2021 Avatar World Championship [Closed|IC]

[Alleniana]

2021 Avatar World Championship

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This is the in-character thread for posts relating to the 2021 Avatar World Championship, an esports tournament set in the world of Kylaris. Please do not post here unless you have been accepted into the Kylaris region.

Any and all relevant content can be posted here, including news posts, graphics, first-person roleplay posts, etc. You may want to crosspost here and in other relevant Kylaris threads, such as the Chirpr thread, the news thread or the "Vox Populi" first person thread. You can find the IIWiki page for this tournament here and the match schedule for the tournament here.

[Alleniana]

[Imperii Ecclesia]

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SPORT: ARUCIAN ANGELS GO UNDEFEATED ON FIRST ROUND OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The Angels get off to a strong start with three victories all on the same day.

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CHARLES MORAN (@CHARLESMORAN)
^{17 OCTOBER 2021 19:01 | BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU}

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The Angels square off against Rizeland's Team HAZE in the very first match of the World Championships.
Photo courtesy of Glace.

BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU-

The Arucian Angels had a powerful opening day at the 2021 Avatar World Championships in Dezevau, winning all three of their opening games and propelling them into an early lead in the Round Robin stages of the tournament.

The team, which was only founded in late 2019, shocked the esporting world when it managed to take second place in the world championships in the very first year of its development. Having qualified for the World Championships by winning the regional Asteria Inferior championships, this marks the second time the Angels have participated in this event. The team was favoured to be a strong contender from the beginning, but the competition was expected to be fierce, and only the five best teams out of twelve will advance to the final bracket stages.

The Arucian Angels were slated to play in the very opening match of the tournament against Team HAZE, a team primary made up of players from Rizeland, but also having a player each from Marchenia and Cassier. The Angels gained an early lead, and managed to dominate nearly the entire game in each lane. Bandito89 and PaperPatriot from Team HAZE engaged in duels with mutiler244 and RadicalLouis in the bottom lane, and was the point of strongest contention throughout the game. However, MeatMachine's lockdown of mid lane and tourdeforce's dominance in the top lane saw the game end fairly quickly, being the second shortest match of the entire tournament so-far. Team HAZE was set too far behind and had lost too many ravelins, ultimately culminating in a push by tourdeforce and t0by through the top lane to destroy the citadel.

In the second game of the day, the Angels played the other team from Asteria Superior, the Octagamers, a team made of players from Rizeland and Cassier. This game was significantly closer, with the Octagamers getting ahead in the bot lane. However, tourdeforce continued to hold out in control of top lane, keeping the game closely balanced throughout the entire match. During the mid game it seemed as if the Octagamers were had the strategic advantage, but ultimately tourdeforce breaking the top lane and the other lanes holding on long enough for a major setback turned the game in favor of the Angels, and ultimately into a victory.

The third and final game of the day saw the Angels square against the Bahian champions, Mtel Lion City. Unlike the previous two games, the Angels got off to a rough start, with tourdeforce making a mistaken push against a ravelin which resulted in an early death, giving an advantage to Kumkani for nearly the whole game. Lion City looked unstoppable throughout the midgame, but a committed defense pushed back the advance and a final forward push coordinated through the top lane by tourdeforce managed to destroy the opposing citadel, claiming the game for the Angels yet again.

After the games, the team was happy and relieved to have won the games it did. The team's leader, Raymond Delacroix, known as tourdeforce, afterwards said, "These victories belong to my teammates more than they do to me. I messed up badly in the first part of the third game, but the determination of my teammates saved us from an almost certain defeat. I couldn't be more proud to play alongside them."

tourdeforce is considered one of the strongest top laners in the entire game, and his efforts greatly helped the Angels to win, but he is also known for having a humble personality and is well liked by his teammates for being willing to work and to support them. Even with his mistake in the early game for the third match, he still ended up leading and organizing the final push which ultimately won the victory.

The team's coach, Bart Derasmo, claimed that "This kind of clutch performance is exactly what the team is about. We don't care if the game is against all odds, we fight until we turn it to our advantage. The team proved it can not only do well dominate the game but also can fight back when the going gets tough." When reached out for a comment, the Bank of the Orient, which owns the team, also released a statement, saying "We are proud to sponsor such talented and spirited young men who are representing the Arucian community so well on the international level."

This World Championship is the first one for rookie Louis Lejeune, known as RadicalLouis, who took over as the team's bot roamer in the place of the Imaguan Lyonel Thompson, known as redlyon, a move which caused some controversy in the team's fanbase. When asked how it was playing in his first championship, he laughed and said "Not gonna lie, it was very nerve-wracking at first, but we pulled through, and that's what I'm happy about. Playing against players of this caliber is a real tough job, but we handled ourselves and managed to get out a good outcome."

With three victories and no losses, the Angels now stand as one of the three teams in the lead of the Round Robin, alongside the Frigatebirds and S5 Gaming. However, the team still has 8 more games to play, with games occurring on the 24th, the 31st, and the 7th of November. The Angels are scheduled to play against the undefeated Dezevauan Frigatebirds on the 24th, along with the 0-3 New Begia Dockers and the 2-1 CECA Equip.

Nevertheless, the lead puts them in a somewhat favourable position to qualify for the finals. Many fans are hopeful that these early wins portend an ultimate victory in the championships. As the team members signed autographs with a few hardcore fans who had traveled all the way to Dezevau for the tournament after the games, repeated shouts of "All the way!" were heard.

Charles Moran is La Croix's primary correspondent in esports and liaison with the Arucian Angels since 2019.

