The very first season of Infinite Series which started off way back in the month of March finally came to an end on 26th August in Malaysia.
Team That Made It Happen
Infinite Series is a collegiate level tournament which spans a total of 6 months, starting in early March and concluding in late August. It is a multi-staged Malaysian tournament in which participation is limited to Malaysian college and university students only.
The tournament is the only national level collegiate tournament that is endorsed by Malaysia’s Ministry of Education. Beyond that, the tournament has also attracted potential sponsors like Toyota Malaysia, Asus Republic of Gamers & CoVE Esport.
The tournament boasts of an RM100,000 (17,25,000 INR) prize pool which is divided in-between the various stages of the tournament.
The Champions Trophy
Muhammed Hadi Imran, Project Manager for Infinite Series, speaks a few words on the topic,
We started off this initiative with the aim to develop a platform within the ecosystem of colleges and universities to help nurture, guide and prepare our young Malaysians’ mindset towards a balance between Esports and Education.
Mr Jeevan Raj Menon, the founder of CoVE Esport, adds saying,
The objective here is to be recognized as the leading annual varsity tournament platform in a bid to search for our future breed of esport athletes.
Well to put it simply, the tournament is sort of a league which is separated into 3 different stages, every stage is connected to the previous one and teams need to keep winning to qualify through these stages.
Infinite Series comprises of the following 3 stages:
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National Qualifier
This is the first stage of the tournament which acts like an open qualifier for the tournament. All the matches of this stage are hosted online following a double elimination bracket. 32 teams per game make it onto the next stage.
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National League
This stage is heavily competitive and takes place over a course of 8 weeks. The 32 qualified teams are divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each. They follow a double elimination bracket with the winning team from every group qualifying for the final stage.
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National Championship
The following stage is the final showdown between the 8 qualifying teams. This stage follows a double elimination bracket with all the matches being a BO1 while the finals are a BO3. The winning team is declared as the champions of the Infinite Series.
Registration For Infinite Series
Infinite Series featured four gaming titles in its first season, including Dota 2, CS:GO, Mobile Legends & Gran Turismo, which witnessed participation from 1205 students from 68 different colleges & universities from all over Malaysia.
As the National Championship stage of the tournament was being held at CoVE Esport Hub all the finalists were boarded at the Holiday Villa (5-star hotel) which led to an incredible experience for the players.
The Finals held at CoVE Esport Hub also witnessed plenty of giveaway contests to engage with the audience and supporters with prizes ranging from Samsung S9, Asus ROG 240 Hz monitor, Noble Gaming Chair & lots of other attractive peripherals.
Mr Menon responds to the question saying,
I am extremely proud of everyone who was a part of this journey from the very beginning. All of the participants were so cooperative, all of the crew and talents were relentlessly hard at work and our partners were extremely supportive. What more could we have asked for? This has most certainly been a learning curve for all of us and it’s only the future now, for us to look forward to.
The two teams coming out on top out of the 8 finalists were Dota Hero & Team 5ive. They faced-off against each other in a BO3, grand finals which was won by Dota Hero with a score of '2-0'.
CS:GO
1st place - Taylors (Taylor's University) - RM 15,450
2nd place - TARUC (Tunku Abdul Rahman University College) - RM 5850
1st place - Dota Hero (APU Esports Malaysia Academy) - RM 15,450
2nd place - Team 5ive (APU Esports Malaysia Academy) - RM 5850
2nd place - UMSKAL Esports Club (University Malaysia Sabah Labuan) - RM 5000
Top 20 Racers
2nd place - Mior Muhammad Hafiz - RM 1000
3rd place - Uzair Bin Abdul Nasir - RM 600
The Malaysian varsity tournament ran a very successful season attracting heavy student participation along with great following by local fans, enthusiasts and communities.
Mr Menon has already announced the second season of Infinite Series for the next year where he has promised to take the varsity platform even further.
Only time can tell how successful such collegiate tournaments can be in hunting for hidden talent or as a platform for finding unrefined, raw talent amidst the thousands of aspirants.
For more information feel free to check out Infinite Series FB Page and Website.