Top 5 Reasons to Play Legends of Runeterra

by Philip Siu

Top 5 Things to Expect in League of Legends: Wild Rift

by Philip Siu

Clash Royale Tournament Guide 2019

The popular esport, Clash Royale, has a tournament coming right around the corner. Come have some fun and join a tournament or create your own Clash Royale tournament. It's extremely easy to host your own tournament.

One of the perks of hosting your own tournament is that you get to choose the tournament format and get to have new ways of earning rewards and resources. One of the requirements of making a Clash Royale tournament is having at least a level 8 profile.

If you are interested in creating your own Clash Royale tournament you will need 500 gems. When creating your own tournament you can decide whether to make it private or public.

One of the benefits of creating your own tournament is that you get to oversee the whole tournament. You get to choose the length of the tournament and how long before it ends and rewarding the top players. The length of the tournament can be set between a minimum of 1 hour all the way to a maximum of 3 days. You can also set your own preparation time from 15 minutes to 2 hours.

When hosting your own tournament, you can choose between multiple game modes such as: Normal Battle, Draft Battle, Double Elixir Battle, Sudden Death Battle, Double Elixir Draft, Mirror Battle, Rage Battle, Triple Elixir Battle, Ramp Up Battle, and Classic Decks Battle.

Another perk of hosting your own Clash Royale tournament is that you get to choose the prize you are going to host. You can choose from x30 chest awards all the way to x15,000 chest awards. Of course the higher the chest awards are the more gems you will have to spend. The minimum gems to host a tournament will cost you 500 gems, while the most expensive one will cost you 250,000 gems.

The hosts can also set their own caps for the Crown Towers and cards, ranging from 9 to 13. Other than the tournaments, there are also two Victory Challenges you can also compete in. One of the victory challenge goals, called the Grand Challenge is to win 12 times without losing more than 2 times. The other challenge, called the Classic Challenge, is to win all crowns and battles without considering the losts. There is also a Grand Challenge and a Classic Challenge, with the Grand Challenge costing 100 gems to enter, and the Classic Challenge costing only 10 gems to enter. Completing the Grand Challenge will earn you 22,000 gold and 1,100 cards, while completing the Classic Challenge will earn you 2,000 gold and 100 cards.

If 500 gems is too much to spend, there are also tournaments called Private Tournaments that you can create. Hosting a Private Tournament only costs 10 gems but there will be no prizes.

Supercell is in charge of the game but the hosts are in charge of the events. So that means the host should be responsible for their events and follow all guidelines and rules. As a host, you are responsible for providing the prizes of the tournaments, you can provide prizes such as in-game items. Any types of shady activities are forbidden and can get you banned. As a host, you are responsible to make sure your event is legal and under laws and regulations.

After putting in all the information about the length and prizes of the tournament, you can add your name and description and decide whether you want your tournament to be public or private. After setting up all the information required for your tournament you can start your first match by pressing the "Battle" button.

When you host your own Clash Royale Tournament, you can also compete with other players in that tournament. All the battles played in the tournament will be in the tournament and will not be in your battle log or dashboard. After that the tournament is pretty much the same as a classic Clash Royale battle. The only difference is that the overtime will increase from 1 minute to 3 minutes to avoid draws. The cards are also capped to make sure the games are fair and no player will have an extra advantage.

When you are not battling you can also spectate other players' battles on the leaderboard. After the tournament is over, the winners are declared and you can award the players. If players get pretty high on the global leader board, they also get extra bonuses along with their original rewards. The player who got the highest amount of trophies in the tournament will receive the top reward in the tournament. The second player will receive 2/3 of the top prize. The player in third place will receive half that prize. All the other players with receive prizes in respect to their place on the leaderboard.

If you just want to create a tournament to win prizes, you can create a tournament but only allow a few people in so that the fewer people will get bigger shares of the gems you spent. Other than a few rules you have to follow, creating your own tournament is all up to you. You get to decide the majority of the factors, such as game mode, capping levels, prizes, and length of the tournament.

If you don't have any spare gems to spend on hosting your own Clash Royale Tournament, you can still join in the fun and be allowed to join a tournament for free, without costing you any gems. You also get to have the chance to participate in the event and win top prizes for the competition. However, because of the high demands of players joining the competition and hoping to win massive amounts of rewards and prizes.

Most of the time the tournaments that appear on your dashboard will be full of participants and no room for you to join. However if you are patient enough you might be able to get into a few competitions and win some lucky prizes. If you aren't, fear not, as Clash Royale always host special events, tournaments, and competitions you can be part in to earn that extra gold or gem.

by Capsl Entertainment

2019 Guide to Becoming a Professional Mobile Esports Player

It's 2019, and the Esports world is becoming just as big as physical sports are nowadays. When we see big tournaments for PC gaming and consoles, it's just a matter of time for this worldwide phenomenon to replicate itself to other media, and gaming is evolving in new and exciting ways that are able to reach a potentially bigger user base in the competitive side of gaming. This opens the door to just about anyone who thinks that wants to be a professional mobile esports professional.

