Its been a long road, but the 2015 Smite World Championships are finally upon us. January 9-11, eight teams from around the world will gather in Atlanta, GA to compete for over $2 million in prize money. This tournament is the culmination of the Smite Pro League competitions and wild card matches, leading up to this massive event. Theres a lot to take in this weekend, but fear not. We’ve got your one stop guide to the SWC right here! Read on for schedules, teams, brackets and more.

The Format

SWC will start with the Placement Stage on Friday, January 9th. Teams will face off in a Best of One format with the winners advancing on to the Semi-Finals. The losers of these matches will compete in wildcard matches, with the two winners advancing to the Quarter-Finals. The Quarter-Finals will be a Best of Three format, with the winners of the Wildcard facing the losers of the Round Three placement matches. Once these matches are decided the Best of Three Semi-Finals will narrow it down to the two teams that will compete in a Best of Five Grand Finals. The losers of the Semi Finals will compete in a Best of Three Consolation Match.

If this all sounds horribly complicated, check out the handy bracket below:

The Teams

Hailing from all across the world, the teams of the Smite World Championship are diverse and unique in terms of play style. They hail from North America, Europe, China, Latin America and Brazil.

North America

. 

Cognitive Red [COGR]:

DAGARZ- Jungle

SNOOPY- Hunter

EONIC- Support

DIVIOS- Solo

THEBOOSH- Mid

Cognitive Prime [COG]:

ANDISTER- Jungle

BARRACUUDDA- Hunter

JEFFHINDLA- Support

OMEGATRON- Solo

MLCST3ALTH- Mid

Europe

Titan [TITAN]:

REPITAS- Jungle

ATARAXIA-Hunter

KANYELIFE- Support

CONFREY- Solo

PRETTYPRIME- Mid

SK Gaming [SK]:

ZYHROES -Jungle

REALZX- Hunter

BADGAH- Support

MANIAKK- Solo

CAPTAINTWIG- Mid

China

Oh My God [OMG]:

NIFENG- Jungle

NEVER.ANS- Hunter

FIGHTINGJ- Support

ENJING- Solo

MINGZHIYU- Mid

Latin America & Brazil

Name Not Found [404]:

HUASO- Jungle

OXILEDEON- Hunter

ZETHSU- Support

BARBARROJA- Solo

NICERCHILE- Mid

We Love Bacon [WL8]:

NANN- Jungle

QE3Q- Hunter

FIREMANCERSKULL- Support

OREITROLL- Solo

AIMLESS- Mid

How Do I Watch?

If you don’t have a ticket to go see all the action in person, you can hop on over to www.twitch.tv/smitegame . The entire championship will be live streamed, and there are a few goodies for those of you that would like to buy the Digital Pass. Priced at $24.99 splurging on a digital pass will net you the 2015 Tyr Convention skin, the SWC Ares God Skin, the SWC Ward Skin, access to the subscriber only chat and exclusive Twitch chat emotes. If you don’t want to drop the cash, never fear, all the live content will still be available to you free of charge.

The complete live schedule can be found HERE.

Teams To Watch

Cognitive Red and Cognitive Prime were powerhouses of the Smite Pro League in 2014, and will almost certainly put on a show at SWC. Coming out of Europe SK Gaming will be a definite contender. The Chinese and Latin American teams are less of a known quantity, but my money is on OMG and We Love Bacon.

Coming off of the Cog Teams, be sure to keep an on Andister from Cog Prime and look for Snoopy to make big plays as the Hunter for Cog Red. In my opinion, SK is more of a team fight…team. Look for the rotations and group engagements as they attempt to press the map.  As for China and Latin America, I for one plan on just sitting back and learning about teams that I’ve seen relatively little of up until this point.

For everything SWC, stay in your comfy padded cell here on Sanitarium.fm

Transformers Universe was an MMO that became a MOBA. Now, the Jagex developed game is shutting its servers for good.

The announcement came earlier and said that Jagex and Hasbro are closing the game down to “realign their plans and focuses for 2015”. Full closure of the game will take place at 10am GMT on January 31st, and all existing accounts can continue to punch robots until then but no new accounts can be made. Found pack purchasers will be entitled to a refund, as well as anyone who bought relic bundles or starter packs. Expect refunds some time during the next 30 days or so.

