NCSOFT, the developer behind Blade and Soul esports has announced that the European Regional Championship will take place on August 24th at the ESL Arena, Gamescom.
The top eight teams in Europe will compete throughout the day in the mixed one versus one and three versus three format, with the finals culminating at 21:00 CEST on the 24th August.
Similarly, the North American Regional Championship will take place on 3rd September at PAX West, at the PAX Arena. The winners of each Regional Championship will receive a share of the impressive $340,000 prize money, raised by Blade and Soul fans through the purchase of an in-game item. Arguably more importantly, the top two teams from each region will receive an invite to the World Championships in South Korea from 20-29th September.
In South Korea, for the first time in the game’s history, the best in Europe and North America will compete against seven other global territories to decide one world champion.
Blade and Soul, for those unaware, is traditionally a Korean martial-arts massively multiplayer online role-playing game (“MMORPG”) and thus the esports is through the PVP element of the game. Players can utilise one of nine classes, each with unique features and traits.
As aforementioned, there’s a mixture of both one versus one and three versus three at Gamescom. The former is exactly what it says on the tin, two players enter the arena, with one leaving victorious. The second is more complex. Only one player is active at a time, but with a limited number of assists and tag-outs, there’s a whole new layer of strategy and communication added to an already intriguing affair.
This is the first year that Europe, Russia, North America, Thailand and Vietnam will have representatives at the World Championships so it’ll be an intriguing battle in Seoul.
Esports Insider says: The pressure is on the Europeans now as they look to secure a spot in the World Championship finals out in South Korea. It’s certainly an interesting game to watch and we look forward to seeing the best battle it out at Gamescom.