Hundreds of gamers were on the edge of their seats watching a battle between eight top players of a popular Marvel game.
The finals came down to a faceoff between the number one and three seeded players — Fintech from Finland and Pepe from Mexico — with Fintech taking home the coveted championship belt.
The Marvel Contest of Champions Battlerealm Brawl was held at Richmond’s Gaming Stadium and saw players from five countries compete over the two-day event.
Brandon Lavalley, better known for his in-game and streaming persona Lagacy, was one of the competitors who took to the stage over the weekend.
Lavelley lost in the quarter-final but said it felt “really amazing” to compete.
It was a “big grind” to qualify for the tournament and the last week leading up to the deadline was “extremely stressful,” he said.
The Edmontonian fell out of the top-10 ranking with just two hours to go, and all hope seemed lost.
“So I just decided to do a livestream, but then somehow I won five in a row, and I qualified,” he said.
“It was crazy. I didn’t even believe it. I had given up the night before.”
Battlerealm Brawl was the first large-scale tournament to take place in Vancouver for Marvel Contest of Champions, a popular game created by Vancouver-based company Kabam.
The game allows users to collect their favourite Marvel superheroes and villains, such as Captain America, Spider-Man and Thanos, and embark on epic battles in the comic book universe.
Lavalley, who has always been a fan of superheroes, downloaded the game seven years ago, and the rest is history.
“I just fell in love. It was like playing a game and reading a comic book at the same time,” he said, adding the new battleground feature has provided players with a competitive route to “grind and push.”
A “tight-knit” community
One reason for the game’s longevity is the community formed by loyal fans.
With more than 250 characters to choose from and an encyclopedic culmination of lores and terminology, it can sometimes feel as if they are speaking another language.
Lavalley, and hundreds of fans, wanted to make the most of the in-person event by showing up first thing in the morning.
“There’s not enough time today to talk to all the people that I want to talk to, see everyone that I want to see,” he explained, adding that the Marvel Contest of Champions community is “tight-knit.”
“We haven’t had an event since 2019 due to COVID and everything. This is the first time we’ve had an in-person (since the pandemic) and it’s just been so good to see so many people.
“I talk to them every day. Like, I’ve never met half of them, but now I did. It’s the best community I’ve been part of.”
The bond with other fans is also what kept Jeff Skwarchuk playing the game for eight years.
“There’s a lot of good people (in the community),” he explained as he held his toddler Liam.
Skwarchuk said his son would sometimes keep him company when he plays the game or watches livestreams by Lavalley and other players, and added that he hopes to play the game with his son someday.
Jeet Samra, Kabam’s lead community manager, told the Richmond News that turnout for the event was double the original goal, and the first day of the tournament was viewed more than 60,000 times within 24 hours.
“This is possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I absolutely love it,” he said, adding that the event has allowed players of the game to foster a sense of community and camaraderie.
He hopes to hold the event again next year — “bigger and better.”
“This means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to all of (the fans) as well,” he said.
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