“As a team, we can’t thank players enough for the support that they have shown us over the last few years of development, and even more so during our BETA period,” Jagex said in the announcement, saying that they were “hugely disappointed” to be closing the game down.

If you wish to read the full announcement follow the link here: [x]

Hi-Rez is getting ready to drop a new god. This time out, it’s Awilix, Mayan Goddess of the Moon. As an assassin she comes with incredible mobility and a devastating kit. Time to hit the Public Test Server and try her out!

Ao Kuang was a popular god in his original incarnation in Smite. A while back, HiRez removed him and replaced him with Kukulkan, giving the new serpent god Ao’s old move-set. However, Ao Kuang is back and better than ever. Playable right now on the Smite Public Test Servers, his kit and appearance have recieved a complete overhaul. Lets take a look at the changes.

Ao Kuang: Dragon-God of the Sea

Passive

Ao Kuang’s sword can hold up to 3 Energy Charges, and regenerates charges while out of combat. Each time Ao Kuang casts an ability, an energy charge will be consumed if available, increasing the damage of the ability. If Ao Kuang is out of mana, he will use Energy Charges to cast abilities instead.

• Charge Damage Increase: 5%
• Charge Regneration: 5s

1st Ability: Water Illusion

Ao Kuang teleports forward into stealth, leaving behind a watery form of himself. He remains in stealth for 5s or until he attacks or takes damage. Ao Kuang may activate this ability again to detonate the watery form, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

•  Damage: 90/140/190/240/290 (+70% of your magical power)
• Radius: 20
• Cost: 70 mana
• Range: 30
• Cooldown: 15 seconds

2nd Ability: Dragon Call

Ao Kuang summons 6 dragons to his side. For every successful basic attack Ao Kuang makes, a dragon will dive to the target dealing additional damage. This ability ends after all dragons are used, or after 10s. Ao Kuang may activate this ability again to send forward any remaining dragons in a ranged attack. The dragons damage and slow the first enemy they hit.

• Attack Damage: 40/60/80/100/120 (+30% of your magical power)
• Ranged Damage: 20/30/40/50/60 (+15% of your magical power) per remaining Dragon
• Slow: 30%, for 1s +0.25s per remaining Dragon
• Range: 55
• Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana
• Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 seconds

3rd Ability: Wild Storm

Ao Kuang unleashes a storm of lightning from his sword, damaging all enemies in front of him. This hit is considered a basic attack, and will activate item effects.

• Damage: 90/140/190/240/290 (+50% of your magical power)
• Range: 30
• Cooldown: 5 seconds
• Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana

Ultimate: King of the Eastern Seas

Ao Kuang selects a single target in melee range and grabs them, dealing damage and knocking them up into the air. If the target is under a health threshold, Ao Kuang will instead reveal his true form, becoming a Dragon and executing them. After transforming Ao Kuang remains in the air, and may then pick a new location to land, dealing damage to enemies within range 20, and fully recharging his Sword.

• Damage: 90/140/190/240/290 (+50% of your magical power)
• Execute Threshold: 23/26/29/32/35%
•  Landing Damage: 100/150/200/250/300 (+50% of your magical power)
• Landing Range: 200
•  Cooldown: 90 seconds
•  Cost: 90/100/110/120/130 mana

If you’re curious as to what the new Ao Kuang looks like in action, I’ve embedded a video of him in action below.

Riot’s been attempting to clean up the playerbase of their popular MOBA League of Legends in recent months, making sure that players who engage in unacceptable behaviour are punished. Now they’re beginning to work on the other side of the balance – making it worth your while to behave.

In what Riot are calling a “first step” they are giving a 4-win Influence Point boost to all players of the game who haven’t been suspended or had chat restriction applied to them during the 2014 season. This will be given out to the players who meet the criteria over the course of the next week.

Strangely despite the reputation, Riot’s notes say that 95 percent of players meet this criteria right now. It could mean that their attempts to tidy up the community is actually working. Even so, they’ve said that they are planning to start trying new systems to help tackle bad players soon.

“We’ve recently been focused on addressing extreme cases of verbal toxicity, and will soon be testing additional systems that address gameplay toxicity like leavers, AFKs, and intentional feeders.”