Ayre Masters Series I: The Golden Cup

It is time for the second leg of the Ayre Pro Tour. Welcome everyone to the inaugural Ayre Masters Series. The first in a series of weekend events that are set to challenge some of the best Age of Empires 2 players in the world on an array of different maps. This time around we are playing on gold rush style maps only. The Ayre Masters Series I: The Golden Cup will take place on February 11th - 13th and will feature 8 competitors fighting to be dubbed “Master” in the main stage. Prior to this there will be a 2 week qualifier for 16 players to battle for a spot in the main event. This tournament will feature a $1500 USD prize pool and is the first tier 1 event on the Ayre Pro Tour calendar. The winner of this event will be guaranteed a spot in the global final at the end of 2022. To enter please head to the Ayre Esports discord server where you can find information on this tournament and the Ayre Pro Tour.

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/2aRerFj

 

Getting the prize pool in the title will probably raise more attention I can only encourage everyone to join this tournament or the AYRE Pro Tour rather.

For more information you can visit the corresponding liquipedia pages:

Ayre Masters Series I: The Golden Cup - Qualifier

The Ayre Masters Series I: The Golden Cup is an Age of Empires II 1v1 tournament hosted by Ayre Esports. It is the second event of the Ayre Pro Tour.

liquipedia.net

Ayre Pro Tour

Ayre Pro Tour (APT) is an Age of Empires II pro circuit where players can play in a number of tournaments where they gain points that lead to a Global Final at the end of 2022 (Tour guide).

liquipedia.net

 

Reading through your tour guide pdf found on liquipedia you say this: "It was designed with the desire to bring Age of Empires 2 closer to what you would expect from big esports titles such as DOTA 2, Counter-Strike and Starcraft II. All these esports have a proper pro circuit where all events give teams and players points, which they then use to more accurately seed players into more tournaments, which theoretically makes tournaments more competitive."

This is all well and good but the reality is the reason a pro circuit works in other games is because they offer large prize pools and from the looks of it that's not the case here. How much will be on the line for the global finals? Was this pitched to Nili/Microsoft? This unfortunately looks like a great idea that won't go anywhere without real funding.

 

Reading through your tour guide pdf found on liquipedia you say this: "It was designed with the desire to bring Age of Empires 2 closer to what you would expect from big esports titles such as DOTA 2, Counter-Strike and Starcraft II. All these esports have a proper pro circuit where all events give teams and players points, which they then use to more accurately seed players into more tournaments, which theoretically makes tournaments more competitive."

This is all well and good but the reality is the reason a pro circuit works in other games is because they offer large prize pools and from the looks of it that's not the case here. How much will be on the line for the global finals? Was this pitched to Nili/Microsoft? This unfortunately looks like a great idea that won't go anywhere without real funding.

I 100% agree with you. Without adequate financial backing it is likely that this will not go past the first season. However Ayre is very much still in its infancy. To be able to get sponsors like Microsoft on board, we need to be able to show said sponsors that it is worth investing in us. Due to our infancy we haven't yet been able to produce a product that we can use to prove to sponsors that this will be a worth wile investment to them. So prize pools will be smaller at the start, but I am in talks with Nili about the APT as a whole and this is a topic that will come up as we get closer to the bigger events.