Introducing: Eve Ascension Mythic+ Tournament

It is definitely the season for Community Warcraft events and competitions. We just had the 3rd Annual Mythic+ Charity Pro-Am last weekend, we have Keystone Builders coming up at the end of the month, and Break the Meta is taking place right now on Live servers. But that’s not all! In fact, this coming weekend is the inaugural Eve Ascension Mythic+ Tournament - a brand new Community competition showcasing rosters made up entirely of women and gender minorities.

Eve Ascension is a tournament series created by Team Liquid and proudly presented by Alienware. The first event of the series was a Valorant tournament, which took place last year. This year, Team Liquid is joining forces with its gender-equity-focused initiative Liquid Women in Warcraft to bring Eve Ascension to the WoW Community.

Read on to learn more about the competition, and make sure to tune in to the Team Liquid Twitch Channel this Saturday, April 22nd, at 9am PDT / 12pm EDT / 6pm CEST!

Table of Contents

What is Eve Ascension?

Eve Ascension is a game-agnostic tournament series created by Team Liquid and presented by Alienware. The goal of the series is to showcase the talent and skill of women and gender minority players in multiple game titles. All players invited to compete in Eve Ascension identify as women or a gender minority, and at least 80% of behind-the-scenes staff and on-air talent of all Eve Ascension tournaments are also women or gender minorities.

There has long been a drastic gap in gender representation in high-end gaming and esports, and Team Liquid has been leading the charge for many years to bridge this gap. Their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, Accessibility, and Justice Task Force has been actively creating programs and initiatives, including Liquid Women in Warcraft, with the goal of finding tangible solutions. The establishment of Eve Ascension follows these efforts, to highlight high-end women and gender minorities playing and competing in various games. This weekend, we get the pleasure of watching some of the best women and gender minority Mythic+ players in the world!

Event Format

Eve Ascension is a one-day Mythic+ competition using what has become known as the “Great Push” format. 4 teams of 5 players will have 5 total hours to push 4 keystones as high as they possibly can. The 4 dungeons, as well as affixes and starting keystone levels, are set by Tournament organizers, but players are not given that information until 30 minutes prior to the start of gameplay. This provides a fairly even playing field in the sense that teams are not able to practice with the exact set of dungeons and affixes ahead of time.

The broadcast begins at 9am PDT, and gameplay officially starts at 9:30am PDT. Teams will have until 2:30pm PDT to start their final dungeon. They will not be able to reset any dungeons as soon as the clock hits 2:30pm, but they are allowed to finish any dungeon they are still in when the timer runs out. Scoring is based on the keystone level completed of each dungeon. For example, if a team successfully completes each of the 4 dungeons at level 22, their total score would be 88. It is going to be very exciting to see how high these teams can push!

The teams will be competing for the lion’s share of a $10,000 prize pool, as well as representing a charity of their choice which will receive a donation on their behalf.

Team Rosters

The four teams competing in Eve Ascension are Team Liquid, Team Method, Team Big Dumb Guild, and Team Keystone Queens. As some of these teams prepare for the 10.1 Race to World First starting soon, they are sending their top women and gender minority players from their rosters and organizations to bring home the glory!

Part of the mission statement of Liquid Women in Warcraft is to identify the obstacles preventing equitable representation of women and gender minorities in high-end competitive Warcraft. One of these obstacles is a lack of opportunities to compete in a safe and inclusive environment. The dual goals of showcasing the best-of-the-best while also creating an opportunity for more women and gender minorities to dip their toes into the competitive scene are what informed the Roster creation process.

The first 3 players of each team were invited to participate to represent one of the organizations, guilds or teams. Many parameters were considered when choosing who to invite, including competitive experience, Mythic+ Rating, org or guild affiliation, and more. The goal was to ensure that the bulk of each team had substantial experience pushing keystones at the highest levels. The last 2 players of each team were selected from members of the Liquid Women in Warcraft Community who were invited to register for the chance to compete! These were selected based again on multiple factors, including activity in LWIW.

Players were chosen and assigned to their rosters by the Tournament Organizers, so we are excited to see how well they are all able to come together and play as teams! Check out the invited players on each team below, and make sure to tune in on Saturday to cheer them on!

Broadcast Talent

As part of its efforts to increase gender representation in esports, all Eve Ascension competitions feature at least 80% women and gender minorities in all behind-the-scenes staff and on-air talent. Additionally, following suit with the formation of the Team Rosters, Eve Ascension is a perfect chance to provide some opportunities for up-and-coming Casters!

We’ve got some of the best and brightest in the business, as well as some new faces that we know are going to knock it out of the park. Check out this incredible lineup of Casters who will guide you through every minute of the Mythic+ action this weekend!

Sponsors

Eve Ascension is a Good in Gaming initiative, proudly presented by Alienware, with support from Blizzard and Raider.IO.

Alienware and Team Liquid are committed to bring positive change in gaming communities dealing with toxicity and harassment, especially to women and historically marginalized groups. Together, Alienware and Team Liquid have launched the Good in Gaming program - a movement that cultivates inclusion and inspires people to treat each other with respect and dignity.

Liquid Women in Warcraft

Team Liquid entered the World of Warcraft space at the beginning of 2022 by acquiring Liquid Guild and creating the Liquid MMO branch of the esports organization. It was evident early on to leadership at Team Liquid that representation of women and other gender minorities in the high-level ecosystem of the game was drastically low. As an organization, Team Liquid has dedicated itself to being a leader in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, Accessibility, and Justice in the gaming industry. A decision was made early on to do whatever possible to tackle the disparity of gender representation in World of Warcraft, and Liquid Women in Warcraft was born.

LWIW’s mission is to provide a network through which women, non-binary persons, and those belonging to all gender minorities can seek a safe, supportive space with other like-minded people. The collaborative initiative works to connect gender minorities from all aspects of World of Warcraft gameplay with experts and professionals in the field. LWIW strives to empower, encourage, educate, and elevate gender minorities to the same positions of authority, respect, and visibility as their male counterparts.

LWIW has established a clear pathway to how to achieve this, with workshops, roundtable discussions, programs, and more. To learn more about the initiative and its goals, check out the LWiW Discord. This server is also where the LWIW community holds events and interacts, so make sure you check it out!



Excited to cheer on your favourite players this weekend in Eve Ascension? Hop on over to the LWIW Discord, keep your eyes peeled on the Liquid Guild and Raider.IO Twitter accounts, and make sure you tune in on the Team Liquid Twitch Channel at 9am PDT this Saturday, April 22nd. You won’t want to miss this!