News

GameTyrant Expo (GT-X) debuted last weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah and was one of the coolest events we’ve been to this year. We were excited for GT-X for a few reasons:

• One – the tournament was held in a sweet sports arena.
• Two – Rivals was the 3rd largest event (behind Melee and Sm4sh).
• And three – we decided to reveal a brand new character!

Here’s our wrap up for the event if you missed any of the action.

Character Reveal

First, if you somehow missed our character reveal you can check it out in our reveal article posted yesterday. Ranno and Clairen are coming out in 2 weeks and we’ve got her official trailer as well as some more lore, elemental powers, and gameplay laid out for you.

The Tournament

Rivals was the 3rd biggest event behind Melee and Smash 4 with 82 entrants. We got to wrap up the tournament on stage Sunday morning with an awesome top 4 streamed by VGBootCamp. You can find the vods on their channel here:

Final Standings:

Standing	Player	Character
1st	Panda Global | FullStream
2nd	Burrito | LBO
3rd	Arctic Fury | TurtleBox
4th	HABIT | Toko
5th	TheEvets
5th	TwistedSin | SBS
7th	Etalus
7th	Rato

.@XFullStream is your #GTX2017 Rivals of Aether champion! pic.twitter.com/DbPhKSjwkG

— GameTyrantExpo (@GameTyrantExpo) October 1, 2017

Congratulations to FullStream for winning the event, and doing it all alongside his brand new team Panda Global.

Please welcome our newest Panda cub, @xFullStream!

He'll be playing @RivalsOfAether this weekend at #GTX, so be sure to watch! pic.twitter.com/GNCElerEyK

— Panda Global (@PandaGlobalPG) September 30, 2017

What’s Next

This wraps up the currently planned local events for the RCS before Genesis 5. However we’re on the lookout for one more before the finals, so make sure you let us know about any events in November or December where you want to see Rivals. See you at the next one!

Also, don’t forget to register for our RCS Season 2 finals at Genesis 5 to be a part of the largest Rivals event ever. Just like last year, we plan to make this one to remember. You can still sign up with regular event pricing at smash.gg/G5.

What an amazing weekend. So much to talk about on my next stream

Thank you for all the love and support, and #GTX2017 is DOPE

GGs everyone pic.twitter.com/o3hWJtU1KX

— PG | FullStream (@XFullStream) October 2, 2017

This weekend at GT-X we revealed our newest Rival – Clairen, The Flame’s Salvation. She’ll be joining Ranno on Steam in a two-character pack in just a few weeks for $4.99.

Profile:

Clairen is a seasoned warrior from a distant future where both Zetterburn and Forsburn have vanished and never return. In her time, Loxodont grew to become a powerful emperor and expanded his domain over nearly all of Aether. Through the years the fire people lost their connection with the flame and could no longer control it. To offset this, their soldiers were issued plasma weapons as the Fire Empire became reliant on technology to retain its power.

One young girl realized she could still control the flame and plasma. After enlisting in the Imperial Guard, she hatched a plan to destroy the endless Loxodont hoping that it would return the flame to the people. But Loxodont had grown invincible over time and his corporeal form was replaced with fortified machinery. Clairen was defeated in the throne room and was set to be executed. But there were others who also despised Loxodont, and Clairen’s bravery motivated them. An unlikely ally helped Clairen escape using a machine to go back to a time when Loxodont was still vulnerable.

Now Clairen is on a mission in the past. To find the missing heroes that inspired her resistance and to destroy the endless emperor before he become invincible.

Elemental Powers:

Ionized Tip – Unlike the other future soldiers, Clairen manipulates her blade to be two-toned. The end of Clairen’s sword is super-charged, allowing her to stun enemies who are hit precisely with the tip.

Plasma Echo – Clairen dashes forward with her Side Special to quickly escape. The deadly plasma resonance left behind can damage enemies and even KO opponents with its sweet spot.

