CWL Defending Champions Preview the 2022 Season

You can hear it all around the country. The click-clack of buttons, the churning of arcade sticks.

February will see the first blows struck in the 2022 season of CouchWarriors League, Australia’s biggest tournament circuit for fighting games. The last few seasons have been tumultuous, but the focus on online events during the pandemic has given many new players the chance to make their name.

With tentative projections for a return to live events this year, the stage is set for these fresh challengers and decorated veterans to clash head-on, establishing a new power ranking for the Oceanic FGC.

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CouchWarriors League Schedule: November

A new month in the CouchWarriors League brings fresh opportunities to score ranking points in your favourite games. Here are the dates and sign-up links for all our November ranbats and CWL Online events across Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.

You can get all this event information delivered by Twitter or email if you subscribe to our new Revue newsletter!

You can also send us your highlights, photos and stream links on Discord, Facebook or Twitter – help us share your favourite tournament moments with the rest of the AUS FGC!

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CouchWarriors League Schedule Update: October Ranbats, Adelaide Mini-Major Announced!

October Event Calendar

A new month in the CouchWarriors League brings fresh opportunities to score ranking points in your favourite games. Here are the dates and sign-up links for all our October ranbats and CWL Online events – plus, a new mini-major presented by CouchWarriors SA!

Remember, you can have event information emailed to you every month by subscribing to our newsletter! You can also send us your highlights, photos and stream links – help us share your favourite tournament moments with the rest of the AUS FGC!

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GG:Strive Joins CWL Online With First Interstate Showdown

When we write fighting game history, 2021 is going to go down as the Year of Gear. The bold presentation and fortuitous timing of Guilty Gear: Strive has brought the hard-rocking franchise from the fringe of the FGC into the mainstream. And the willingness of Arc System Works to remodel some aspects of the core system has invited many new Guilty Gear players to make Strive their entry point, mixing it up with anime veterans on more even footing. 

With all that momentum it was inevitable that GG:ST would make it onto the CouchWarriors League circuit as our newest featured title. Last month’s Battle Arena Nightclub was the first opportunity for players to pick up ranking points on the Strive leaderboard. But even that clash of Melbourne’s finest turned out to just be an appetizer for August’s CWL Online event – the first real chance to see who could stand supreme in this new game at the national level.

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CouchWarriors League New Points System Aug 2021

If you ask the question, “why are the CouchWarriors events all called Ranbats?”  It’s short for Ranking Battle – a long standing tradition in the community, offering players an incentive to compare their progress and get ever stronger! Today we’re announcing an update to the point system to make it more inclusive of players of all levels.

Of course, all our Ranking Battle live events are not just about tournaments, they’re perhaps moreso about socialising, casual matches and even long sets, with a great opportunity to learn and improve.

By also having tournaments this adds some goals and structure for a day’s play – and the point system is part of that. Tying all our offline and online events together via the points is CouchWarriors League – the league ladder tracks each game and region, which you can filter here on the website. This has been a great way to determine seeding and invitations for events, and prize rewards.

Now as we dive into the 2nd half of this year’s season under CouchWarriors League, we’ve updated the system, in consultation with the tournament teams.Lets take a look:

What’s new and why do we like it?

  • Expands the point system down to all participants, not just top 4-8
  • This means participation is encouraged for those who think they can’t place, they can build up a small base of points just by entering consistently.
  • We have kept the weighting towards offline tournaments vs online, however all points totals are increased, so if you play consistently, even online, you have a chance to post a good score
  • This provides a nice second split/half season boost as we go towards finals. We won’t reset the points completely, but it provides an effective reset for those actively playing thanks to the increase.
  • Still acknowledges season 1 players who get a kick start, recognizing due to COVID, its been an uneven year for live events.
  • The system gives more scope for flexibility in determining prizes and finals seeding.

The point system will be in effect from July events onwards! Yes, that means you can earn more points for playing any of the current tournaments! Register here

Rewards

We recognise this year has been uneven due to Covid, so some regions may have more events than others. This is why we will award end of season prizes to the top players in every game – in each region.

