WePlay Academy League Season 5 is set to return on Tuesday with a field that is down from 14 teams to just eight after the group stage. Six of the surviving squads have not yet qualified for the playoffs and will first battle in a single elimination play-in. The two best teams from that play-in will then join the two top performers from the group stage, BIG Academy and fnatic Rising, in a double-elimination bracket for the championship. A fantasy game for the final two WAL stages has been set up for our users to compete for skin prizes provided by Roobet, although it is worth noting that this is a standalone event and will not contribute any points to the seasonal leaderboard. fnatic Rising is one of two teams already qualified for the playoffs Thinking about how the bracket will play out is essential to making a good team due to the competition's format. It is imperative your players go as far as possible in the tournament and don't meet each other early on to maximize your points. The teams entering the play-in stage earliest are FURIA Academy, Astralis Talent, Spirit Academy and OG Academy, who will need to win two games in a row in order to not get eliminated. The higher-seeded NAVI Junior and Young Ninjas need just one series win to qualify for the playoffs. BIG Academy and fnatic Rising are awaiting the two play-in winners in the playoffs, meaning they are much safer picks. Their members are proving to be popular choices, as six out of the eight most picked players so far come from those two squads and users are taking advantage of the padding points they will receive by skipping the first few rounds. Erik "ztr" Gustafsson and Andrii "npl" Kukharskyi are the other two players that are finding their place among the most popular picks. Both of them have a budget price under $200,000 while skipping one round of the play-in, which reduces the risk of picking them. The skin prizes for the HLTV x Roobet League are: 1. Hydra Gloves | Rattler (Field-Tested) 2. AK-47 | Bloodsport (Field-Tested) 3. AWP | Redline (Field-Tested)
Please take note of the Fantasy rules before competing as they provide important information regarding the prizes, eligibility, and selection of winners. Fantasy is free of charge and can be played in the official HLTV league as well as in independently organized private and public ones. Start playing Fantasy by going to the Fantasy page.
 OG Academy #80  Arbnor 'Dementor' Pacolli Alexandru 's0und' Ștefan Max 'Marix' Kugener Blagoi 'oxygeN' Dimitrov Kaloyan 'shaiK' Borisov  Astralis Talent #78  Frederik 'Fessor' Sørensen Victor 'vigg0' Bisgaard Benjamin 'brzer' Jensen Mikkel 'MistR' Thomsen Alexander 'Altekz' Givskov  FURIA Academy #75  João 'koala' Pfeffer Bruno 'Bruninho' Rodrigues Lucas 'decenty' Bacelar Leonardo 'zmb' Toledo Kaue 'kauez' Kaschuk   Erik 'ztr' Gustafsson Age: 19 Team: Young Ninjas Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 416 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.69   Young Ninjas #73   Jack 'Jackinho' Ström Mattsson Adam 'adamb' Ångström Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng Erik 'ztr' Gustafsson Adam 'bq' Bergqvist   BIG Academy #53   Elias 's1n' Stein David 'prosus' Hesse Tom 'skyye' Hagedorn Nico 'Aqua' Kembitzky Marcel 'hyped' Köhn  fnatic Rising #82  Matias 'Banjo' Kivistö Peppe 'Peppzor' Borak Sebastian 'volt' Maloș Mikkel 'Maze' Sparvath Filip 'DEPRESHN' Jarkić  Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi Age: 17 Team: NAVI Junior Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 39 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.70  NAVI Junior #105  Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitov Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko Adam 'froz1k' Nahornyi Mark 'UNBR0KEN' Varakuta Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi   Spirit Academy #86   Mykhailo 'OWNER' Lymar Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets Artem 'ArtFr0st' Kharitonov Vladislav 'H4SAN4TOR' Tuchin |