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The Ukrainian esports tournament organizer, WePlay Esports, announced the return of the WePlay Academy League. The second season of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament is said to take place in September – November.
WePlay Academy League Season 2
WePlay Esports announced the second season of the WePlay Academy League this Tuesday, September 21. As revealed by the esports tournament organizer, the CS:GO tournament will begin in September and conclude in November, with the finals in Kyiv, Ukraine.
As the inaugural season, the group stage of the WePlay Academy League Season 2 will happen online. The organizers are planning to host the playoffs at WePlay Esports Arena in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The tournament will feature the same eight esports organizations that competed in the first iteration of the We Play Academy League. The competition will also keep the $100,000 prize pool, with a $45,000 winner’s share.
The only notable change for the second season is a different format for the online stage.
The online stage of the WePlay Academy League Season 2 will see eight participating teams first play in two GSL groups. After that, the winning two teams will receive a direct bye into the playoffs, while the second and third-placed teams advance into the “Last Chance Group.”
The Last Chance Group will feature four teams, who will compete in a double-elimination bracket for the final two tickets for the playoffs. All Last Chance fixtures will be played as best-of-three (Bo3), including the finals.
The LAN Stage of the WePlay Academy League Season 2 will take place on November 12-14 at purposely-built WePlay Esports Arena. In the playoffs, the teams will get seeded into a double-elimination bracket based on their placement.
All playoffs’ matches will be played as Bo3 – except for the grand finals, which will use a Bo5 format. Like last season, the team which will advance into the finals via the upper bracket will receive one map advantage.
WePlay Academy League Season 1 Recap
It’s no surprise that WePlay Esports decided to host the second season of the WePlay Academy League, following the success of its inaugural tournament. Although the competition hasn’t achieved as much viewership as some other biggest CS:GO esports tournaments, it has proven to be a resounding success and a breath of fresh air in the competitive CS:GO scene.
The inaugural season of the WePlay Academy League took place in July-August, and it featured eight academy teams. The list of participants included Fnatic Rising, FURIA Academy, BIG Academy, Natus VIncere Junior, VP.Prodigy, Astralis Talent, Young Ninjas, and the eventual champions, mouz NXT.
Mouz NXT were billed as one of the main favorites to win WePlay Academy League Season 1, and they delivered. The European squad topped the online stage group with an 11-3 record and were just as impressive in the playoffs.
Mouz NXT eliminated BIG Academy in the first round and looked set to hoist the title. Things, however, didn’t go smoothly, as they had to admit defeat to Young Ninjas in the upper bracket finals (1-2).
Following that loss, mouz NXT took down Fnatic Rising (2-1) in the consolidation final, And with that, booked a rematch with Young Ninjas on the big stage.
An Easy Win for Mouz NXT
Even though Young Ninjas received a default map win for qualifying from the upper bracket, it hasn’t helped them claim the title. Mouz NXT overpowered the Swedish squad and won the finals in straight maps, with 16-2 on Mirage, 16-11 on Nuke, and 16-9 on Inferno.
Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás was a standout player for mouz NXT and by far the best player on the server. The Hungarian CS:GO esports pro ended the series with a +36 KD and an outstanding 1.60 HLTV Rating.
His teammates Dorian “xertioN” Berman and Jon “JDC” de Castro were close behind at 1.34 and 1.22 ratings, respectively. Meanwhile, Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek and Hubert “Szejn” Światły ended the finals with 1.09 and 1.05.
On the side of Young Ninjas, not a single player reached the 1.00 HLTV line. Anton “Sapec” Palmgren was their best player at 0.94, followed by Love “phzy” Smidebrant (0.92) and Tim “Mann3n” Isak (0.75).
Erik “ztr” Gustafsson and Kalle “Ro1f” Johansson underdelivered with their showings and ended the finals with 0.75 and 0.69 ratings.
Given their success in the inaugural season, mouz NXT should be considered one of the top dogs at the WePlay Academy League Season 2. However, the esports bookmakers have yet to offer betting odds on the upcoming CS:GO tournament.