Vainglory is a mobile MOBA game developed by Super Evil Megacorp. The game works like a simplified version of the traditional MOBA. The objective of the game is to take out enemy turrets on the way to ultimately destroy the enemy base. Players compete in teams of 3 and can go off the main path to gain resources for the team. Like with all MOBA games, Vainglory has an inherent competitiveness to it. The game has already been added into the many games that eSports teams are using to compete against each other. I got to spectate a competitive Vainglory match at the Samsung booth at E3 this year. At first it looked like any other eSports event with the exception that the competitors were all using tablets instead of the controller or mouse/keyboard combo that are always present in these competitions. Spectating the match, it was apparent that Vainglory has aspects that set it apart from a lot of other MOBA games. Vainglory appeared to have a more dynamic take on the traditional MOBA, allowing player more customization in how they build their classes with more depth than most MOBA games. The player has the ability to strategically change a class build during a match versus being limited to the build they began with or that is traditionally the built for their character.

This Summer Vainglory is taking the next step in integrating itself into the world of eSports with its announcement of a sponsorship with online retail giant Amazon via Amazon Appstore. They are going to be sponsoring the upcoming Summer 2016 eSports Season in both Europe and North America. The season will end with the top 8 teams in both regions competing in live competition. The championships for North America and Europe will take place September 2-5 and September 9-11 respectively. Amazon will also be hosting this live competition which is expected to break viewership records for Vainglory, numbers are projected at 3-5 million viewers, which is nearly double the numbers of the Vainglory Winter 2015 event. Throughout the season Amazon will also be rewarding Vainglory players with Amazon coins.

The Summer Season will be put together as an elite tournament they are referring to as “ The Evil Eight.” In this structure only the 8 highest ranked teams in both regions will be able to compete every weekend, earning points and higher standing on the way to the championship. Going on along with this will be a “Challenger” competitive tier that will be community run and will have weekly battles against “The Evil Eight.” This structure not only showcases the elite eSports team at the highest level of competition but also allows up and comers a chance to make their way into the tournament.  The structure for this competitive season was made possible through a deal between Super Evil Megacorp and Twitch to grow Vainglory and its position in the eSports community. The tournament can be viewed here.

Vainglory also has some interesting updates with its 1.19 update. The game will now introduce a new hero named Lyra, who uses healing abilities as well as protective energy to change enemy positions on the map into zones for her allies. Lyra also has a teleportation ability that adds a whole other layer to her combat dynamic. The update includes a variety of new skins for the heroes: Summer Party Krul, Sylvan Kestrel Tier 1, Fury Rona Tier 2 and North Wind Reim Tier. The summer season will include a new summer map for the game and a new progression system that allows players to gain “Sunlight tokens” from matches to earn a variety of seasonal awards. The Summer events will also have loot boxes containing a variety of loot for players to collect.

Lyra

Krul Summer Skin

You can get in on the Summer Season by downloading Vainglory, which is available in the Amazon Appstore, Appstore, and Google Play.