The Arena of Valor pro scene is about to kick off in a big way—the official Arena of Valor World Cup is scheduled to be held in July 2018, with a prize pool of USD 550,000. Along with this, AoV will also be featured in this year’s Asian Games, which is taking place in Jakarta in August.
The Asian Games will feature national teams, which is entirely different from the standard pro tournament scene which features private teams.
With so much prestige and money on the line, the obvious question is, which teams should esports fans keep an eye out for.
Team Liquid
Liquid is known primarily for their Dota 2 squad, which received a direct invite to The International 8, the biggest tournament in the Dota 2 scene. Now, they’ve made their foray into mobile esports with their Arena of Valor team, a strong squad with tremendous potential.
Here’s a quick glimpse at the roster:
- Chen-Long Wang (Nyjacky) is a retired League of Legends player whose most played hero is Lauriel, according to the official Team Liquid site.
- Dave Mao (Assassin Dave) is a fresh face to the esports circuit whose most played hero is Zuka.
- Christian Gage Bachik (abrownbag) is also new to the esports scene, and his most played hero is Wukong.
- Drew Arthur Miller (alwaysgr33n) is an old hand at following esports, primarily The International (Dota 2), but this is his first appearance on a pro team. His most played hero is Gildur.
- Jordan Dean Scott (Zested) has been around esports for quite some time even though he couldn’t attend any major LANs for most of his career. He has competed in Halo 3 online tournaments and local LANs. His most played hero is Tara.
- Willard Hyrum Welsey Goodwin (TheBigDog) is the youngest member on the team at 17. He has played another major mobile MOBA, Vainglory, at the competitive level. His most played hero is Thane.
Nova eSports
This esports franchise has teams playing in the competitive circuits of popular titles like PUBG, Vainglory, Clash Royale, and now Arena of Valor. Their Arena of Valor roster was announced only recently, in March 2018.
The lineup is as follows:
- Wouter Killaars (iFlekzz) is an ex Mobile Legends players and a YouTuber. His win-rate speaks for itself, at 85% over 3000 games.
- Duc Hieu Nguyen (Darkbreaker) is an ex League of Legends player. He managed to work his way into the top 100 players during season 2 of the game, and is bringing this experience to bear on Arena of Valor now.
- Sebastian Steinmetz (Y.01) is a veteran of the MOBA genre, having played every MOBA released since the original World of Warcraft mod, Dota Allstars. He has played, most notably, League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm at a competitive level.
- Demianenko Vsevlod (Cebkaje) is also an ex Heroes of the Storm player, and has been a key part of a number of pro teams, even captaining a squad for a year and a half.
- Dawid Rudolphi (Crayen) has played League of Legends for 5 years, and enjoys jungling with Toro in Arena of Valor.
SK Gaming
This esports organisation is fairly prolific and has a finger in almost every esports pie you can think of. These include League of Legends, CS: GO, Clash Royale, FIFA, Hearthstone, Madden NFL, Paladins, Rainbow Six, Smite. Now, they’re bringing their resources to Arena of Valor.
Their AoV squad was known as Team Vivax, and is pegged as one of Europe’s best teams. Their backing by SK Gaming has pretty much opened up a whole new world for these players, starting with a high-profile show match against Team Liquid and better training opportunities.
The official website is, unfortunately, a little low on information about these players, but here’s the lineup, along with their preferred positions.
- Okan Hapakaz (EDU) is a roamer.
- Halil Berke Öztürk (Knight) inhabits the jungle.
- Yusuf Onat (Light) plays in the bottom lane.
- Yunus Ataş (Lui) is the team’s mid.
- Yunus Saral (Pich) is the team’s captain and their top laner.
These big-ticket esport teams taking a keen interest in Arena of Valor, is a promising indicator of things to come. Clearly, they’ve seen the competitive potential of this game. The AoV World Cup will be the litmus test for these teams, and others that qualify.
It’s time to break out the team swag and root for your favourites.
