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As the doldrums of our first summer in The Wasteland draw to a close and we’re faced with the prospect of fall Saturdays spent in the margins between the tailgating lots and our living room sofas, we’re faced with a quandary only 2020 could produce: should you go outside and spend time with your family, or watch a bunch of strangers play video games on the internet in their quest for ultimate glory?
Well, if you’re painfully single, your family is super boring to hang out with, or you hate being outside, we have the perfect solution for you. Enter the WRNL eSports Championship Series.
What is this glorious battle for the fate of the universe, you ask?
It’s an entire series of competitions across various games and consoles to find out which team is the One True Champion. The means Xbox, Playstation, PC, and (in the case of cross-play games), even Switch and mobile. Teams will accrue season points based on their placing in each event, with the winning player of each event taking home bonus points for their team.
At the end, we’ll recognize the overall team champion, as well as some end of season awards.
The Events
While we’re exploring options for different games and competition formats to try and add to the rotation, here are the events that have so far been confirmed as part of the schedule for the Fall 2020 season:
Xbox One
Madden 21 Single Elimination Tournament
NBA 2K21 Single Elimination Tournament
Playstation 4
Madden 21 Single Elimination Tournament
NBA 2K21 Single Elimination Tournament
MLB The Show 20 Single Elimination Tournament
Cross-Play
Call of Duty: Warzone 2v2 Tournament
Rocket League 3v3 Tournament
PC
Civilization 6 Game
Competitions are expected to start September 6th, and will take place each week thereafter. Like games on different systems will be played at the same time. So, for instance, the Madden 21 Tournaments on Xbox One and PS4 will be played in the same week.
The Format
Our tournaments will feature a variety of different formats, and maybe even some ongoing leagues like Madden Franchise or NBA2K MyLeague. However, in regards to season scoring, the events will follow this basic structure: the last place team will receive one team point, second-last will receive two, and so on and so forth until we get to the winner, who will receive their bonus points on top of their standard score.
So, for a 10-team tournament in which each team gets two player entries (so 20 total players), the last place player would earn one point, and the winner would earn 20 points, plus a five point bonus for winning the tournament, earning at total of 25 points for their team. If a team’s two entrants were to finish 4th and 11th, the team would earn 17+10 = 27 total points for their team.
Teams will can feature anyone at all, from blog staff, all the way down to you, the readers. What does that mean? Keep your eye out, because we may be looking for people to represent WRNL in a few events!
The Teams
Maize n Brew - Michigan Wolverines
Big East Coast Bias
Ralphie Report - Colorado Buffaloes
The Daily Stampede - USF Bulls
Tomahawk Nation - Florida State Seminoles
Corn Nation - Nebraska Cornhuskers
College & Magnolia - Auburn Tigers
Hammer & Rails - Purdue Boilermakers
Frogs O’ War - TCU Horned Frogs
Streaking the Lawn - Virginia Cavaliers
Rock Chalk Talk - Kansas Jayhawks
How to Watch
Since streaming capabilities are dependent on the players in each individual matchup, we may not be able to stream every single match, but we’re going to do our best to bring you as many games and matches as possible for you to watch.
Matches will be streamed on our YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as Periscope via the WRNL eSports Champsionship Series Twitter account. You’ll also be able to track event brackets and scores via Battlefy, which will host all of our official scoring. Links to the individual event brackets will be posted before the event starts.