Energy Field – Performing a Down Special right before an attack hits Clairen will trigger her energy field. This field damages and pushes other Rivals away on activation. The zone that remains will nullify all projectiles that try to enter it.

Gameplay:

Clairen plays like a sword fighter you would find in other platform fighters. Her blade is much longer than Forsburn’s dagger and she relies on disjointed hitboxes in order to keep her opponents at bay. Clairen excels at medium range but can struggle at both close and far ranges from her opponents.

Clairen’s Ionized Tip is a critical aspect of the character that players will have to master. When spacing her attacks correctly, she gets stronger knockback and can stun her opponents which opens up combos that are only possible by using the tip of the blade. Players can see clearly when they landed the Ionized Tip by the plasma stun effect that envelops their opponent.

Clairen’s Side Special is Plasma Echo. She can use it to get back on stage, but its real strength is the hitbox that it leaves behind. When spaced perfectly the attack can be lethal or set up for a long combo. The attack comes out where Clairen was, not where she is going, which requires some practice both when using the ability as Clairen and when fighting against it.

Finally, Clairen’s Down Special is her Energy Field. This ability is the first counter in Rivals of Aether with a truly electrifying result. When successful, Clairen spawns an Energy Field that makes up for her lack of projectile. The field creates a large null zone that destroys all enemy projectiles inside it.

Additional Media:

Join us this Saturday for our free, online monthly tournament! Whether you’re a new player or returning veteran this event is open to everyone. All first time entrants will receive a Champion Etalus skin, and if total registrants reaches 250, all players will also receive a Champion Kragg.

Details

Date and Time: 9/16 (this Saturday) 4PM PDT / 6PM CDT / 7PM EDT

Register: https://smash.gg/tournament/na-rcs-september-monthly

Livestream: twitch.tv/RivalsOfAether

More info on skin codes: You’ll only receive skin rewards if you play in the event, though your record doesn’t matter. Make sure you show up to lock yours in! Codes will be sent to the email registered to your smash.gg account 2 days after the event.

Welcome back for the latest community roundup, where we highlight our favorite fan-made Rivals art, music, videos, and more. Read on to catch up on some great community pieces you might have missed.

ART

2nd #RivalsofAether wallpaper I made, for mobile phones pic.twitter.com/660jxAYVT8

— Yu (@Magmarashiiii) September 4, 2017

@RivalsOfAether @danfornace I drew Ranno from ROA #art #gaming pic.twitter.com/nRsylGEDm3

— Alex David (hi) (@lang_a_sprang) September 7, 2017

Absa from Rivals of Aether pic.twitter.com/O6XqMKRjBl

— Yu (@Magmarashiiii) August 27, 2017

After shine 2017 @RivalsOfAether finals, you could easily come to the conclusion that Forsburn is the coolest rival. You'd be correct 🏅🚬 pic.twitter.com/LZ15ijvXl5

— Fred Cassar (@mutejazz) August 29, 2017

Working on Ranno I'm curious that if he will wearing shorts? Short shorts xD #RivalsofAether pic.twitter.com/M9y9OxK9yb

— ✨🌈🦊 (@JenVulpine) August 27, 2017

Rushed it a bit because of college tomorrow, but I was too hyped about the release on Rivals of Aether to not do SOMETHING! I love Ori!!! pic.twitter.com/SA9DnMM24c

— Mr Ice (@RyanBlackmarr) August 24, 2017

Maypul from #RivalsOfAether pic.twitter.com/3CMGZrAwVV

— 🐐 (@bluishgoat) August 27, 2017

the best character in rivals of aether hands down @RivalsOfAether pic.twitter.com/ya7ibKsRBo

— Josiah Knuth (@ssbmdunleith) September 5, 2017

While we’re on the art category, it’s also worth mentioning that there’s now a dedicated #art-gallery channel in the official discord. There’s tons of great artists in the community and the gallery is just another place to highlight them. Take a look or post your own at discord.gg/RoA.