But what about the knowledge of complicated commands and joystick movements that have to be practiced every day? What if you don't have a state-of-the-art computer to play? Do you still have a chance to become an esports athlete? Of course you do! Because Esports are not limited to PC or consoles anymore. Nowadays, with the amazing mobile technology we have available, mobile esports tournaments are more and more common!

With the newer and more powerful mobile devices that mobile companies are releasing day by day, some of the most popular games are being worked on mobile apps just as if you were playing the console or PC version of those games (In some cases, even playing on the same servers), so why not testing your luck into becoming a mobile esports professional athlete? You have the advantage of this genre not being yet overrun by competitors, and there are many ways you can improve your chances to be in esports tournaments if you start right now with these few simple tips:

Pick a game that suits your abilities:

Do you have superb reflexes or you're more of a tactical thinker? All of these questions come into consideration when trying to choose the game you'd like to play professionally. If your thing is making good decisions and resource management, maybe you should focus your efforts on an Auto-Chess type of game (Autochess Origins and Dota Underlords are two options currently for mobile apps) or if you'd like more hands-on action, you could always try for the Battle Royale games that require a lot of good aim and quick reflexes.

Know your game's in and outs:

For being able to compete in mobile esports tournaments (or any kind of esports tournaments for that matter) you need to know your game left and right, down and center, and this is only achieved through constant study and keeping up to date with all the information you can gather. From the meta generally applied for most winning strategies, to characters tiers, win rates and anything else, you need to keep track of all the resources you need to learn, and make a habit of reading as much as you can ( TIP: Always read ALL the patch notes of your game of choice, changes in balance can be critical for your development if you have strategies based on characters, weapons or specific conditions in-gam)

Take care of your device:

This is just as important as practice and studying. You need to keep your gaming mobile device in a prime state if you want to compete in esport tournaments. I would personally recommend having a separate device just for your mobile esports needs, because if there's anything worse than having problems in the middle of a match, it's to receive a call just before the winning move!

Keep historic records of yourself: One of the last and more important steps, even before thinking about climbing the ranks and divisions of any esports tournaments is to know how much you're improving, and even if games take the time to take your statistics and keep track of them, there's so much more you can do to improve your abilities! Take notes of yourself, save the replays of your matches and watch them frequently! In this way, you can learn from your mistakes and improve either your KDR, your MMR or your W/L Ratio just by adjusting to new strategies and getting closer to mobile esports tournament standards.

Consistency:

Finally, the most important rule of them all to become a Professional Mobile Esports Athlete is the consistency. You have to play a lot of hours, you have to study even more, you need to refine your technique and learn from your mistakes, but most importantly, you need to do this constantly, don't stop, even if you fail, because you always have to remember that every professional has failed more times than the rookie has tried yet.

by Capsl Entertainment

7 Tips for Navigating Esports Contracts Like A Pro

Introduction

According to analysis by NewZoo, esports is projected to reach USD$1Bn in revenue by the end of 2019 and everyone wants a piece of the pie. More starstruck youth than ever are hoping to be the next Faker or Doublelift and earn worldwide acclaim. 

What’s the downside to esports’ massive growth in popularity and capital? A regulatory void that leaves aspiring players vulnerable to exploitation. Contracts for new pro players remain almost entirely unregulated, leading to exploitative agreements. 

Before digging into how you can negotiate contracts like a pro, you’ll need some background to better understand why bad contracts are so prolific.

Background - Contract Law in Esports

For decades, basketball, football, and other traditional sports have worked through countless legal and contractual issues. Esports, on the other hand, is a relative newbie, with only a few recent years of legal developments.

Low player salaries and poor working conditions have plagued esports since the industry first exploded in the 1990s. Many of these problems have come from a combination of poorly designed and abusive contracts that are common in esports. 

Players and organizations who aren't selective with who writes, reviews and edits their contracts are at risk of losing tens of thousands of dollars, as seemingly small clauses can negatively alter a contract hugely. 

Contract disputes simply haven’t been litigated or arbitrated enough to bring esports up to date. Many contracts in esports, especially at the amateur level, are not even legally enforceable. 

Organizations that don’t shell out the money for an expensive professionally written contract routinely copy poorly written contract templates from the internet. These often contain incorrect clauses and poorly defined provisions that can invalidate the contract entirely. Players and organizations who aren't selective with who writes, reviews and edits their contracts are at risk of losing tens of thousands of dollars, as seemingly small clauses can negatively alter a contract hugely. 

Educating new players on their rights has remained a very low priority for the industry and this poses potentially dire consequences for their careers. If you’re reading this article, you’re already ahead of the competition on signing a contract that works for you, not against you.

