin 4 team best-of-seven elimination ladder matchups
Teams	x
Purse	10,000,000 euclos

The 2022 Avatar World Championship is an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena game Avatar. The Avatar World Championship series is the oldest official still-running tournament for the game (being founded in 2013), the one with the largest prize pool, and widely considered to be the most prestigious, with the most publicity and the highest competitiveness. Being held annually, the 2022 event will be the tenth iteration.

The event will run through December 2022, with a total prize pool of 10 million euclos, the equal (to 2021's) largest in the series' history. This prize pool puts the tournament in the top ten esports events with the largest prize pool. The event is to be hosted in Verlois, capital of Gaullica. It takes place after the Summer Invictus Games were hosted in the same city in the same year.

Ten qualifying teams from around the world will compete, first in a round-robin stage, with the four best-performing teams advancing to best-of-seven elimination matchups, which will produce a winner. Glace, the developer of Avatar, is the host and organiser of the event. A majority of teams in the 2022 tournament have qualified again after participating in the 2021 tournament, including the Arucian Angels, who won it.

Hosting

Mayor Vuyani Hachette (PSD) at the gardens of the Palais Gaullois

Glace, the owners and overseers of the Avatar video-game franchise approached the Verlois city council following the 2021 Avatar World Championship in Bagabiada. Representatives of the company proposed to city councillors and Mayor Vuyani Hachette with the idea to host the 2022 Avatar World Championship. Whilst Verlois would be coming out of hosting the Invictus Games, it was the first Invictus Games to host an eSports tournament.

Glace's business leaders were eager to capitalise on the extra-popularity a hosting in Verlois would bring to Avatar and eSports in general, and successfully convinced the city council that a hosting would benefit both parties. Hachette would go on to say that "Cyber Sports are a sport of their future, and Verlois has already placed itself on the map where this up and coming sporting discipline has made its debut."

One of the lynchpins of the deal came from the existence of the Techtronique – Arène de Sport-Cyber, built specifically to host eSports at the Invictus Games. The most modern eSports arena in the world, Techtronique contains numerous amenities deemed desirable by eSports players, organisers and Glace themselves. These include: high-end gaming personal computers, fibre-optic cabling, state of the art relaxation and preparation facilities, in-house showers and a laundromat and several cafés and restaurants that are themed after popular videogames. Additional attachments to the stadium include an electronic repair shop, a merchandise shop and workshop rooms for video-game design affiliated with the University of Verlois.

Techtronique – Arène de Sport-Cyber, found in the Confluence Quarter.

In terms of arenas for specific matches, there are currently four: Arène Lucroy, Arène Hennequin, Arène Emmanuelli and Arène Pinchon. They are named after four influential Gaullican computer scientists, and in total have a stadium capacity of 30,000 individuals.

The head of Glace-Euclea, Aloys Barthès, described the arena as "the finest eSports stadium in the world. It was built to host eSports; it hosted them during the Invictus Games; what a place to host the World Championship. Our players are familiar with it; it was designed with the gamer in mind."

Qualification

Certified regions were able to send their champions, with an extra two places granted to East Euclea and an extra one to West Euclea, because of the regions' strength. This marks a change from 2021, when the Brown Sea, Asteria Superior and East Euclean regions sent two (in addition to West Euclea), for a total of twelve teams. The reduction to ten but the increase for East Euclea has been controversial, particularly given the East Euclean teams' equal 8th place finish last year. The adjustments were made partially based on the results of the Global Qualifiers, another global Avatar tournament, albeit one of lesser stature. Another factor was the Central Euclea region not sending representatives, due to logistical issues, and their ties with the East Euclea region.

Expectations that 2022 might see the Shangean competitive region maturing enough to be allowed to send a team were not met.