So if you’re the best player in a feature title in your state, or online, which is treated as its own region, you’ll be rewarded!

Current online feature titles are Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 7 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate.  These run monthly, so there’s a tournament each week and a prize will be allocated each month.

An additional two titles, while not guaranteed to run an online tournament each month, are staples of offline and will also have an end of season prize: Dragon Ball FighterZ and Super Smash Bros Melee.

Prizes are to be announced as the season progresses. You can count on support from our excellent sponsors Astro and Mwave for starters.

Regular titles you find at your local ranbat are all tracked in the points system, and at minimum we will add rewards at the finals.

Finals

On finals we will be planning to conclude the CWLeague season at CWC – CouchWarriors Crossup – in December with a boosted prize pool and more, to be announced.

If it is impossible for us to run a live finals event, we will run an online invitational using the league ladder. Last year there were over $5,000 in prizes and we are aiming high for this year.  We will have more to share on this soon, but rest assured those points are worth striving for!

#BANC – Battle Arena NightClub Interviews & Recap

Sunday, July 11th saw a year of pent-up competitive energy unleashed from a highly unusual venue. Inflation Nightclub and Entertainment Complex has been a party fixture on Melbourne’s King Street for decades, but they’d never seen anything quite like the crowd of 240+ FGC diehards hollering over the noise of the venue to celebrate a knockout blow. 

 

BANC2021 in full swing

With a brief window to take advantage of lowered COVID restrictions but no way to facilitate a full-sized major, an event was planned to carry on the spirit of BAM in the best available venue, and thus we got to enjoy #BANC – Battle Arena Nightclub 2021.

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ASTRO STEPS INTO THE RING AS THE PRESENTING PARTNER OF COUCHWARRIORS LEAGUE AND BAM

Australia’s premier fighting game esports league and its major event, are now powered by ASTRO GAMING

MEDIA RELEASE: ASTRO Gaming today announced it will be pulling on the gloves and supporting the Australian Fighting Game Community as it becomes the presenting partner of CouchWarriors League and BAM (Battle Arena Melbourne) for 2021-22. As the exclusive partner for headsets, CouchWarriors League will be equipped with ASTRO headsets for events, player prizes and commentators to call the action in top fighting game titles including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

CouchWarriors League is the premier esports league for fighting game fans in Australia, with live events across the country in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, along with online tournaments broadcast to thousands of monthly viewers. The CouchWarriors series of events has been an anchor for the fighting game community (FGC) for nearly 15 years. It welcomes grassroots play from casual matches to major tournaments.

Australia’s largest major FGC event, BAM, returns in May 2022, presented by ASTRO. BAM has been the home of amazing moments on the FGC world stage, featuring international talent as stops for world tours including Capcom Pro Tour and Tekken World Tour.

Most of all, it is a must attend for fighting game fans nationwide both for connecting with the community, and competing in the national championships. Over 1,000 unique competitors joined the fray in 2019.

“We are incredibly excited at ASTRO Gaming as a major supporter of fighting game esports globally, having sponsored major events including EVO World Championships, CEO and Combo Breaker. BAM is the equivalent major event on the Australian calendar having hosted thousands of competitors and world tours. As part of CouchWarriors League, we look forward to being part of the year-round hype and energy of the fighting game scene” Said Daniel Hall, Senior Category Portfolio Manager, Logitech G and ASTRO Gaming Australia.

“The passion and vibrancy of the fighting game scene calls for an equally passionate partner for the CouchWarriors League and we’re thrilled to have ASTRO on board, supporting the players and tournament organisers in the scene. We’re excited for what the partnership will bring to all our events from local live tournaments nationwide, to our regular online tournaments and major events like BAM. The pedigree and dedication to fighting games by ASTRO worldwide is unmatched” Added Daniel Chlebowczyk, Director of Events Engine, the partnership manager for CouchWarriors League.

