Digitalisation & Innovation, SI-Alpin
Ski resort Mayrhofen focuses on e-sports
A tourist region. A League of Legends tournament. Two action-packed days. 52 top-class teams. 15,000 enthusiastic spectators. “Legends of Mayrhofen” delivered an impressive series kick-off.
The teams competed at “Legends of Mayrhofen” for the coveted main prize – three nights in Mayrhofen for 8 people, including ski passes, ski rental and 1,500 EUR holiday money.
After two exciting tournament days full of top-class games, “Die Urlauber” secured first place and thus turned the tier list (note ranking of the teams before the start of the tournament) upside down.
The third-ranked team took the title ahead of the number two team Cowana Gaming and the top favourites NNO. The tournament was organised by the well-known Austrian e-sports and gaming organisations “Wacker Gaming” and “Austrian Force”.
Meinrad Wilfling
Board of Directors Mayrhofner Bergbahnen Aktiengesellschaft
“We are pleased to have hosted the first digital tournament in Mayrhofen with the LoM. eSports & Gaming still primarily takes place in our latitudes within our “own four walls”. We would like to contribute to providing a stage for this globally growing community with its numerous disciplines, in order to promote professionalisation on the one hand, and to present ourselves as a destination on the other, because one thing is clear: eSports & Gaming requires physical and mental fitness, and for this you need ideal training conditions – indoors and outdoors. And that’s exactly what Mayrhofen has to offer in all its facets, in the midst of a magnificent mountain landscape, in the heart of the Alps.”
Great popularity
In the first season, the tournament organisers relied on a mixture of online tournament and on-site studio. The entire stream of “Legends of Mayrhofen” was produced live on site in the art room at Ahorn at 2,000 metres above sea level.
A total of 14,736 spectators followed the winning run of “Die Urlauber” on two days of the tournament, giving “Legends of Mayrhofen” a brilliant premiere.
At peak times, 6,605 fans were simultaneously streaming and listening to the commentators’ analyses. 393,756 minutes (6,562.6 hours) of live streaming took place this weekend.
Almost 300,000 organic impressions were achieved on various social media platforms in the course of the tournament. Incredible figures that exceeded the expectations of those responsible at Mayrhofner Bergbahnen, TVB Mayrhofen-Hippach, Austrian Force and Wacker Gaming many times over.
Row back l.t.r.:
Andreas Lackner (Managing Director TVB Mayrhofen-Hippach), Nikolaus “WKRNikSta” Staudacher (WKR Gaming), Felix “DonShogun” Kozubek (WKR Gaming), Meinrad Wilfling (Board of Directors Mayrhofner Bergbahnen); front row from left to right: Christian “Christensen” Bauer, Philipp Stockinger, Lukas “Lockhardt” Reiff (Austrian Force caster trio).
Title “stays” in Tyrol
“The holidaymakers are the deserved winners,” said commentator and LoL expert Lukas “Lockhard” Reiff. The team “Die Urlauber”, put together especially for this tournament and consisting of veterans of the German-speaking scene, convinced in the Grand Final above all with the necessary patience and serenity.
Cowana Gaming, which was creative and offensive, was ultimately defeated 3:1. The fact that “Die Urlauber” entered the final without defeat was probably a decisive mental advantage. A nice detail on the side: due to the triumph of “Die Urlauber”, a small part of the first place remained in Tyrol.
The player “DizL” comes from Tyrol and is one of the best in Austria in his position. As the spearhead, he led his team to victory this time as well. Second and third place went to teams whose players all belong to the stars of the scene in German-speaking countries.
Cowana Gaming relied on three Division 1 players and two very strong legionnaires. The veterans from NNO are among the most popular streamers in the DACH region and were considered the absolute top favourites even before the tournament began. In the end, it was “only” enough for 3rd place for the crowd favourites, who mobilised many fans.
Andreas Lackner
Managing Director Tourism Association Mayrhofen-Hippach:
“The positive experience from our first eSports event makes us want to do more. We will stay on the ball with this topic in order to be able to give gaming and eSports more space in the tourism offer.”
Felix Kozubek and Nikolaus Staudacher
Management duo of Wacker Gaming (eSports Management Agency GmbH)
“The field of participants was of incredible quality. Teams from England, Portugal, Switzerland, Romania, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Albania, Bulgaria, Norway, Czech Republic, Germany and Austria fought for the title. This is especially remarkable because the tournament series was held for the first time. We are very happy to take this feedback from the community with us. The first edition of “Legends of Mayrhofen” definitely makes you want more. Many thanks to the people in charge of Mayrhofen and our co-organisers from Austrian Force.”
Mauritz “Crossover” Schmidt
Head coach from the winning team „Die Urlauber“
“Already when putting together the line-up, we started with the intention of winning the main prize. This is also the reason for the name “Die Urlauber” (The Holidaymakers) as a common goal. Our team has known each other for a long time and some parts have already competed together in the competitive field. The tournament went better than expected in the beginning. We were lucky to get a quite friendly bracket and could thus concentrate on the later games. In conclusion, we would like to thank the tournament organisers for the smooth running of the tournament and are especially looking forward to the winter holidays where some of us will meet in person for the first time, despite having been friends for quite some time.”
Line-up winning team:
Top: Ben-Luca “Nice Guy Ben” Nordgerling
Jungle: Pascal “Akremi” Akremi
Mid: Carsten “Alca” Thiedig
ADC: Timothy “DizL” Warscher
Sup: Christophe “Heimdall” Hackenschmidt