Comments [ 2,132 ] | E-mail
©LACROIX 2021

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2,132 comments

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MORE HEADLINES

• SPORT: Meet the Arucian Angels.
• SPORT: Play-by-play breakdown of the Angel's World Championship matches.
• An update on the recovery process of the sugar industry.
• Bank of the Orient shares increase with World Championship.
• SOCIETY: Meditations on the readings for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost.

[Alleniana]

Round 1 (October 17th)

Team	Team	Summary	Duration
Arucian Angels	Team HAZE	Kicking things off with a bang, the first game of the 2021 Avatar World Championship went convincingly to the Arucian Angels. The Angels maintained a lead across the map, with special mention to intense exchanges and fancy footwork for both teams in the bottom lane, even as the Angels played more through the top side to close out the game.	22:03
Octagamers	Team Ace	Despite early advantages across the map, Team Ace lost this close game in the midgame, as Octagamers broke through the bottom side. Unusually, the randomly-selecting geode cracker improvement came out with amethyst six times in a row.	33:07
MTel Lion City	Austral Foxes	The Foxes managed to convert a massive early game lead on the top side into a win, despite the threat of a similarly dangerous breakthrough for Lion City on the bottom side: special mention to RaivalrY, voted the player of the week.	27:51
Frigatebirds	Les Amateurs	The distinctive late-game, whole-map strategic playstyle of the Frigatebirds came out to play, despite some mishaps. A complete fiesta of an early game, for both teams, turned out to have little impact on the game in the end.	36:22
New Begia Dockers	SilverknightS	The defending champions at this tournament looked scary right off the bat against the Dockers. The seemingly inexorable lead that SilverknightS built up turned out to be insurmountable despite a few good strategic manoeuvres by the Dockers on the bottom side near the end of the game.	20:15
CECA Equip	S5 Gaming	S5 won this game only by outmanoeuvring their opponents in the later game, despite a lot of early attention and action in the mid lane: Sagacité and Roger Descamps went back and forth in a striking gun duel there to finish the first round of the tournament.	33:41

Round 2 (October 17th)

Team	Team	Summary	Duration
Arucian Angels	Octagamers	A slight characteristic lead for the Angels in the top side was cancelled out by a slight lead for Octagamers in the bottom. It looked like Octagamers were making better moves in parts of the midgame, but ultimately the Angels held on in this close game and closed it out in their favour.	35:30
Team HAZE	S5 Gaming	S5 recovered from a disastrous start for their bottom side, showcasing their strength at coming back throughout the mid to late game. They ultimately looked unbeatable in the late game: Sagacité was again a standout, along with the rookie delphi.	35:42
MTel Lion City	Team Ace	Another close game, Team Ace won through their bottom side, despite a strong and aggressive showing for Lion City in the top and mid lane early on, and manoeuvring on the top side more broadly later on.	34:49
Frigatebirds	Austral Foxes	The fox looked like it had gotten the bird for most of this game, but the Frigatebirds came out on top by the slimmest of margins in the end. A mediocre early game saw the Foxes gain an advantage, but a series of truly exceptional plays, made simultaneously across the map, finally saw the Frigatebirds overwhelm the capability of the Austral Foxes to respond.	43:50
New Begia Dockers	Les Amateurs	Les Amateurs seemed bemused as to how to respond to a comedy of errors from the Dockers this round. A focus on the top side in the mid game saw the Amateurs sneak through to the win in the bottom side.	27:01
CECA Equip	SilverknightS	CECA upset the SilverknightS, with Roger Descamps continuing to show up in mid lane, though CECA had a strong performance across the board. An endgame handshake saw SilverknightS push to win through top and CECA through bottom, CECA surprisingly coming out relatively comfortably with the win.	34:19

Round 3 (October 17th)

Team	Team	Summary	Duration
Arucian Angels	MTel Lion City	Lion City nearly ran away with the game through Kumkani in the top lane, snowballing throughout the midgame, but fell at the final hurdle, a final defence and topside play giving the game over to the Angels. This game puts the Angels on three wins and Lion City on three losses, opening up real distance in the tournament so far.	34:19
Team HAZE	Octagamers	The first game this tournament between two teams from the same region also proved to be the closest, perhaps reflecting their familiarity with each other. In what seems to be an increasingly common strategy, an early game bottom side lead was converted into a winning play through top, albeit by the very barest of margins. Ultimately, the win went the way of the Asteria Superior champions to the detriment of the runners-up.	40:29
Frigatebirds	Team ACE	The Frigatebirds took the game to new lengths, as another mediocre early game from both teams (albeit with a small topside lead for Team Ace) allowed them to bring their desired strategies online in the lategame. bIZARRE and Zono’s contribution to the bottom side-focused win were noteworthy.	50:38
New Begia Dockers	Austral Foxes	Looking like serious contenders, the Austral Foxes played a broadly very consistent game, wielding a slight top side lead into a bottom side push to win. The Dockers played the lategame-focused style characteristic of the Brown Sea region, but it seems that the champions (who beat the Foxes last week) are still better than the runners-up at it; a weak early game meant that the Dockers did not look seriously in contention for much of the game, an unfortunately continuing trend.	26:43
CECA Equip	Les Amateurs	A strong late game from CECA Equip brought victory over Les Amateurs, despite the dubious accolade of the earliest death in an Avatar World Championship round robin game going to Alessandre Flequer after some confusion. A cute play by JPLGaming, assassinating their opposite number with a shield from darkness, was also noteworthy. Luck, however, favoured CECA in the end.	31:50
SilverknightS	S5 Gaming	S5 Gaming took the last win of the first week after a collapse in SilverknightS’ late game. ShielDCitadeL and Levikushi had a good early game, but questions are being raised about SilverknightS’ powder management affecting their performance past the early game, among other things.	35:21

