Rise of the Collegiate Leagues
It’s been a while since we reported on FACEIT, the leading global platform for competitive online gaming and international tournament organizer. Let’s touch base, shall we? Because there is a lot to cover. They’ve just launched their first Collegiate programs for Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and Valorant. All three will see tournaments, offering opportunities for collegiate players of all levels to compete. These leagues will join the existing FACEIT Collegiate Division, which also recently partnered with Ubisoft on the first collegiate esports league for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, and will have a combined prizepool of $55,000. Sign ups are open here, so check that out if you’re into the esport scene.
Top tier players can try the CS:GO League Premier League for a chance at the $25,000 prizepool, while a Contenders level will see a ten week Swiss regular season and then a playoff bracket between the tops teams for a prizepool of $5,000. That’s a lot of new opportunities for the North American CS:GO community, which already sees about 500,000 players competing every month on FACEIT. We’re sure they’re excited.
The LoL League will see a different format specifically to encourage regional and local rivalries, which seems like a bad idea to us, but hey, if it works for physical sports. Either way, the League of Legends Invitational Series will invite teams from across the US and Canada to compete in State (and provincial) Invitationals. The winners of that bracket will move to Regional Invitationals and compete for $5,000 in prizes, and the Regional winners will ascend to the FACEIT Collegiate Finals and play for $10,000. In other words, it’s a tournament arc. With actual money attached. Excellent!
The Valorant League will also offer Premiere and Contenders levels, with Premiere players competing for $10,000 in prizes. That’s pretty awesome on its own. You know what’s more awesome, though? The FACEIT mission to “develop ecosystems for multiplayer competitive experiences, designing and executing online and offline competitive experiences in partnership with publishers and colleges.” They’re building a foundation for esports right in our backyards. Now that’s cool.
Are you into the esport scene? Let us know down in the comments, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.