The next event will be BANC – Battle Arena NightClub in Melbourne on July 11. https://smash.gg/banc 

Catch the live action across the CouchWarriors Twitch Channel and the CouchWarriors Smash Twitch Channel.

Follow the CouchWarriors League ladder and links to event registration at the official website:

Join the battle at CouchWarriorsLeague.com.au

BAM 2021 – Postponed to 2022. New Melbourne July Event planned

To all the FGC community from the dedicated BAM team, we are announcing the postponenment of BAM 2021. After careful consideration of the COVID safety state across Australia, and discussions with the venue we have taken the difficult decision to postpone.

We are moving BAM to its traditional month of May, 2022.  In its place, for those that can attend in Melbourne on July 11th, we will have a special alternative event we dub “BANC” or Battle Arena Nightclub. More on this below

Why Postpone

Due to the Melbourne lockdown recently, with a slow rate of changes to restrictions, the scope of the event has been affected. Adding to the decision, new hotspots in NSW and QLD have diminished the ability for interstate visitors to attend our community’s national event.

In this uncertain environment we cannot guarantee an event befitting the scale and style expected of BAM.

What about my BAM registration?

Our team will remove all registrations and refunds will be issued for BAM progressively over the coming week. The event listing itself will remain so you can keep your bookmark for smash.gg/bam12

We will reopen BAM registration closer to the event.

Alternative Event: BANC

We have an alternative event planned called Battle Arena NightClub (BANC) at the nightclub venue, Inflation in the Melbourne CBD. We recognise there are attendees who would still like to travel on the BAM dates, and take the opportunity to play in a fighting game major.

Looking to make the best we can out of the situation, this event will have big pot bonuses and prizes, at a unique venue.

Registration is found here: smash.gg/banc.

This event will be in a bar/nightclub venue opening up for us through the day, making for a cool fighting club atmosphere.

Pot bonus – $500 minimum (up to $1,000)
We are announcing at BANC there will be a Community prize bonus from CouchWarriors:
$500 for each of these titles. If the registrations for each hit 64 or more we will double it to 1,000

  • SFV
  • Tekken
  • Melee
  • Ultimate
  • DBFZ
  • Guilty Gear Strive

BAM Bounties in effect at the Battle Arena NightClub

The recently announce BAM bounties – which reward the top players at the end of June’s CouchWarriors League ladder in 5 feature titles – SFV, Tekken, Melee, Ultimate and DBFZ.

Top of points in each game will receive FREE entry to BANC and a $50 Mwave voucher

However those players are TARGETED.

The first player to beat that player in the tournament for that game at BANC will win a $50 voucher also.

CouchWarriors League Recap – May 2021

The fires of competition have burned more brightly than ever before across the CouchWarriors League, as we count down the days before the long-awaited BAM12 major. The month of May set a new all-time record for most ranking points on offer, impacting the race across all five CWL games.

In the past, the league rankings have often been dominated by a handful of regional champions who can reliably scoop their local tournament every time – but 2021 is looking different. Not only have we seen a few instances of top players traveling interstate to play spoiler for one event, but almost every game and region is seeing a more even spread of winners as the months roll on. It’s been the perfect way to foreshadow the inevitable clash for bragging rights we’ll see at BAM.

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BAM12 Registration Roundup!

Get hype! The biggest AusFGC news of the year is the biggest AusFGC event of the year: BAM 2021.

Battle Arena Melbourne is making its comeback in 2021. Held from July 9th-11th, #BAM12 will feature the peak of competitive play for fighting games across Australia as part of the CouchWarriors League, as well as a rare chance for our top talent to battle world-class opposition. Expanding the gaming on offer, alongside BAM will be ITZ Gaming PC LAN (more on that below)!

BAM’s status as Australia’s top Major on the official circuits brings together players and broadcasters from all sorts of games, and CouchWarriors are going in even harder on that big-tent ethos with this year’s event. Whether you count yourself among the hardcore competitors, niche game specialists, casual fans, artists, cosplayers, or game developers, #BAM12 has something to offer.

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