Standings as of Round 3

Team	Wins	Losses
Arucian Angels	3	0
Frigatebirds	3	0
S5 Gaming	3	0
Austral Foxes	2	1
CECA Equip	2	1
Les Amateurs	1	2
Octagamers	1	2
SilverknightS	1	2
Team Ace	1	2
Team HAZE	1	2
MTel Lion City	0	3
New Begia Dockers	0	3

[Imperii Ecclesia]

[The Amathian DR]

[The Amathian DR]

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Troubled start for last year's Avatar champions
One victory and two defeats raise questions about the ability of the SilverknightS to defend their title

Alexandra Verescu(@Averescu)
17th October 2021 | Bagabiada

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ArkleeD and the other SilverknightS during the pre-match warmup session
Photo courtesy of Gheorghe Arun.

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BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU

Hopes were high as the 2021 Avatar World Championship began in Dezevau, as the 2020 champions, the Amathian team SilverknightS, were counted among the favorites. Despite issues over the past year, and the replacement of founding member Akathlon with Mr.EAGLE, the team had a stellar performance throughout the qualifications and the regional champions, defeating the Gaullican Les Amateurs in order to emerge as the 2021 champions for East Euclea, and to secure a spot in the World Champions from that position, their journey so far having been a national sensation. Esports became popular throughout Amathia quite early - as a natural evolution of the small local LAN tournaments that were a staple of Amathian internet cafes and university campuses, even if they struggled early on to attract sponsors and talent. As a game, Avatar entered the local Amathian scene before its creators had even officially moved to Kesselbourg - as it made its way to small internet cafes after becoming popular among the Dezevauni living in the country.

Despite this early "advantage", no Amathian team qualified in the first few years of the world championship, with early teams, like Grand Citadel, having good performances in the regional championships, but never moving past the quarter finals of the global tournament. SilverknightS, founded by Grand Citadel veteran SilverPaladin, started as a relatively unknown team, and competed in a few smaller national tournaments without a sponsor - being funded by the players themselves from their own pocket money. Eventually, after gaining a few notable victories in Arciluco, the team finally gained a few official sponsors -and from there on, through skill and perseverance, they won the East Euclean title, before eventually managing to win the world title last year. Their journey and increasing fan base, combined with the relative secrecy and limited personal appearances of their players, has created quite a quite following for them - their fans being nicknamed "Scutierii", "the Squires". And those very fans had part of their hopes dashed, now, at the beginning of the 2021 Championship.

The first game of the tournament was against the Dezevauni runners up, the New Begia Dockers, and the SilverknightS looked as if they had been teleported directly from last year's semifinals. They ruled the game with an iron fist, dictating its course and its outcome, and quickly gaining a lead that was just too large to be overcome - even if the Dockers exploited some of the weaknesses they had seen in the bottom side towards the game's final section. Some analysts did point out some of the issues they had seen there, and the SilverknightS themselves were very quiet following the game, being very reserved in their interactions with the press, with the exception of Levikushi, who seemed to share the opinion and excitement of most of the fans - praising his team and describing it as a clear potential favorite for the title.

As the team confidently moved into the second round however, their record of unbeaten games was easily broken by CECA Equip, the Central Euclean Champions from Champania. Despite the general record of the games between the two teams being evenly matched, and despite most analysts and commentators expecting a clear SilverknightS victory, CECA began the game very strongly and seemed to catch their enemies on the back foot, with Roger Descamps in particular dominating the middle lane. Maybe because of surprise or a little bit of arrogance, the SilverknightS were clearly taken aback and reacted slowly, deciding to focus on a push through the top lane that in the end didn't go anywhere - a highly contested choice, and which gave CECA a clear win through their push on the bottom lane. The victory itself was somewhat shocking - even more so due to how easy it had seemed, so discussing the game immediately gained a prominent place in comment threads and forums immediately following its end. Despite that, most fans still remained confident - after all, games can be lost. Sometimes, luck just isn't on your side. Unfortunately, it seems like luck definitively walked away from the SilverknightS for the rest of the day.

The third game was fought against S5 Gaming- an old rival of the SilverknightS, partially because of S5's status as a joint political endeavor being in such stark contrast to the SilverknightS and the original team of many of its members, Grand Citadel, starting as essentially just groups of friends trying to make it on the professional stage. The game began pretty well for the Knights, with ShielDCitadeL and Levikushi recovering from their relatively mediocre run in the previous game, and their strong early efforts seemed to tip the balance in the favor of the Amathian group, but the team pretty much just collapsed towards the middle of the game, for reasons that are still being argued and debated in everything from professional articles to Chirpr comments.

The team itself refused to make a lot of comments following the end of the game, with SilverPaladin leading his teammates away from the reporters and promising to take an interview after the team meeting in which their defeats would be analyzed - especially some of the criticism they had received about their management and their late game performance. SilverPaladin was calm, but clearly a little upset about the team's position in the lower half of the standings, a sentiment that many fans would probably echo.

Despite that, the team still has plenty of chances to make up for this defeat, and the SilverknightS have been known in the past for their very pragmatic approach to issues and for defeats and the danger of defeat making them give their best. The fans are as such still hopeful for the future, but what will happen remains to be seen.

