CWL September Report – SFV & Melee

The first fortnight of September has kicked off the endgame for CouchWarriors League 2020, with the national FGC organiser announcing that the remaining events on its tournament calendar would award double the normal ranking points to top 8 finishers! 

This change goes some way to addressing the unexpectedly low number of points available this season after COVID forced a switch to monthly online events. Now you can imagine a chance for almost anyone to make a late run at top 16 – the cutoff point for invitation to the $2000 season finale event!

The new points bonus looks to be most impactful for the leaderboards in Street Fighter V and Smash Bros. Melee, which were the first two games contested for the month. These points races have been static and lopsided all season, with interstate rivals Joshua “GZ|Sora” Lyras and Davin “Davox” Mai dominating Melee while Ervin-Jason “pahnda” Garanovic and Xavier “DS|Somniac” Nardella were holding it down in SFV.

These players amassed their lead in the first months of the year while full points were still available at offline events, and then have continued to put in enough work over the monthly CWL Online events to remain above the reach of their competition. Will a few months of double points give in-form players like ORDER|Travis Styles or Jacob “Sock” Waddell the chance to reel these frontrunners in, or will they just lift their game to match the higher stakes? These September online events were our chance to find out.
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CWL August Report – Smash Ultimate

Last Saturday’s CouchWarriors League event drew 110 entrants for Smash Ultimate – the first turnout of that size since May.

Despite the packed field, this month turned out to be just another chapter in the fast-solidifying dominance of two players who have owned these online ranbats – as they finally begin to see that consistency pay off on the leaderboard.

 

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CWL August Report – Tekken 7

Out of the four major games covered as part of the CouchWarriors League, Tekken 7 continues to be the most unpredictable and hotly contested. Months of national competition in these online events has failed to show a single dominant champion. Instead, a host of talented and dedicated players are constantly one-upping each other as they struggle to reel in the points totals amassed by ranbat winners in the first months of the year.

Six grinders in particular have been consistently scooping top points; Lucky Chloe main Chris “Stuckles” Stuckey, Queensland champion “Harlem”, community mainstay Kun-Mo “FAM|Gun_Mo” Yon,  Master Raven players Raphael “FAM|Daitooka” Batskos & Peter “Ravenboy” O’Flanagan, and online warrior arbiter”. Read more

Cospendium League Results – July

July 19th brought us the third event of the new online Smash Ultimate league created by Cospendium and Kanga Esports. With overall leader Joseph “Doctor A Ness” Cresnik sitting out this time, there was the opportunity for a winner to close the gap he’d started to open over the pack – and 142 smashers showed up to try their luck. Oh, and the winner would get to lean back in a new Zenox gaming chair at the end of the day.

 

 

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CouchWarriors League 2020 – Half-Season Recap!

Well, 6 months down and 6 to go. 2020 may have turned out to be an inauspicious year to launch our new CouchWarriors League, but just like any FGC great, we’ve adapted. Online events have kept the CWL leaderboards ticking over during the pandemic months, and we’ve even seen new players gain big opportunities from this unusual focus on netplay. Certainly for those who live outside of the main metro regions this season is looking like their best chance to make a tilt at national recognition!

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CouchWarriors League Online Results – June

Well despite the best efforts of 2020 we’ve made it all the way through June, and thu to the halfway mark of the inaugural CouchWarriors League season! Look out for a formal midseason recap to be published soon – in the meantime, here’s last month’s results!

The weekly CouchWarriors League Online events each focus on one of the major games supported by the League, with the placegetters receiving League points as part of our ongoing tournament season. Our monthly winners also received Steam vouchers from CouchWarriors.

A handy reference for our online tournament schedule during the pandemic period is on Twitter. You can always check the current standings for each game and player in CouchWarriors League here.

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Cospendium League Results – June

June 21st brought Smash Ultimate fans the second event of the new online league created by Cospendium and Kanga Esports.

With the first event attracting over 350 smashers there was clearly going to be a lot of competition over the rest of the year leading up to the finals at Cospendium in January. Sure enough, this tournament featured a smaller field but no less elite field, with several players who stumbled in the previous online bracket sharpening up to make top 8 this time around.

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Cospendium SSBU League – May

The Smash scene has gradually adapted to the all-online tournament season of 2020, and now there are plenty of events being run each month to keep the community ticking. One big positive to come out of this is the number of heretofore undiscovered wi-fi warriors who are proving themselves as serious talent through these tournaments. We’re also seeing different orgs step up and help to support the scene, and that’s what has brought us this new tournament series from Cospendium and FGC powerhouse Kanga Esports.

Cospendium is a new-look convention organisation, hosting events for the gaming, cosplay and fandom communities in Melbourne. CouchWarriors have already partnered with Cospendium to run their live gaming arena at these events, and now Cospendium have furthered their support of the FGC by sponsoring online Smash Ultimate events. Kanga Esports are providing valuable admin assistance, and have enabled the creation of a full online league leading up to Cospendium 2021 in January!

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CouchWarriors League Online Results – May

Another month of weekly online tournaments is in the books, and while we’re all pining for a regular ranbat sometime soon, this way of continuing the CouchWarriors League has proven to be a success. Plenty of great matches and stories emerged from the online brackets in May, so let’s run down exactly what happened for those who missed it.

The weekly CouchWarriors League Online events each focus on one of the major games supported by the League, with the placegetters receiving League points as part of our ongoing tournament season.

A handy reference for our online tournament schedule during the pandemic period is on Twitter. You can always check the current standings for each game and player in CouchWarriors League here.

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CouchWarriors League Online Results – April Recap

Welcome back, CouchWarriors family! It’s been a few months since we were forced into isolation by the COVID-19 pandemic. As tough as it has been to not get out to regular ranbats and weeklies, we have seen some great community efforts to stay connected and run online tournaments for any game which supports them.

Chief among these online events has been the CouchWarriors League, which we launched with incredible timing just before the coronavirus news started to hit. What was intended as a national leaderboard for state ranbats and majors has shifted with the times, and become a weekly online tournament for our rotating roster of top games. While that feeling of playing next to your opponent in a live venue is irreplacable, we have at least been able to enjoy some rare interstate matchup as each scene sends its best gladiators into the online arena! And thanks to a stack of $100 prize vouchers supplied by m-wave, there was a little bit more than pride and points on the line…

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