The WePlay Academy League Season 1 is not a major event in the CS:GO calendar, however, it is an important and prominent event nonetheless. Whilst a lot of focus and emphasis goes towards the biggest events and star players, and rightly so, it is important to continue growing the grassroots and academy levels of esports within each respective title, and the WePlay Academy League Season 1 does exactly this. The finals are taking place from August 27th – 29th with $88,000 USD up for grabs.
WePlay Academy League Season 1 Event Breakdown
This preview will cover everything you need to know about the event and what you should expect. The event is hosted by WePlay Esports who are one of the newer event hosts in the industry with a coverage including Dota 2, League of Legends, World of Tanks, as well as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Format
For context, this live event is acting as the finals of the season. Prior, there was an online stage where eight academy teams battled it out, with four qualifying for the LAN finals. $12,000 USD was split across the teams that failed to qualify, which meant there was plenty to play for. The four teams that finished 5th-8th in qualifiers and didn’t reach the finals were; Natus Vincere Junior, VP.Prodigy, Astralis Talent, and FURIA Academy.
- Regular Season:
- Double Round-Robin format league
- All matches are Bo1
- Teams play each other twice
- Top 3 teams advance to the LAN Finals
- 4th–7th place teams proceed to the Play-In Stage
- Play-In Stage:
- Single-Elimination gauntlet
- All matches are Bo3
- Winning team advances to the LAN Finals
- Finals:
- Double-Elimination bracket
- All matches (excl. Grand Final) are Bo3
- Grand Final is Bo5 (1 map advantage to the Upper Bracket team)
Teams Participating
As mentioned, four teams qualified from the playoffs and will be battling it out for their share of the $88,000 USD prize pool.
| Team | Roster | Playoffs Placing |
| Mouz NXT | Torzsi, Siuhy, Szejn, JDC, xertion, Sycrone (coach). | Regular Season #1 |
| Young Ninjas | Ztr, nilo, phzy, Sapec, Ro1f, JAEGARN (coach) | Regular Season #2 |
| BIG Academy | NIKZEj, LapeX, pr1metapz, glaVed, Aqua, TugUx (coach) | Regular Season #3 |
| Fnatic Rising | Kevve, Peppzor, Regali, Prosus, Kst | Regular Season #4 |
Prize Pool Breakdown
Here is a breakdown of how the $88,000 mentioned above is split across the final four teams at WePlay Academy League Season 1. Each team attending is guaranteed to receive a proportion of the prize pool, but there are drastic increases to battle for, along with the pride and respect that would come with winning the event. View the full prize breakdown below.
| Place | Prize Money $USD |
| 1st | $45,000 |
| 2nd | $20,000 |
| 3rd | $15,000 |
| 4th | $8,000 |
Event Schedule
If you are eager to watch all or as many games as possible at the WePlay Academy League Season 1 finals, the full breakdown of the schedule below should be a great aid. The Upper Bracket Round 1 matches are already confirmed in regards to who plays each other, after that, it will only include dates and times for the matches.
| Round | Day | Time | Match |
| Upper Bracket Round 1 | August 27th | 14:00 BST | Mouz NXT vs. BIG Academy |
| Upper Bracket Round 1 | August 27th | 17:00 BST | Young Ninjas vs. Fnatic Rising |
| Lower Bracket Round 1 | August 28th | 14:00 BST | TBD |
| Upper Bracket Final | August 28th | 17:00 BST | TBD |
| Lower Bracket Final | August 29th | 14:00 BST | TBD |
| Grand Final | August 29th | 17:00 BST | TBD |
Broadcast Talent & How To Watch The Games
To top off this preview of WePlay Academy League Season 1 Finals, below you can find the official links to watch all the action unfolding over the weekend of the event. There are official streams in both English and Russian.
Official WePlayCSGO English Stream – https://www.twitch.tv/weplaycsgo
Official WePlayCSGO Russian Stream – https://www.twitch.tv/weplaycsgo_ru
For those that are interested in those involved with hosting the event, as we know, the commentators and analysts can make a significant difference in the viewing experience, below is a quick snippet breakdown. Both their nickname and full name are featured.
English Broadcast
- Host
- James Banks (James Banks)
- Analysts
- vENdetta (Halvor Gulestøl)
- Pimp (Jacob Winneche)
- Mauisnake (Alex Ellenberg)
- Commentators
- Hugo Byron (Hugo Byron)
- JustHarry (Harry Russell)
- Semmler (Auguste Massonnat)
- Hawka (Alex Hawkins)
Russian Broadcast
- Hosts:
- Vladyslava_Z (Vladyslava Zakhliebina)
- Tonya (Antonina Predko)
- Analysts:
- hooch (Dmitry Bogdanov)
- kane (Mykhailo Oleksiyovych Blagin)
- Shockwave (Oleksandr Netreba)
- Commentators:
- yXo (Alexey Maletskiy)
- Enkanis (Alexander Polishchuk)
- strike (Yuriy Tereshchenko)
Concluding The WePlay Academy League Season 1 Finals Preview
The event is definitely a more unique experience on the CS:GO competitive calendar, but it should prove to be a great watch with a fantastic purpose. Allowing younger and upcoming talent to showcase their talents in a considerable tournament whilst building LAN experience should provide insight into what fans can expect in coming years.
Additionally, it would be great to see more events like this take place throughout the season, both on an international and a region locked basis, as it offers more streamlined grassroots opportunities, which can sometimes be difficult to come by.