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©Adevarul 2021

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19,191 comments

[Navack]

[Imagua and the Assimas]

[Rizealand]

AWC WEEK 2 RECAP: Team HAZE sees improvement, Octagamers continue to struggle

Tom Cochrani, E-Sports Reporter | October 25, 2021

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Team HAZE improves Week 1 performance, winning two out of three rounds
Despite a disappointing first week at the Avatar World Championships where they lost two out of their first three games, Team HAZE has made a comeback after winning two out of three games this past week. During Round 4, Team HAZE was defeated by Mtel Lion City in one of the most dramatic games of the week. Coming off a Round 3 defeat of the Octagamers, Team HAZE played strongly in one of their most aggressive games yet were always thwarted at the last second by Mtel. After a 25:49 gameplay, Mtel Lion City struck the final blow and won.

In Round 5 against the Frigatebirds, Team HAZE had some early struggles after the Frigatebirds made some very good plays in the bottom lane. Half way through the game however, some tactical errors on the Frigatebirds' part gave Team HAZE a chance and they ended up taking home a win after a 24:06 gameplay. Despite their victory, Team HAZE's gameplay was rather erratic and more disorganized than usual.

In Round 6 against the New Begia Dockers, Team HAZE seemed more relaxed. Throughout the 21:57 gameplay, Team HAZE had a strong showing with particularly impressive plays by midlaner Hedgehogger and bot laner PaperPatriot. Following their victory, Team HAZE is 3-3.

Octagamers continue to struggle under Neil Sells
After a disappointing first week for the Octagamers were they lost two out of three rounds, coach Neil Sells promised things would turn around. Particularly, he promised a strong bottom lane strategy, highlighting bot laner 1GlassFlash and bot roamer Hypogre while pushing back on claims that they just got lucky in their matchup against Team Ace.

In Round 4 against S5 Gaming, Coach Sells first seemed correct after the Octagamers started out strong, with 1GlassFlash dominating in the bottom lanes. As the game went on however, the S5 Gaming team's coordination and numerous tactical blunders by Hypogre and DeathDrummer8 cost the Octagamers a victory, leading to a S5 Gaming win at the 24:38 mark.

When the Octagamers began Round 5 against Mtel Lion City, the Mtel Lion City team was coming off a victory against Team HAZE. Like the previous game, it was a close match between the Octagamers and Mtel Lion City, both of whom seemed to be playing at the top of their game. A series of tactical errors by top laner Zebrass at the 20:15 mark and superior gameplay early on by Mtel Lion City's Kumkani however cost the Octagamers another game.

Round 6 against the Frigatebirds was the second longest game of the round at 32:45. A series of early blunders involving top laner Zebrass and top roamer Dismage seemed to set the Octagamers up for a third defeat but a series of equally bad blunders from Frigatebirds gave them a fighting chance. As the game dragged on, there was a marked improvement in 1GlassFlash and Hypogre's gameplay, leading to their only victory of this week.

While Coach Sells touted the Octagamers' second victory over the Frigatebirds as a sign their team was finally finding its groove, not all seem to agree. Following their defeat in Round 5, e-sports message boards began mocking the team as the "Octagaggers" or "Octajokers." While Team HAZE has built up a substantial fanbase thanks to their owner, Max Holsgrath, and their involvement in many different e-sports competitions, the Octagamers have struggled to drum up similar support. Some fans claim the Octagamers are inauthentic due to their ownership by the McDonald investment conglomerate while others argue Neil Sells is a bad coach and should be replaced. Nonetheless, Coach Sells has remained optimistic, saying he believes the Octagamers will have a much better third week.

[Rizealand]

[Imperii Ecclesia]

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SPORT: ARUCIAN ANGELS KEEP UP THE HEAT AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
With only one loss, the Angels remain at the top of the leaderboard.

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CHARLES MORAN (@CHARLESMORAN)
^{24 OCTOBER 2021 20:01 | BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU}

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Bot laner Camille Leroy (mutiler244) during the match against the Frigatebirds.
Photo courtesy of Glace.

BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU-

Coming off of a three-game winning streak in the first week of the championship, the Arucian Angels won two more victories before losing the last game of the second week at the 2021 Avatar World Championships in Dezevau, and remain at the top of the leaderboards going into the third week of the tournament.

In the first week of the tournament, the Angels won all three of their games against their opponents from Asteria Superior and Bahia, leaving them undefeated by the beginning of the second week. The team had shown great promise, especially under the leadership of the team's top laner and leader, tourdeforce, whose real name is Raymond Delacroix. In between the two weeks, the players prepared themselves for the next weeks events, but also participated in the other events and opportunities which tournament had to offer, which are detailed here.

The most anticipated and high caliber match of the entire second week, not just of the Angel's schedule, was the match between the Angels and the Dezevauan Frigatebirds, both of whom were undefeated and had both reached the final five in the previous year. The match was the first one scheduled for the beginning of the week's matches, and ended up having some of the highest international viewership of any match in the tournament so far. Some analysts speculated that the outcome of this match would have great effect on the morale of both teams, as it might mark the turning point for the losing team.

The early game was greatly in favour of the Frigatebirds, which was uncharacteristic as the Frigatebirds usually excel towards the endgame. Mid laner oignon's use of Edgworth, the Avatar usually regarded as the weakest out of any, proved especially critical in the early success, a fact which drew no small criticism for the Angel's early performance. However, despite the advantage which the Frigatebirds had, the Angels came back to rebound towards the later part of the game, and ultimately came out ahead towards the end after tourdeforce made a strong push in the top lane, ultimately securing victory in just under twenty three minutes. With this victory, the Angels had set back one of their two primary competitors, and had seemingly won their toughest challenge for the week. This ended up being a huge boost in morale for both the team and the fans.