Participants

Team	Qualification	Players					Coach
		Top laner	Top roamer	Mid laner	Bot roamer	Bot laner
Arucian Angels	Asteria Inferior 2022 Champions	tourdeforce (Raymond Delacroix)	t0by (Toby Williams)	GLGG (Gianluca Varrone)	k1ngManuel (Manuel Fenelon)	mutiler244 (Camille Leroy)	Bart Derasmo
Grupp FALKN	Asteria Superior 2022 Champions	OneTrickRik (Erik Lindholm)	Egreg0re (Clara Gylenhaal)	GunthyWunthy (Gunther Hansen)	VandalVVitch (Lilith Halland)	Frakturkon (Kris Nysund)	N.A.
Mtel Lion City	Bahia 2022 Champions	Kumkani (Cebo Joyi)	WaWa (Anasa Schmitd)	XtaZ (Lifa Jadezweni)	Chananga (Lewis Goli)	J1 (Jean Maqoma)	Jezaga Zemhinou
Red Crane	Brown Sea 2022 Champions	Attisabad_9299 (Jirandai Yerbolat)	Pho-gamer (Yokhunan Khamsomphou)	Thogfasisom_123 (Kapono Jeanovny)	BZiun_999 (Borachu Ziugiuzimha)	Mkphurik_M (Mengu Sounvannaphouma)	N.A.
SilverknightS	East Euclea 2022 Champions	SilverPaladin (Alexandru Verean)	ArkleeD (Maria Braz)	Marada (Adam Bonnard)	ShielDCitadeL Andreea Marin	Levikushi Denis Perenoi	Fabien Vernier
"Les Amateurs" Équipe de Sport-Cyber de Rouanet	East Euclea 2022 Runners-up	XaverGamer (Xavier Boutroux)	FlameBlaise (Sylviane Blaise)	SerChl03 (Ingrid Bouchard)	JPLGaming (Jean-Paul Laurens)	xX_Stunzeed_Xx (Antoine Gérin)	N.A.
Morwall Magpies	East Euclea 2022 Wild Card	Template:Country data Estmere dr_dooda (John Turner)	WEKOMB (Hungwe Kombayi)	Template:Country data Estmere xX_RascaL_Xx (Robin Scott)	Template:Country data Estmere LilHill (Caitlin Hill)	estaku (Nakao Toyotomi)	Template:Country data Estmere Ed Calhoun
Rikan Kaminari	Senria 2022 Champions	dokidoki24 (Isogai Takebe)	Kyouma (Rintaro Okabe)	Daru (Itaru Ikari)	Lancier35 (Takebayasi Ayanami)	senshatou (Nagisa Nisizumi)	Shinji Fuyutsuki
S5 Gaming	West Euclea 2022 Champions	kl1ment (Kliment Smeshnoy)	delphi (Villiam Järvenpää)	Sagacité (Dragomir Lenov)	volo_city (Valentina Voloshyn)	niangi2 (Mikhel Saakashvili)	Cheslav Ungern
Team Ace	West Euclea 2022 Runners-up	vasilthegreat (Vasil Vasilov)	Lucky (Martin Gájda)	konk (Konstantin Kulik)	rougelectrique (Valerii Dultsev)	Bardo (Lukaš Vanček)	Bartoš Nivica

Results

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Media

The 2021 Avatar World Championship will be streamed live for the general public, as well as recorded and uploaded to the internet. Official broadcasts are made in languages including Gaullican, Estmerish, Ziba, Shangean, Senrian, Vespasian, Soravian and Weranian; casters and other staff from regional leagues are brought in to create these different broadcasts. The gameplay footage, interviews, music and ceremonies are generally the same, but different streams may differ in terms of the commentary, analysis and other content (giveaways, off-topic discussion and games).

Glace maintains all relevant intellectual property rights in the broadcast; it does not allow reproduction of the live broadcast, but does allow private recordings to be uploaded after the fact. This is part of its media strategy, seeking to generate publicity not only before, but also after the event, to maximise the effect of advertisement both for sponsors and for the game itself.