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Credit: Fergus Halliday | IDG
This week, the Australian League of Legends scene reached an important milestone, with the top three Oceanic Pro League teams winning their first international victory in the Pacific Rift Rivals division this year.
What is Rift Rivals?
With regard to the esports tournaments, Rift Rivals is somewhat unique in that it is a global event that is played at the local level. This is a series of smaller tournaments that pit the best League of Legends teams in each regional league against each other – especially for bragging rights.
Rift Rivals 2018 consisted of five events in Sydney, Dailan, Ho Chi Minh City, Sao Paulo and Los Angeles – each taking place over several days.
Source: Fergus Halliday | According to the last presenter of the OPL Nich Richardson (formerly of ABC's Good Game and Channel Seven's ScreenPlay), "I think the great thing about something like Rivals is to bring external competition in. "
" As much as we have here [in Sydney] it's a chance for the Australian supporter of League of Legends to see his teams represented on a world stage that is not Worlds. "
Credit: Fergus Halliday | IDG Each Rift Rivals event has a slightly different format and location. The Sydney event – also called Pacific Rift – was held at the State Theater, with three teams representing each region.
The Oceanic Pro League ( OPL ) produced The Chiefs, Dire Wolves and Legacy Esports .
Garena Premier League of Southeast Asia ( LPG ) brought Ascension Gaming, Mineski and the Kuala Lumpur Hunters to the # 39; bears.
Legends of the Japanese League ( LJL ) presented their best asset with PENTAGRAM, DetonatioN FocusMe and Unsold Stuff Gaming.
Nich says "the other thing that I really like is the idea that you can be a fan of the Chiefs, and you can go" I love them "and every time that they play the Wolves Dire, I'm like "screw the Wolves Dire", but in this format you're excited about Wolves Dire, you're excited for Chiefs, you're excited for Legacy. rivalry between the other regions, it reinforces an impression of community for Oceania. "
Pacific Rift
Chris Schubert, chief of esports for Riot Oceani was d & # 39; agreement.
He observes that "as a fan of Oceania, you have a lot more chances to win a tournament like this and to be proud of your nation than to go. at the Worlds and taking China – which have billions of people "
During the regular season of the BPO, the best League of Legends teams in Australia are generally competing against each other. The victory goes back to their ability to strategize and work together to prove that Australia can outperform the fiercest competition that Japan and Southeast Asia can offer.
Schubert also notes that Rift Rivals There is a conflict between the professional playing styles that each region has to offer.
"Each region has its own style."
Source: Fergus Halliday | IDG "There is the Korean method, which has shot more control: pick a team, play safe and play in the final – and it's cool to see in this competition that there has been a variety of teams focused on [different] parts
"Japan had a very good start to the game in all their teams, but it has collapsed as the games progress."
"Even in Oceania, we had good competitions: to tell Wolves to smother other teams across the map, even when they were behind."
Source: Fergus Halliday | IDG Curtis "Sharp" Morgan, Head Coach of Dire Wolves, says that preparing Rift Rivals presents a set of challenges quite different
"At the international level, there are many more variables OPL: we pour them every week for a whole year We know how they play, where they want their resources Although the meta can change, you always know their personalities, who do not like to be behind, who likes to have all the resources, while with international tournaments, especially this one, there was very little data on these teams – since it's the beginning of the year. "
Morgan says that the timing of Rift Rivals can sometimes be a little awkward for players but the ability to share Scouting information with other players Oceanic teams allowed them to get this side of the job in a much shorter time.
He also says that live events like Rift Rivals are important to the morale of the players themselves. themselves, as they give teams like Dire Wolves the opportunity to interact directly with fans.
Source: Fergus Halliday | IDG "Our teams love it especially, we do not often get this interaction with the fans, the last three divisions did not have a live final for the guys.
"The commitment of the fans is just so important to us and we love our fans – so, yes, a very good experience"
The group stage of this year's Rift Rivals has saw the three regions face each other in a round-robin-type tournament, with the weakest region ( LJL ) finally eliminated.
Next, the last two regions ( OPL and GPL ) compete for supremacy in a grand finale of best of 5, which allows the best Australian League of Legends teams to win with a score of 3-1.
Source: Fergus Halliday | IDG A milestone in more ways than one
In addition to being an important step for the Australian players and teams involved, Rift Rivals 2018 was also a good opportunity for the State Theater.
Built in 1927, Sydney's State Theater is almost 100 years old. He has been host to countless film festivals, theatrical productions and comedies. However, Rift Rivals 2018 was the first time the site hosted a esports event.
Source: Fergus Halliday | IDG And it will probably not be the last.
During the event, we also caught up Luke Mackie, general manager of Entertainment for Event Cinemas who said that "we've watched the esports for about twelve months now and I'm seeing how we can adapt to the community. "
" There are a lot of people trying to come in and throw money at it. "Mackie says that when discussions with Riot around Rift Rivals 2018, they turned to a similar League of Legends event that was held in Chicago Inspiration at the 2016.
In the past, events like Rift Rivals have often sought to populate sports sites – partly for the visual sense of the legitimacy that they confer on all spheres.For example, the recent events of the IEM have taken up residence in the Olympic Park of Sydney
With the pacif segment From Rift Rivals 2018, Riot and Event opted for an unusual, yet compelling combination of royal architecture and advanced technology involved in the scenic production of the event itself.
Source: Fergus Halliday | When asked if there were any specific concerns about choosing the venue, Mackie said, "We think the esports community is a big group of people – I think the only challenge to We were to make sure we the production values that Riot wants to deliver.
Mackie revealed that the Rift Rivals 2018 turnaround was particularly fast, about six months between the preliminary talks and the grand finale. He says it has created "a lot of pressure for a place that does not usually do that, but the State Theater has just adopted it and it looks amazing."
Nich Richardson n & # 39, does not disagree. "You could put a dinner with my parents here and it would be epic."
"There is nothing that does not work" to benefit from being in a place like this one. I do not think it's necessarily suited to the game, I think it's suitable for the event. He says opulence. That says so much importance. He also says, "Yes, there are stages that you can fill with esports but it also takes something very old and puts something new in it – but respecting both at the same time."
Credit : Fergus Halliday | IDG When asked if he saw a future for the esports, not only at the State Theater, but in the broader context of the event content strategy Cinemas, the answer Mackie was enthusiastic.
"Absolutely, I think the popularity of streaming and gaming is obvious to everyone – where we can adapt, is that we really believe that having people who gather in community at an event like this is the key to making the games feel real and have a personal connection to people. "
Credit: Fergus Halliday | IDG As a starting gift, Mackie revealed that the event is talking to other partners in the world of esports for future events in the same vein as Rift Rivals – but (unfortunately) refused to name any names. with film distributors: we are agonistic We want to be a place where all players can come at times when it is important that they be there. "
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