The next match was against New Begia Dockers, who had not won a single game. Unlike the previous game, the Angels were greatly favoured to win, and so perhaps came into the match a bit too relaxed. Surpisingly, the Dockers came out swinging, and pulled ahead in the early game, especially notable because top laner Deponent upset tourdeforce early on the top lane, a move which shocked the team and threw it off its balance. The Dockers put up one of their best performances the entire tournament, almost getting within attack distance of the team's citadel. However, the Angels once again pulled through in the late game, beating back the Dockers and once again managing to take victory. Despite the win, the near defeat of the undefeated team by the worst performing team was quite unnerving to some of the Angels players, and a marked change in attitude after the success of the previous victory.

The final game of the week was against the 2-3 CECA Equip team from Champania. This match saw Roger Descamps dominate the mid-lane in the early and mid game, constantly putting MeatMachine on the ropes and disabling the mid lane ravelins too early for the Angels to recover in the other lanes. Unlike the other two matches of the week, the Angels were unable to make a comeback, as t0by and RadicalLouis were too focused on protecting the lanes to gather enough powder to last when the game reached its later stages. Thus the Champanians managed to upset the angels in the last round of the first week, ending the Angel's losing streak of five games and giving them their first loss of the tournament.

After the game, the players were a bit downcast, but nevertheless happy with their overall performance. "You can't win them all," said bot laner Camille Leroy, known as mutiler244. "We got thrown off our groove, and we paid for it. CECA played well, and we couldn't come back before the end."

"Well, as much as it's easy to focus on the negatives, I think we should instead focus on what we've done well," opined team leader Raymond Delacroix (tourdeforce). "We still won two out of our three games, especially against such difficult opponents. We are still in a good position, and we'll continue to bounce back from this and give it all we've got next week!"

With 5 wins and 1 loss, the Angels stand tied with the West Euclean S5 Gaming at the top of the leaderboard. S5 Gaming was also undefeated until the sixth round, when they lost to Mtel Lion City, who the Angels have already beaten during the first week of the tournament. The only other team above .500 is the 4-2 Amathian SilverknightS, whom the Arucian Angels are scheduled to play the first game of the third week. However, six teams rest at the 3-3 mark, including the Frigatebirds, who lost both of their other games this week after their defeat by the Angels.

With the possibility of most teams now being able to win at most 7 games, the Angels need to win only 2 out of their next five games to likely secure a place in the final five. The Angels, however, hope to secure first place. Coach Bart Derasmo said "I'm very proud of my team's performance today. We've put ourselves in a very good position, and I'm confident we can push ourselves to the top spot and then to victory." In the previous World Championship, the Angels had reached fifth place in the Round Robin stage but managed to win all of the games in the elimination round, reaching second place. The victor of the Round Robin gets a valuable bye in the first elimination stage.

With the team's performance proving exceptional going into the second week, more and more fans from across Sainte-Chloé and Imagua have been tuning in to watch the world championship and cheer on the players from both countries. Their performance has been getting Avatar, and esporting in general, more national notoriety. One prominent shout out from home was the Team's Sponsor, the Bank of the Orient, which chirped "Congratulations to the #Arucian Angels on winning 5 out of 6 games in the 8th #AvatarWorldChampionships!"

Charles Moran is La Croix's primary correspondent in esports and liaison with the Arucian Angels since 2019.

Comments [ 5,188 ] | E-mail
©LACROIX 2021

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5,188 comments

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MORE HEADLINES

• SPORT: Player Spotlight- mutiler244 (Camille Leroy).
• SPORT: Play-by-play breakdown of the Angel's World Championship matches.
• SPORT: Avatar World Championship views reaches national all-time high.
• SPORT: The Player's daily lives during the Avatar World Championship.
• ADVERTISEMENT: Let the Bank of the Orient help your family today.

[Imperii Ecclesia]

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SPORTS: THE MIXED FORTUNES OF TENGARIAN PLAYERS AT THE AVATAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sagacité leads the S5 Gaming to five straight wins, while vasilthegreat on Team Ace suffers from setbacks.

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KRISTINA LENOVA (@klenova)
^{17th OCTOBER 2021 19:13 | BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU}

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Vasil Vasilov (vasilthegreat) and Dragomir Lenov (Sagacité), both Tengarian Avatar Players at the World Championships.
Photos courtesy of the Kristina Lenova.

BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU-

Two Tengarian players entered into the Avatar World Championship in Dezevau, playing for two different West Euclean teams- Dragomir Lenov, known as Sagacité, a longtime veteran and the current leader and mid laner of S5 Gaming; while Vasil Vasilov, known as vasilthegreat, is the top laner of Team Ace. Currently, they are in two differing places, with S5 Gaming being tied for first in the standings and Team Ace struggling in the middle ranks.

Going into the tournament, Team Ace was the dominant team for West Euclea, having won the Regional Championships and coming off of successful past year as the primary West Euclean team. S5 Gaming, although the more successful from 2016 to 2019, had tanked in 2020 due to poor leadership decisions and bad teamwork, before rebounding during the 2021 season to only narrowly lose the Regional Championship. Both were expected to be strong competitors on the world stage, but with the edge going to Team Ace.

