Astralis: 8 Top Esports Organizations and WePlay launch new, global academy league

As a part of the strategy to secure long term success based on a solid ever evolving foundation, in December of 2020 Astralis launched Astralis Talent focussing on the development of young, talented players on the verge of becoming proffessionals. The aim is to secure a strong, inhouse platform for player recruitment, to provide the main teams with valuable sparring and to secure the best possible education for players whether they play for Astralis or move on.

Kasper Hvidt, Director of Sports, Astralis:

- Astralis Talent has a clear goal to educate and develop players to become carriers of the Astralis winning culture and ambition to embrace the positives of esports and gaming on all levels. Players under Astralis Talent also contribute to sparring of our main team and ultimately, we hope to elevate one or more of our own players to the main team roster.

- In this connection, WePlay Academy League will give us the opportunity to not only match our talent players with those of the other big esports organizations, but also to share thoughts and ideas between between some of the most experienced academy organizations.

- Since day one, wverything we have worked with in Astralis has been about developing ourplayers and teams while also pushing some of the borders in esports. This move is yet another step on a new path which we hope and believe will benefit not only the players, teams, and participating organizations but also the talent scene in general, Kasper Hvidt explains.

For Astralis Head of Talent in Counter-Strike, Dennis Vang, WePlay Academy League is a gift:

- If we are to optimize talent development, we need to create a culture and a structure where the players are not constantly forced to play match after match with the risk of losing your spot in the tournament if they lose the wrong ones. We want to create a winning culture, but we have to do it under conditions that enable us to work with the development of the individual player and the team under proper conditions without the unproductive stress of having to deliver short term.

- In WePlay Academy League we will be working with some of the best in international Counter-Strike, where we will certainly do our best to win each game, it is Astralis afterall, but where the long term, healthy development is prioritized, Dennis Vang concludes.

Participating organizations:
Astralis (DK), NiP (SE), NaVi (UKR), BIG (DE), Mousesports (INT), Fnatic (SE), Virtus.Pro (PL) og Furia (BR)

 

Tournament info:
100.000 USD prize pool
8 teams
Season 1 begins with an online round-robin group stage, where the teams face off twice.

Top 3 go to the double-elimination playoffs at the WePlay Esports Arena Kyiv.
4-7 enter the gauntlet stage to fight for the 1 remaining slot in the Playoffs. 

8 is eliminated

Event schedule:

- Group Stage —  July 19 – August 01, 2021 (possible tie-breaker matches will take place on August 03)

- Gauntlet Stage — August 07–08, 2021

- Playoffs — August 27–29, 2021