News

Today marks the start of season 2 ranked ladder play. To kick off this season, we’re announcing a special event using the brand new profile icons that were added this patch.

Show your team pride

Along with the standard profile icons introduced yesterday, you might have noticed six select team icons in the game.

These icons are more than just cosmetic. For the next three weeks, each win on the ranked ladder while wearing a team’s icon will count as a point for that team. At the end of the event, the team with the most points will get a skin themed around their team added to the game. You can keep track of how your favorite team is doing right here:

Current Score

Burrito Esports

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Fable Esports

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Edax Pro

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Panda Global

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Tempo Storm

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VexX Gaming

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• We were incorrectly counting some matches happening outside of ranked mode in our initial graph. We’ve applied a new filter to correct this which is why even though the same teams are still in the lead, the proportions and total number of games are now smaller.
• To prevent manipulation of scores we’ve put in some measures to weed out “fake games”, i.e. win-trading and other nefarious practices. This has also reduced the total number of games albeit by a much smaller amount than the above ranked vs non-ranked change.

There’s still 2 weeks left so make sure you get out there and rep your favorite team!

We’ve got a small patch planned tonight to move us over from season one to season two for online ranked play. If you’ve been curious about the end of season rewards, then the wait is over! Read on for the unveiling of a brand new feature – Profile Icons.

Profile icons are a fun addition that give players the chance to show off their own style. Usable in any online mode, you can choose an icon to highlight your favorite character, exclusive promo goodies you have, or even signal which stage or character you want to pick to your opponent.

In addition to the standard set of icons we’ll also be giving some out as rewards. The ranked ones are an example of these and with this patch we’re giving out bronze, silver, and gold icons for players who’ve reached those tiers.

Don’t worry though if ranked isn’t your jam. There’s plenty of other ways to unlock icons ranging from completing achievements, reaching certain waves in Abyss, and more.

Everyone will be getting plenty of icons to play with tomorrow, but if you want a chance to get the ranked season 1 icons you’ve still got time. We won’t be rolling the season over until around 12AM PDT tonight. We wish you luck on your journey for bronze, silver, or gold if those have caught your eye!

Ori from Ori and the Blind Forest is joining the Rivals of Aether roster this summer! In a collaboration between Dan Fornace LLC, Microsoft Studios, and Moon Studios, Ori has been recreated in beautiful pixel art to compete against the other Rivals. The Ori DLC will be available later this summer on both Steam and Xbox One for $4.99. It comes with the tag team fighters Ori and Sein as well as The Spirit Tree stage.

Ori and Sein bring their abilities learned throughout Ori and the Blind Forest and put them to the test in Rivals of Aether. While Ori works to Bash, Stomp and Glide their way to victory, Sein can use the Spirit Flame or the Charged Flame to put enemies between a rock and a hard place.

The new Spirit Tree stage comes with both a casual Aether version and competitive Basic version. On the Aether version, players will have to look out for Kuro as she dives toward the screen, striking those who have not taken cover under the platforms. Gumo, a fan favorite from Ori and the Blind Forest, also makes an appearance on the Aether version of the stage as he moves a platform around. Competitive players can play on the Basic version for a fair fight while enjoying some great music inspired by Ori and the Blind Forest.

You’ll be able to grab this amazing pair later in the summer. In late Fall 2017, you can look forward to four original DLC characters expanding the Rivals of Aether roster even further. Now is a great time to dive into Rivals and get some practice before Ori and Sein shake up the competitive scene!

Steam fans have been enjoying the full release of Rivals of Aether, but Xbox One fans do not have to wait much longer. The full release will arrive on Xbox One later this summer along with Ori and Sein. Players who enjoy the game on Xbox Game Preview can look forward to new single player content such as the Story Mode as well as the insanely fun Abyss Mode which is designed for 1-4 players to play cooperatively.

Welcome back for the latest community roundup. Here we highlight our favorite fan-made Rivals stuff, from the lowliest memes to art of the highest order. Read on for our favorite music, art, general community happenings, and more.

ART

Did a quick @RivalsOfAether drawing of Etalus! #digitalart #rivalsofaether pic.twitter.com/O5KUKXPyIB

— ZomboGrub (@zombogrub) June 4, 2017

ZomboGrub is a great artist that we’ve featured before. Here’s his newest Rivals drawing featuring Etalus. You can check out more on his DeviantArt.

Here’s Maypul done in a wonderful painterly style by Iguanodragon.

An adorable Chibi Wrastor by SpunkyRacoon

Just a smol Wrastor by Peppeypep

Absa, Ftilt Dtilt by Smaly

Zetterburn by Smaly

Smaly has some pieces that have been passed around the community before (and even featured in other posts of ours) but never directly in a roundup. We love his paintings and animations!

VIDEOS

MUSIC

OTHER GOOD STUFF

ThirstyWench got a ton of Rivals players to sign a shirt at The Bigger Balc. It’s always awesome to meet the community in person and now he’s got a souvenir with some of the greats.

Kisuno shows us the mind of an Absa (and how to get inside it)

/u/shadowkelp’s answer to the age old question, “Where did the loincloth go?”

_leon’s sweet Maypul snipe

And another example of mutual destruction by /u/otheusrex

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

By: Yam, ERR40, OddBod, Slime Mage, Tom, Wisetom

This is part of an article series highlighting the European Rivals of Aether community, focusing on the top 20 EU players.

Articles in the Series

• #20 – 11
• #10 – 04
• #03 – 1

With Europe’s wide pool of talent it will always be hard to showcase every significant member of the community. As a result we decided to give a special spotlight to some of our other notable players that don’t only show what they’re capable of in tournament play, but are also well known within the circle of EU players.

AC Slater, Denmark

This guy is good. Let me rephrase that – this guy is amazing. As a top ranked Brawl player from Denmark, Slater knows his way around fighting games and it shows. He is one of those players that doesn’t play the character, he plays the game.

On nearly any character he’ll routinely outshine even the top tier players in the neutral game. He fundamentally understands the game and through stellar movement he makes his opponents bend to his will. Due to spotty participation to tourneys it’s impossible to accurately rank him however, so an honorable mention will have to do!

Issy, Netherlands

One of the greatest artists in the Rivals community, Issy earns a spot in our honorable mentions for his appealing art style which has brought many of our favorite rivals to life. He’s also no slouch in game, sporting a technical play style with Kragg.

While his results have kept him off the main list Issy is on the come-up with his recent Aethernity placings. We expect more improvement and upsets from Issy in upcoming season 2 of the RCS.

Clownster, Israel

There’s only one reason why Clownster isn’t part of the top twenty and that’s his connection to the rest of EU. Even with yellow and red ping he’s still able to pull off an intense, combo-heavy playstyle that’s guaranteed to overwhelm his opponents. Clownster is also a great pixel artist.

With his slipstream enhanced movement he’ll be able to carry you from wherever you are on stage to your inescapable doom. Honestly, he could be the best Wrastor in EU, but we can’t be sure due to his ping! Therefore he’s on this list as an honorable mention.