The outcome of the tournament so far has seen this not to be the case. S5 Gaming has won 5 out of its first 6 games at the World Avatar Championships, and is currently in first place, along with the Asterian Inferior based Arucian Angels. They upset the previous world champions, the SilverknightS, in round 3 during the first week, winning all three games that week. The second week, they managed to defeat two more teams, before finally losing to the Bahian Mtel Lion City after a poorer performance. S5 consistently had come back from rough beginnings to win games which were expected to go to the other team. With such a strong opening, the team is highly favoured to make it into the top five and thus the elimination round.

Team Ace, on the other hand, floundered in the first week, losing 2 out of 3 games in the first week, but managing to win 2 out of three games the second week, putting them at 3 wins and 3 losses. This puts them tied with six other teams in the tournament, with a least five more games to play, giving them a chance to still secure a spot in the top five. But there are signs of trouble even in the second week. In the match against CECA Equip in week 2, despite the fact that they won they still put on a notoriously poor showing, which was followed up by a disastrous defeat at the hands of the SilverknightS in Round 6.

For the players themselves, both have had an important role in their teams successes, and sometimes in their failures. vasilthegreat's push in top lane pushed Team Ace to victory over the New Begia Dockers, and the advantage he gained in top lane advantage kept Team Ace alive for most of their game against the Frigatebirds before the bottom collapsed, which has been the longest of the tournament so far, being near to an hour. Overall, he has been a great help to the team, except for being simply outplayed by Kumkani during the match against Mtel Lion City. Most of the team's overt successes and failures come from the other areas of the map. However, he did preform more poorly during the second week than he had during the first week, despite in his game against the New Begia Dockers.

When asked about the team's status after the second week, Vasilov replied simply, "We can do better. I know we can. We're still in a good place, we can always come back if we put our all into it the next two weeks."

Sagacité, in addition to being S5's mid laner, is the leader the leader of the team, this being being his first year doing so. In the first games of the tournament, he proved to be a pivotal figure in securing victory for S5, such as in the showdown against Roger Descamps Brigançon in the round one, and being the driving force in the Team's victory against Team HAZE in round two. In the other games, he took more of a backseat approach to the game, instead focusing on coordinating the team and organizing long game strategies which ultimately worked out greatly in favour of the team in the end. While S5 could not pull out a victory against Mtel Lion City, nevertheless Sagacité managed to pull out a good performance in mid lane.

After the first week was over, Sagacité sent out a chirp thanking Divine Providence, his teammates and fans, and congratulating his opponents. After the end of the second week, he commented for the Standard that "I am content with how the team performed, even though we lost. God always likes to send us reminders to have us recall humility. I am always happy to play this alongside my friends, and I look forward to the following matches, come what may!" Sagacité is well regarded by Tengarian fans for his upbeat and cheerful personality, and his teammates have remarked favorably on his leadership style.

In the weeks to come, both teams have at least five more games to play, in addition to potential tiebreaking matches, giving plenty of opportunity for the status quo to be shaken up. In addition, next week both teams will play each other in round 9 of the tournament, finally giving the Tengarian players a chance to face off head to head for the first time in the Championship.

Kristina Lenova is the National Standard's chief correspondent on Tengarian and International esporting events, in particular the esport of Avatar, and is the Standard's liaison with S5 Gaming. She is married to Dragomir Lenov, and has three children.

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SPORTS: TEAM ACE DEFEATS S5 GAMING AS S5 HAS AN OFF-WEEK
Team Ace manages to come out favorably from the wide middle pack while S5 loses first place in the standings.

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KRISTINA LENOVA (@klenova)
^{31st OCTOBER 2021 21:54 | BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU}

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Dragomir Lenov (Sagacité) after S5's loss to Team Ace in Round 9 of the World Championships.
Photos courtesy of the Kristina Lenova.

BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU-

In a reversal of fortunes from the previous weeks at the Avatar World Championships, Team Ace has seen its fortunes rise, winning two out of three games and beating the more dominant S5 Gaming and putting themselves ahead of the wide middle playing field, while S5 Gaming lost two out of three games, pushing them away from first place and into a tie for second.

Team Ace had struggled during the first week of the tournament, picking up steam in the second week and keeping up the pace during the third week, losing to Les Amateurs but winning against the Austral Foxes. S5 Gaming fared very well the first two weeks, winning five straight games and losing only one. However, S5 lost its second game in a row going into the third week Austral Foxes, a blow which knocked them out of a first place tie, but turned around and beat the Frigatebirds in the second round of the week.

Both teams thus had lost the first but won the second game going into the third game of the week, which was a much anticipated battle between the West Euclean regional teams. In every single inter-regional match up to this point, the champions had beaten the runners up, and S5 had been thrown off of its groove with the two losses. However, due to their success in the tournament, some believed that S5's improved gameplay would see a reversal of the West Euclean Championships.

During the 2021 West Euclean Championships, Team Ace managed to secure the title, but only after a long and fierce competition with S5 Gaming, lasting seven intense games, only seeing Team Ace carry the title in the climax of the final game. West Euclean fans waited to see the outcome of the final game of the third week, as it could either put S5 into an almost guaranteed final five spot or push Team Ace out of the large middle pack and upwards towards taking a spot themselves.

The game saw mistakes on both sides, particularly in bot lane, with P3rcy getting an early avoidable death and niangi2's following charge against the ravelin was poorly executed, ending in his own death and the failure to capitalize on the situation. However, most notable was the change in play-style of S5 Gaming, who changed from a late-game focused team to an early game team, which did not end up going well for them. Due to the failure to capitalize in the early game, the strategy left them weak and vulnerable in both top and bottom lane, causing them to lag behind towards the late game and giving the victory to Team Ace. Despite its mistakes, S5 was able to hold its own in mid-lane under Sagacité, but a joint push by Lucky and vasilthegreat resulted in S5's top lane collapsing and the citadel falling.

