World Cyber Arena 2015 Dominates The Week Ahead In eSports Betting
Published: Dec 17, 2015 - Last Updated: Jul 13, 2023
There is absolutely no doubting which of the events this week will be foremost in the mind of eSports betting punters as the cream of the eSports community will descend on Yinchuan, China for 
the multi-eSport event, World Cyber Arena 2015.
Seeing as this massive event, one of the premier tournaments of the eSports year, has a number of different tournaments running, one for each different eSport, we will take a look at three of the most intriguing events on the horizon, for League of Legends, Dota 2 and also Hearthstone.
World Cyber Arena 2015 – League of Legends Tournament
The action for the League of Legends event at the WCA 2015 kicks off on Thursday 17th December 2015 and the teams are competing for a top prize of just over $125,000 out of a total prize fund of over $234,000.
Eight teams have been specially invited to compete for the prize, although one of the invitees, EDward Gaming were forced to withdraw from the event due to injuries to key players.
The eight teams that have been invited to the event are: Invictus Gaming, 2144 Danmu Gaming, Hyper Youth Gaming, Snake e Sports, Legend Dragon, Vici Gaming, Royal Never Give Up and Energy Pacemaker.All.
The competition kicks off with the eight teams drawn against each other to make up a best of 3 game Quarter Finals stage. The draw pits Invictus Gaming against 2144 Danmu Gaming, Hyper Youth Gaming against Energy Pacemaker.All, Royal Never Give up versus Vici Gaming and lastly Snake e Sports facing off against Legend Dragon.
The first two quarter final winners will produce the two teams in the first semi, with the two winners of the third and fourth quarter final match ups going forward to contest the second semi final. The Semi Finals are longer affairs with each match being the Best of Five games.
Sunday’s final will also be a Best of Five match up with the team crowned winners taking home the top cash prize.
In comparison to other events, the LoL tournament at the WCA 2015 isn’t the biggest or most prestigious event. For that you need to look at the Dota 2 tournament, which has more teams competing and a considerably larger prize pool to be won.
World Cyber Arena 2015 – Dota 2 Tournament
It has taken a considerable amount of skill to earn a place in the WCA 2015 Dota 2 tournament for the 16 teams that have qualified.
There have been four qualifiers in China, the Americas, Europe and South East Asia for professional eSports teams to battle through, plus a series of Open events in each of the four geographic locations. In addition, a Wild Card event was also played which saw other teams qualify.
It is not difficult to understand why so many teams are very keen to participate in this event given that there is a total prize fund of approximately $665,000 up for grabs and that the winners of the event will take home $370,000 of that total amount.
After the lengthy qualifying process, the sixteen finalists in the event were decided as follows:
- From the Chinese Pro Qualifier – KGD Gaming, CDEC Gaming and Invictus Gaming
- From the American Pro Qualifier – Newbee and Fnatic
- From the European Pro Qualifier – Team Secret and Team Empire
- From the South East Asia Pro Qualifier – MVP Phoenix and TnC Gaming
- From the Chinese Open – Wings Gaming
- From the American Open – Team YP and Team Leviathan
- From the European Open – Alliance
- From the South East Asian Open – Execration
- From the Wild Card Qualifier – Team Liquid and Digital Chaos
Each of the 16 qualifiers has been drawn into one of the four groups that will make up the first stage of the tournament. During the group stage the teams in each group will face off to decide who are the top two teams making it into the quarter finals. Teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the group are eliminated.
The draw for the groups produced the following results:
- Group A – Team Secret, Wings Gaming, Fnatic, Team Empire
- Group B – LGD Gaming, Newbee, Team YP, Leviathan
- Group C – CDEC Gaming, Invictus Gaming, TNC Gaming, Execration
- Group D – Alliance, MVP Phoenix, Team Liquid, Digital Chaos
Once the identities of the eight quarter finalists are known, it is then a straight knockout competition with the winners progressing into the semi finals and the winners of each semi final contesting the final for the big money prize.
At the moment, Team Secret are the favourites to win the event at 7/4, with Team Liquid (7/2) and CDEC Gaming (9/2) also strongly fancied. If you fancy your chances of backing an outsider then the Open qualifiers are where you need to put your money, with Wings Gaming 100/1, TnC Gaming 150/1, Execration 150/1, Team YP 250/1 and rank outsiders Leviathan at 500/1.
World Cyber Arena 2015 – Hearthstone Tournament
Another of the games contested at the WCA 2015 this December will be a special Hearthstone tournament which will see a total prize fund of almost $220,000 up for grabs for the 29 players 
that have qualified for the finals.
Although there is a strong presence from China amongst the 29 finalists, there is also a number of players from around the world taking part including players from Japan, Sweden, the United States, Germany, Singapore, Belgium, Canada, the Ukraine, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Czech Republic and South Korea all taking part.
The 29 finalists have been drawn into four groups, with eight players in Group A and seven each in Groups B through to D. Players will play off against each opponent in their group to produce a final table and from that table, the top four players in each group will progress through to the Round of 16.
The 16 qualifiers for the Round of 16 will then participate in a straight knockout tournament where each team that wins will progress into the next round of the tournament, with the losers eliminated, right the way through until Sunday’s final. Then the two remaining players will battle it out to be crowned Champion, taking home the top prize of just under $110,000.
One thing is certain and that is there will be a new name on the trophy after 2014 winner, Chinese player Libo, did not earn a place in the finals.
There should be plenty of betting on the Hearthstone event at the World Cyber Arena over the coming weekend to enjoy at your chosen eSports betting site.
Since: August 10, 2015