A cool Rivals version of King from Cave Story by Brawlitup99 from the discord #art-gallery:

A dunkmaster Etalus skin from /u/ChiuceBox:

MUSIC

Dekanai over on soundcloud put together this awesome symphonic metal version of the abyss track “Formless Onslaught” from the OST.

VIDEOS And CLIPS

One of the first combo videos to feature Ori was put together by Cupz and Adam Carra. This is a great early showing on what this character can do. Hopefully we’ll see some more flashy Ori play in the RCS this weekend.

bAK47ed put together a bunch of cool Ori and Sein tutorials and early tech videos for the pair. Here’s just one useful one on how to do team-up smashes. Check out his channel for others on Sein spiking, bindings, and more.

/u/Chewyoo shows off a beautiful light grenade shot that leads to a kill.

OTHER GOOD STUFF

Golden Elite has some fantastic guides and just recently put out a new one focusing on helpful stuff for newer players. This guide compiles all kinds of things from common Rivals terminology, character specific techs, and even links to other guides and community hangouts.

I highly recommend this for any players that are looking to take a step deeper into the game. Check it out here: Golden Guides: The Basics

Here’s one of our favorite moments from PAX West:

Best cosplay we've seen hands down at #PAXWest2017 👌 pic.twitter.com/z1xYEj8ySW

— Rivals of Aether (@RivalsOfAether) September 3, 2017

Most underappreciated (best) recent video:

That’s it for this community roundup! Let us know in the comments if we missed any of your favorites, and be sure to give the creators some love.

Shine 2017 is over and it was a landmark tournament in more ways than one for Rivals of Aether. From the community raising over $5,000 in support through the compendium to a new competitive landscape emerging, there was lots of excitement to go around. If you missed the action this recap should bring you up to speed.

Rivals Singles Results

This tournament was one of the most stacked events this year, and certainly our most international with players from 7 different countries participating. Four players were even sent through the compendium thanks to the generosity of the community. Following some of the highest level of play we’ve ever seen, T2 | CakeAssault stood on top. Congratulations to him for his first place finish and his clinic on just how terrifying Forsburn can be.

You can watch the VoDs from the event on Big Blue Esports’ channel.

If you’re interested in just the highlights, Jarek4 Gaming has got you covered with a fantastic highlight reel covering both singles and doubles:

Final Standings:

Standing	Player	Character
1st	T2 | CakeAssault
2nd	Burrito | LBO
3rd	Edax | FullStream
4th	Fable | MSB
5th	Kaos
5th	Mentality | Handbuttt
7th	Risky
7th	VexX | DolphinBrick

Rivals Doubles Results

Doubles at Shine was a ton of fun because just about every team consisted of top players. This gave us the opportunity to see some crazy matches throughout the entire bracket. True to his prediction in his interview, Kaos and Burrito | LBO secured first place in convincing fashion. Big Blue Esports has the VoDs here:

Standing	Player	Character
1st	Burrito | LBO / Kaos
2nd	VexX | AZCards / VexX | DolphinBrick
3rd	Edax | FullStream / Turquoise
4th	Penguin / Lord Bagel

Shine Interview Series

Before Shine Trent Murray spent some time talking to top competitors traveling to the event. He brought together their history, insight, and goals for the tournament into our Shine Interview series. If you missed any of these and want to check out which predictions from the players came true, you can find them here:

Shine Interview Series: Gabe – an interview with the top Australian Rivals player known for his skill and community effort.

Shine Interview Series: Kaos – an interview with the best European Rivals player including some of his history in other esports.

Shine Interview Series: Last Words – a collection of thoughts from multiple top players in attendance before the event.

Upcoming events

Even though summer’s almost over we haven’t seen the last of big Rivals events yet for the year. We’ve got some cool tournaments coming up on the west coast, so if you’ve been stuck at home for all of the east coast events make sure you hit these! Ori and Sein will also be legal for any RCS tournament after 9/13.