In the end, the match was a disappointment to many fans, who had been hoping for a high intensity and closely competitive match, but ended up being a game where S5's mistakes caused the game to swing comfortably in favour of Team Ace, ultimately giving them a straightforward victory. Nevertheless, Team Ace fans were excited at the team's victory, while S5 fans bemoaned losing to their regional rivals.

These attitudes were largely reflected in the teams, as for Team Ace the match was a great moral victory. "Despite our rough start this year, we've proven we can play up with the best of them", said top laner Vasil Vasilov, known as vasilthegreat, to the National Standard. "We beat a team that's proven itself dominant throughout the tournament, giving us the edge we need to push on next week to secure our place in the elimination round."

Team Ace's victory has given them a total five wins and four losses, now being tied for having the third best record in the tournament with the Asterian Superior clubs Team HAZE and Octagamers. It has at least two more games to play next week, against the top team of the tournament, the Arucian Angels, and then Team HAZE, a team with the same record and Asteria Superior champion. Despite the recent optimism from the wins, the game against the Arucian Angels is expected to be a difficult to win.

S5's players seemed downcast after the victory, with a notable exception for generally optimistic team leader Sagacité, who had been instrumental in the team's victory against the Frigatebirds in round 8. "This week has most certainly be our roughest, but we are still in a good position. Our friends at Team Ace played well, and I am always happy to see that. God willing, I am quite confident we can pull through next week and get ourselves to the next round."

Despite losing two out of three games this week, S5 Gaming is still in a strong position, and with its 6-3 record is tied for second place alongside Bahian Mtel Lion City. In the coming week, S5 is scheduled to face off against the floundering 3-6 Gaullican Les Amateurs, before also squaring off against the 8-1 Arucian Angels in the last scheduled round of the tournament. If the team wins one of the two games, the chances of them making the final five are quite high.

Having faced against each other, both teams go into next week to face off against the same common foe. After the two scheduled rounds, each team may participate in the tiebreaker rounds to secure a set place in the final five. Provided they do well, they could both secure places in the final five, and perhaps then fight their way to be world champions. God willing, they may do so.

Kristina Lenova is the National Standard's chief correspondent on Tengarian and International esporting events, in particular the esport of Avatar, and is the Standard's liaison with S5 Gaming. She is married to Dragomir Lenov, and has three children.

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Edmondo Privitera
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I am impressed by the accomplishments that the #ArucianAngels have underwent during the #2021AWC, so much so that I am making a promise to the Arucian Angels: if you win this #AWC, every last one of you shall become Officers of the Order of Imagua!

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08:10 am - 17 Nov 21

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SPORTS: SAGACITE PLAYER PROFILE
Meet Dragomir Lenov, the veteran and team leader who's brought S5 from their worst to one of the best years ever.

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KRISTINA LENOVA (@klenova)
^{18th NOVEMBER 2021 21:54 | BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU}

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Dragomir Lenov (Sagacité), 27, Team Leader and original member of S5 Gaming since 2016.
Photos courtesy of the Kristina Lenova.

BAGABIADA, DEZEVAU-

Note: As the two West Euclean Avatar teams are set to meet head to head for the second and final time tomorrow in the 2021 Avatar World Championship, only one will survive and make their way on to the semifinal, and one will take fourth place in the tournament, the National Standard will run stories about the Tengarian players on the two opposing teams.

On January 1st, 1994, the first day of the year on the new calendar, Dragomir Lenov was born as the fourth of the six children of Kostadin Lenov and Grozdana Lenova. Born in the capital city of Lenovo during the long first term of President Dimitri, he grew up in relative prosperity, with his father working as an official for the Ministry of Communications. Growing up, he had some exposure to technology through his father, although computers had not made as widespread a mark in Tengaria as they had in other countries. He was involved with the game Avatar from 2009, which was during the period in which Avatar had expanded but had yet to grow to a truly global phenomenon. He involved himself in some of the earliest communities in Tengaria, but these were rare and sparse.

He preformed well in school, passing the university qualifications and earning a place in Lenovo's St. Stephen University in 2011, graduating with honors in 2014. In particular, he took a liking to studying Teleological Philosophy, which became a defining passion in his life. He took the username Sagacité, which in Gaullican signifies 'wise' or 'prudent', in honor of this. "I've always been proud my username has been reflective of my closest values," Lenov said in 2018. "I only hope that through its example I can get other people who play with me to perhaps consider the life of wisdom and the joy which contemplation of the eternal truths can bring."

While at University, in 2012 he formed an Avatar Team from fellow players he met at the University, which would become the first collegiate Avatar club in Tengaria and which would put him in touch with other Avatar clubs which were quickly expanding throughout Tengaria. It was during this time that St. Stephen's team would take a reputation for being one of the best in Tengaria, competing well in local tournaments and even going to the early regional tournaments in West Euclea, though never having much success to make it beyond regionals. His name was one of the forefront in the Tengarian leagues, and after his departure the St. Stephen's team lost its core and soon fell out of prominence.

Upon graduating University, Lenov passed the national teaching examination and began teaching at the Universal School at which he studied in Lenovo, while still continuing to play Avatar. Although no longer part of the St. Stephen's team, he founded another club of amateurs in Lenovo, and his name recognition allowed him to create another team which one one of the best performers in Tengaria. During this time, he also courted and married Kristina Atanaseva, a journalist who he had met during an Avatar tournament, in November 2015 at the age of 21.