With that, here are 7 vital considerations every player should think about before signing a contract:

1. Contract Language

If you’re not talking to a lawyer (Protip: Do talk to a lawyer), you need to know what you’re signing. Do you understand the language the contract is written in?

Adam Melrose of Law in Esports writes that players can become stuck in low paying (or even non-paying) contracts because of terms that disproportionately burden them. Unreputable organizations have been known to exploit players who don’t natively speak their language by using complex legal jargon to get players to sign bad contracts. 

Here are some things to look out for:

  • Non-compete clauses: these restrict you from activities such as joining another team or playing competitively, even after the contract ends. Non-compete clauses can even prevent you from streaming on certain platforms that compete with team sponsors, costing you money and recognition. 

For more information about non-compete clauses, check out this great article by Kelley Warner Law. For some helpful examples of non-compete clauses in contracts, check out this database from LawInsider.

  • Ambiguity/Vagueness: undefined terms or intentionally vague provisions increase your liability or incurred costs when you sign. Get clarity on anything you don’t feel is clear. 

This article by LegalMatch has some more info on ambiguity in contract drafting, so check it out for further reading.

  • Loopholes: some contracts slip in terms that allow the drafting party to violate other sections of a contract under certain circumstances, leading to easy abuse.

Check out this great article by Business News Daily for more info on loopholes and other tricky contract clauses.

Take your time going through the contract and understanding what you’re signing away. Never let yourself get pressured into signing something you don’t understand or else you could end up in a situation you didn't bargain for.

2. Choice of Law and Contract Jurisdiction

The country or state jurisdiction you sign a contract under is key to protecting your rights. While this point may sound boring and unimportant, it’s critical to understand or you could find yourself dealing with significantly higher legal fees, unfair laws, or lacking legal resources. 

Contracts should always specify the jurisdiction they fall under, as that defines which set of laws the contract operates under. If your contract doesn’t have a choice of law, it will get extremely expensive to challenge or litigate any part of it in court once you’ve signed off. 

This is even more important when signing a contract with an organization outside of your country because contract law changes from place to place.

3. Compensation

Contracts should be upfront about salary amount, tournament winnings, sponsorship revenue, payment schedule, and how much of that you take home. Don’t end up like Fortnite streamer Tfue who become locked in a contract with Faze Clan where Faze took an astounding 80% cut of all sponsorship deals they introduced. 

Additionally, keep in mind what expenses you’ll be expected to pay for during things like tournament travel; assume you must cover the costs of anything your contract doesn’t clearly specify.

4. IP and Branding

Your intellectual property and media rights are extremely important, so get the full picture of what brand and IP rights you’re signing away. These include your appearance in advertisements, your video game streaming profile, social media, image, and other important sources of revenue.  

Be careful of contracts that transfer your IP rights to the organization, especially the use of language like “lifetime” or “exclusive”. Some of the most popular streamers pull in millions of dollars in extra revenue from their IP, so push to keep as much of your brand as possible.

5. Performance Metrics

Your contract should clearly state what you need to do to stay on the team’s active roster. This includes how much you’ll need to practice and in-game performance metrics like a minimum average Kill/Death/Assist ratio to maintain. 

Many contracts also include behavioral standards you must follow and a basic level of professionalism to maintain on things like social media, so make sure that you can meet these. Counter-Strike pro player Smooya was unexpectedly benched, with a reduction in salary, after joining Epsilon Gaming because he “didn’t speak Swedish”.  

Push for clarity on these points or risk becoming the benchwarmer.

6. Employment Classification

Like the choice of law provisions point above, you need to know whether you’re an employee or an independent contractor under the local law. This affects things such as sick days, health insurance, and health-based exemptions from play and practice. 

Employees and contractors have different legal rights, so do your best to understand the basic rules and regulations for either classification and/or talk to a legal professional. 

7. Termination 

Similarly to the standards of being benched, know under what circumstances your contract could be terminated and how you can get out of your contract. Take note of exceptions that will terminate your contract early as a result of a breach of contract, misconduct, or through a mutual agreement such as a buyout from another team. 

Contracts commonly list buyouts twice or even three times as high as the contract value, so be careful signing any contract that would be difficult to buy out. As a young player, you don’t want to lose the best years of your career in a contract that doesn’t fit your needs. 

Conclusion and Going Forward

These 7 points are merely a starting point for any player joining a team who wants to exercise caution before signing a contract. This article is not a replacement for hiring a legal professional; any player who has the means to do so should contact a legal representative.It may be expensive now, but it could save you time, stress, and most notably money in the future. 

As esports grows, so will standardization. The process is slow, so take all precautions and educate yourself now when dealing with the risks and high-stakes of team contracts.

For further reading and information on contract law in esports, we’ve added several links below to check out:

 

by Capsl Entertainment