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 | x |
| Purse | 10,000,000 euclos |
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
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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.
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 Inferior2022 Champions |
 tourdeforce(Raymond Delacroix) |
File:ImaguaFlag.png t0by (Toby Williams) |
 GLGG(Gianluca Varrone) |
 k1ngManuel(Manuel Fenelon) |
mutiler244 (Camille Leroy) |
File:ImaguaFlag.png Bart Derasmo |
| Grupp FALKN |  Asteria Superior2022 Champions |
File:Eldmark.png OneTrickRik (Erik Lindholm) |
File:Eldmark.png Egreg0re (Clara Gylenhaal) |
File:Eldmark.png GunthyWunthy (Gunther Hansen) |
File:Eldmark.png VandalVVitch (Lilith Halland) |
File:Eldmark.png Frakturkon (Kris Nysund) |
N.A. |
| Mtel Lion City |  Bahia2022 Champions |
 Kumkani(Cebo Joyi) |
WaWa (Anasa Schmitd) |
XtaZ (Lifa Jadezweni) |
Chananga (Lewis Goli) |
 J1(Jean Maqoma) |
 Jezaga Zemhinou
|
| Red Crane |  Brown Sea2022 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 Euclea2022 Champions |
Template:Country data Estmere dr_dooda (John Turner) |
File:RwizikuruFlag.PNG 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 Euclea2022 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
| 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.