Arena of Valor International Championship 2020: Everything you need to know
Group Stage starts on November 19.
Tencent Games, in partnership with Garena, is holding one of the biggest mobile MOBA tournaments this year in terms of prizing, the Arena of Valor International Championship 2020.
Here’s everything you need to know about AIC 2020, from the participating teams to its upcoming schedule.
Teams
AIC 2020 will feature the best teams from different AoV regions, including Thailand, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Korea, and Mainland China. The field of competition will havea total of 12 teamsbattling against each other.
Here’s a quick look at all the challengers:
Taiwan
After winning theArena of Valor Premier League (APL)last July, Garena Challenger Series’ (GCS) Flash Wolves are now setting their sights on the AIC trophy. However, they only came in second place at the GCS Summer 2020 after being beaten by MAD Team, 3-4.
Thailand
Two-time champions Buriram United Esports remain the Thai crowd favorites coming into AIC 2020. They just barely missed their third championship trophy after falling short against Talon Esports at the RoV Pro League (RPL) Winter finals. Will they finally break their 2nd-place curse this time around?
Aside from BRU’s star jungler Sanpett “FirstOne” Marat, viewers should watch out for Talon’s side laner Satittirat “Overfly” Chetnarong who bagged the MVP of Pro League award.
Vietnam
AIC 2019 champions Team Flash will be returning to the competition to defend their title. This time around, they’ll be joined by the hottest Vietnamese team right now.
Saigon Phantom, which dominated the Arena of Glory (AOG) Winter 2020 tournament, won against BOX Gaming 4-1 and took home all the tournament MVP final awards. Thóng “Bângg” Lai Bâng was awarded the FMVP and the Best Jungle awards.
Indonesia, South Korea, China
DG Esports is out to show what Indo pride is all about. They finished second at the AOV Star League Season 4 and will be the sole team to represent Indonesia after ASL first seed EVOS Esports disbanded.
Format
AIC 2020 will take place from November 19 to December 20. For the first time ever, AIC will be played fully online to keep all teams and staff safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.
All 12 teams have been distributed between Groups A and B. The Group Stage matches will be in a single round-robin format. All matches will be played in a best-of-three under the global ban-pick rule.
Schedule
Here is an overview of the AIC 2020’s stages:
The full schedule of Group Stage action follows below. Note that all times are in GMT+8.
November 29 (Sunday)
Prize pool
Arena of Valor is setting the bar high for other mobile MOBA tournaments with AIC 2020’s prize pool of US$500,000. This is “one of the highest international esports prize pools amongst other similar mobile MOBA genres” to date, according to aFacebook post by AoV.
A post shared by ONE Esports (@oneesports)
Where to watch AIC 2020
The Arena of Valor International Championship 2020 will be streamed live on Garena’s YouTube channels likeRoV ThailandandIndonesia.
READ MORE:Meet Krit, one of Thailand’s most successful AoV streamers