In March of 2016, Samorspi announced the formation of two international teams as a joint effort by the countries to create competitive teams for West Euclea, by selecting the best players from the bloc's countries. Hearing about the opportunity and also approached by Tengarian officials as a candidate, Lenov agreed to participate in the tryouts of April of the same year in the city of Samistopol. He preformed very well at the tryouts, beating out dozens of others to take the mid lane spot on S5 Gaming. "It was an honor to be selected," he said on the occasion. "I really am humbled to be a part of this new effort. But I couldn't do it without God's grace."

He was forced to leave his teaching position behind and move with his family to Samistopol, where he would be paid professionally to play Avatar full-time, with the expectation that he would play at the top level. The transition was hard for him, especially moving with a pregnant wife. When interviewed in 2016, Lenov asked "Do I regret leaving teaching behind? I do, after a fashion, since I truly enjoyed teaching, but I know that this is what is best for my situation."

Now a part of a new professional esporting team, he dedicated his time to honing his skills and working together with his teammates. He quickly formed a friendship with Cheslav Ungern, the team's leader and one of the Soravian giants of the sport, who had been on teams which had made it into the World Championship before. S5 Gaming did well in their runs on the local and regional level, finally working up to winning the regional championship and securing a place in the 2016 World Championships. In its first year in the Championships, S5 managed to do well in the Round Robin and take 5th place in the Championship, which was the best performance done by a West Euclean Avatar team up to that point.

In the 2017 season, problematic replacements to the original team undermined the team's performance, causing them to lose both the regional championships to Team Ace and also not perform well in the round robin of the World Championships. Further changes allowed for S5 to improve their performances in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, winning second place and fourth place overall respectively. During this time, Lenov was a background figure to the team, with most of the show belonging to Ungern in bot lane and Kliment Smeshnoy in top lane. However, he worked diligently to support his teammates efforts, and although not as skilled as them he was an important part in making sure the team functioned well together. He was well regarded by his teammates for his encouragement and positive attitude.

In 2020, Lenov's friend Ungern retired, and was replaced by the new addition Valentina Voloshyn as team leader; in addition, the rogue cannon Mikhel Saakashvili also joined the team. Fans were upset that Lenov had been passed over as team leader; Lenov did not complain and supported Voloshyn as he could, however, the team was unable to work together as well as they had, managing to barely scrape into the world Championships but having the worst record in the round robin series. The team fell into interpersonal conflict, which Lenov futilely attempted to stop, only made worse when Janusz Rumiński was caught during the tournament using racial slurs against Lemovicians. As a result, S5's reputation became tarnished, and the team was on the verge of total reform.

During the offseason between 2020 and 2021, S5 underwent restructuring, dropping Voloshyn for Villiam Järvenpää, Ungern coming back on as a coach, and Lenov being assigned as team leader. The Samorspi commission hoped that these steps would be sufficient to help the team bounce back from the terrible one that it had, and the efforts paid off almost immediately. Lenov was able to temper Saakashvili's wild playstyle, and with Ungern's help soon had the team back up to running the caliber it was in 2019. The 2021 season saw a tight race for supremacy between S5 and Team Ace, with S5 only losing out in the final round of the West Euclea regional championship, and has been a one of the best team all throughout the World Championships.

This drastic difference in performance is attributed by many fans and commentators as due to Lenov's responsible leadership and motivation of his teammates. One Gaullican commentator noted, "we can clearly see that his prudence is paying off for S5's benefit." However, Lenov continues to deny that it is his doing, a trait which is characteristic of his personality to deflect praise and put it on others. "Really, it is God who is doing all of the work through his providence. And I must give due credit to my teammates, as they are what really changed how well this team has been doing."

Due to his longevity in the sport, as this is his fifth World Championship and he is the only remaining original member of S5 Gaming, as well as his attitude towards the game, has made him popular with Tengarian fans and with his teammates. "He really does not give himself enough credit," said Kliment Smeshnoy, the team's top laner who has been playing with S5 since 2018. "Having been with him for several years, I can attest to the dedication and effort which he puts in for every member of the team."

In addition to his playing, he has proven popular among Tengarian fans for his life outside the game of Avatar. A family man, Lenov has three young children, Dragomir (5), Dobromira (3), and Svetlana (2), with another along the way. In an interview in 2019, he noted that "when I am not on the field or in practice, I spend my time with my family, which gives me more real joy than a mere trophy could ever give." In addition, he has been known to promote his love of philosophy to others, and has regular participated in charitable events related to philosophy and education. When he finally finishes his career, he hopes to go back into education in his native country. In 2018, President Kovacheva awarded him with the Order of Merit for his work both in the esporting world and for promoting Tengarian values in the process.

S5 has proven its dominance throughout the early parts of the 2021 World Championship, only losing three games and tying with Mtel Lion City for second place. However, in the first round of the elimination rounds it lost to Mtel Lion City in the later rounds of the best of seven. Losing the round, it is set to go against Team Ace tomorrow, which it has lost to twice this year. This is for elimination, as if S5 fails, it will be out of the tournament. "We shall see how it goes down", said Lenov. "I like to think myself that third time's the charm."

Kristina Lenova is the National Standard's chief correspondent on Tengarian and International esporting events, in particular the esport of Avatar, and is the Standard's liaison with S5 Gaming. She is married to Dragomir Lenov, and has three children.

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