Are you good enough in Valorant?

Do you think you got the skills to take down the best high school teams across the country?

American Video Game League (AVGL) is launching the Spring Showdown. AVGL is opening registration for their very first qualifiers for Valorant and Rocket League. 

AVGL, a subset of BoomTV, is the leading college esports organizer that focuses on hosting both collegiate and high school tournaments. They are the hosts to some of the biggest tournaments within esports, including Intel Inspires and Code Red. Within these tournaments, players have been given the opportunity to compete for prizes like $100,000 in scholarships sponsored by Pokimane, a popular content creator known for gaming on the platform Twitch.

With the rise of popularity in the 5v5 character-based tactical shooter game, Riot’s game, Valorant, has quickly begun to take the stage within esports. Since its launch, female-dominated teams have become more common and opportunities for players to go pro dramatically rose.

Participants like the all-female team Cloud9 White, Tenz from team Sentinels, and 100Thieves content creator Kyedae rose to prominence from the launch, gaining newfound popularity with a wider audience.

Players from other shooter games have made their way over to Valorant, creating their own 5-man squad to play with. This online platform has opened up opportunities for students to connect, including junior William Widjaja. “[My friends and I] play Valorant because we just enjoy playing first-person shooters together.”

Furthermore, Valorant’s unique lines of skins have opened up creative opportunities for the way players approach the game. Whether they choose to use a butterfly-inspired knife, attach a boba keychain to the side of the gun, or even use a cross-over skin with League of Legends, the game is left at a fair game that relies on skill.

“Unlike most FPS (first-person shooters) games, this one introduced the idea of champions and each having their own powers,” said junior Ethan Cole. “Instead of being able to customize the attributes of a weapon to increase the damage or the range, each weapon is the same and the only difference is the powers that pertain to each champion. This leaves the game more skill-based, and leaves everyone on an even playing field, while still being able to add a flare of difficulty due to the differences in champions.”

The increase of players has led to an increase in tournaments, making tournaments so much more in demand. Valorant Championship Tour hosted by Riot game themselves and AVGL’s Summer League are just two of the many tournaments that players have been given the opportunity to take part in.

Rocket League has been a staple to many people’s gaming history, giving them the top-tier experience of the arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem PC game. They have various limited-time events that celebrate the holidays alongside the players. Their fully customizable cars make the competition experience a lot more unique. Players have the freedom to use their creativity to utilize in-game items to complete challenges, browse the item shop for materials, and develop blueprints to gain premium content for their cars.

“My favorite part of Rocket League is the satisfaction you feel when you keep winning,” junior Amare King said. “It’s really great validation that I can do it. And another thing, it’s a spin on soccer games and makes it more interesting since it’s using cars instead of just your legs.”

On Saturday, March 5th, high school students will be able to form a team with their peers to compete against players all across North America. 

Rocket League will be in a Swiss tournament format, matching trios of students from the same school to play against each other for the top-ranked teams. There will be a fixed number of rounds of games where teams will be paired against a team that has a similar win-loss score as they do. Teams will not be playing each other more than once and the team with the highest number of wins at the end of the tournament will be claimed victorious.

What’s on the line? The AVGL Rings, of course. These new championship rings will have players leaving the tournament in style! With their username and “Spring 2022 Champions” engraved onto it, everyone will know who the reigning champions of the Rocket League qualifiers are. The tournament will begin at 10 A.M. PT on March 5th, Saturday.

About the Tournament:

Swiss Format: There will be a fixed number of rounds of games where teams will be paired against a team that has a similar win-loss score as they do. Teams will not be playing each other more than once and the team with the highest number of wins at the end of the tournament will be claimed victorious.

Valorant will be a regular 5v5 tournament consisting of continuous rounds of best-of-1 games that starts at 12 P.M. PT. Players will be playing for a cash prize pool along with Valorant banners and various AVGL merchandise. 

Registration will end the morning of March 5th so be sure to grab your team and get signed up as soon as possible.

AVGL LINKS: Instagram, Discord Community, Rocket League Registration, Valorant Registration