2022 Avatar World Championship

2022 Avatar World Championship

2022
Tournament information
Sport	Avatar
Location	Verlois
Date	December 2022
Administrator(s)	Glace
Tournament format(s)	10 team single round robin 4 team best-of-seven elimination ladder matchups
Teams	10
Purse	10,000,000 euclos
Final positions
Champions	S5 Gaming
Runner-up	SilverknightS

The 2022 Avatar World Championship (Gaullican: Championnat du monde d'Avatar 2022) was 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. An annual event, 2022 was the tenth iteration.

The event ran 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 was hosted in Verlois, capital of Gaullica. It took place later in the year than usual, scheduled to avoid clashing with the 2022 Summer Invictus Games (where esports debuted as an Invictus Games medal event), also in Verlois.

Ten qualifying teams from around the world competed, 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 that qualified to the 2022 tournament had also participated in the 2021 tournament, including the defending champions, the Arucian Angels.

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, Dezevau. Representatives of the company proposed to city councillors and Mayor Vuyani Hachette the idea to host the 2022 Avatar World Championship there. Whilst Verlois would be coming out of hosting the 2022 Summer Invictus Games, it was the first Invictus Games to host an esports event.

Glace's business leaders were eager to capitalise on the status and market potential 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 Dêport-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: 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 Dêport-Cyber, found in the Confluence Quarter.

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

Glace's head of esports in 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 was controversial, particularly given the East Euclean teams' equal 8th place finish last year. The adjustments were made partially based on the results of a number of smaller international tournaments, including the Global Qualifiers. Another relevant factor was the Central Euclea region not sending representatives, due to logistical issues, and their links with the East Euclea region.

Hopes that 2022 might see the Shangean competitive region mature enough 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)	Badegiuva Naimhejia
Morwall Magpies	East Euclea 2022 Champions	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
SilverknightS	East Euclea 2022 Runners-up	SilverPaladin (Alexandru Verean)	ArkleeD (Maria Braz)	Marada (Adam Bonnard)	ShielDCitadeL Andreea Marin	Levikushi Denis Perenoi	Fabien Vernier
"Les Amateurs" Équipe de Dêport-Cyber de Rouanet	East Euclea 2022 Wild-card	XaverGamer (Xavier Boutroux)	FlameBlaise (Sylviane Blaise)	SerChl03 (Ingrid Bouchard)	JPLGaming (Jean-Paul Laurens)	xX_Stunzeed_Xx (Antoine Gérin)	N.A.
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

Schedule

Round robin

Round 1			Round 2			Round 3
Arucian Angels	Grupp FALKN		Arucian Angels	MTel Lion City		Arucian Angels	Red Crane
MTel Lion City	S5 Gaming		Grupp FALKN	Team Ace		Grupp FALKN	MTel Lion City
Red Crane	Rikan Kaminari		Red Crane	S5 Gaming		Morwall Magpies	S5 Gaming
Morwall Magpies	Les Amateurs		Morwall Magpies	Rikan Kaminari		SilverknightS	Rikan Kaminari
SilverknightS	Team Ace		SilverknightS	Les Amateurs		Les Amateurs	Team Ace

Round 4			Round 5			Round 6
Arucian Angels	Morwall Magpies		Arucian Angels	SilverknightS		Arucian Angels	Les Amateurs
Grupp FALKN	Red Crane		Grupp FALKN	Morwall Magpies		Grupp FALKN	SilverknightS
MTel Lion City	Team Ace		MTel Lion City	Red Crane		MTel Lion City	Morwall Magpies
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming		Les Amateurs	S5 Gaming		Red Crane	Team Ace
Les Amateurs	Rikan Kaminari		Rikan Kaminari	Team Ace		Rikan Kaminari	S5 Gaming

Round 7			Round 8			Round 9
Arucian Angels	Rikan Kaminari		Arucian Angels	S5 Gaming		Arucian Angels	Team Ace
Grupp FALKN	Les Amateurs		Grupp FALKN	Rikan Kaminari		Grupp FALKN	S5 Gaming
MTel Lion City	SilverknightS		MTel Lion City	Les Amateurs		MTel Lion City	Rikan Kaminari
Red Crane	Morwall Magpies		Red Crane	Silverknights		Red Crane	Les Amateurs
S5 Gaming	Team Ace		Morwall Magpies	Team Ace		Morwall Magpies	SilverknightS

Tiebreakers

Tiebreakers
Rikan Kaminari	Team Ace
SilverknightS	Les Amateurs

Quarterfinals

Upper quarterfinal			Lower quarterfinal
S5 Gaming	Team Ace		SilverknightS	Rikan Kaminari
S5 Gaming	Team Ace		SilverknightS	Rikan Kaminari
S5 Gaming	Team Ace		SilverknightS	Rikan Kaminari
S5 Gaming	Team Ace		SilverknightS	Rikan Kaminari
N.A.	N.A.		SilverknightS	Rikan Kaminari
N.A.	N.A.		N.A.	N.A.
N.A.	N.A.		N.A.	N.A.
4	0		4	1

Semifinals

Semifinal
SilverknightS	Team Ace
SilverknightS	Team Ace
SilverknightS	Team Ace
SilverknightS	Team Ace
SilverknightS	Team Ace
SilverknightS	Team Ace
SilverknightS	Team Ace
4	3

Finals

Final
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming
N.A.	N.A.
2	4

Results

Place	Region	Team	Round robin	Tiebreakers	Quarters	Semis	Finals	Prize (%)	Prize (Euclos)
1st	West Euclea	S5 Gaming	7-2	Bye	4-0	Bye	4-2	25%	€2,500,000
2nd	East Euclea	SilverknightS	5-4	1-0	4-1	4-3	2-4	20%	€2,000,000
3rd	West Euclea	Team Ace	7-2	1-0	0-4	3-4		15%	€1,500,000
4th	Senria	Rikan Kaminari	6-3	0-1	1-4			10%	€1,000,000
5th	East Euclea	Les Amateurs	5-4	0-1				7.5%	€750,000
6th	Asteria Superior	Grupp FALKN	4-5					5%	€375,000
	East Euclea	Morwall Magpies	4-5
8th	Bahia	Mtel Lion City	3-6					3%	€250,000
	Brown Sea	Red Cranes	3-6
10th	Asteria Inferior	Arucian Angels	2-7					2.5%	€250,000

Media

The 2022 Avatar World Championship was streamed live for the general public, as well as recorded and uploaded to the internet. Official broadcasts were made of all games in the Estmerish, Gaullican, Senrian, Shangean, Soravian, Vespasian, Weranian and Ziba languages; casters and other staff from regional leagues were brought in for this purpose. Some official broadcast content was also produced in languages including Amathian, Blostlandic and Luzelese. The gameplay footage, interviews, music and ceremonies were generally the same (but translated where applicable), but different language streams may differ in terms of the commentary, analysis and other content (such as giveaways, off-topic discussion and games).

Viewership records were broken in the first round of games, at over 5 million concurrent viewers. Factors contributing to this, other than the event's popularity itself, included a better timezone for Euclean viewers, and the fact that last year's world champions played in the first game. The debut of esports at the Invictus Games not long prior likely also contributed to popular interest. There was consistently high viewership from the Arucian, which had seen explosive growth over the course of the tournament the year prior. The finals, however, were watched by fewer than in 2021.

Glace maintains all relevant intellectual property rights in the broadcast; it does not allow unauthorised 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, while maintaining editorial control of the main stream of viewership.