Red Bull Wololo: Legacy Concludes, Celebrating 25 Years of Age of Empires

Red Bull Wololo: Legacy, the renowned Age of Empires tournament, reached its electrifying climax this weekend as three champions were crowned after ten days of intense battles between the world’s best players. The tournament, which celebrated 25 years of the iconic real-time-strategy game, saw competition across Age of Empires I, II and IV, with a total prize pool of $550,000 up for grabs. Over 80,000 viewers tuned in to see the live audience LAN event, taking part in the iconic Castle Heidelberg in Southern Germany.

The tournament brought together the best talent the Age of Empires scene has to offer, such as Ørjan “TheViper” Larsen, Kai “Liereyy” Kallinger and Gan “Yo” Yangfan. Three tournaments spanning three Age of Empires titles were all played out from October 21st, with some breathtaking matchups and shocks on the books. Last year’s winner and one of the favourites to win, TheViper, failed to make it past the quarterfinals in his AOE 2 bracket and the group stages of AOE 4, as strong showings from Liereyy and LucifroN7 respectively ended his tournament early.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Red Bull Wololo: Legacy, the iconic global 1v1 Age of Empires tournament, came to an exhilarating end last night, with three finals being played out across Saturday and Sunday that saw the very best Age of Empires talent lock horns and go to battle.

The Age of Empires I tournament saw eight players entering the group stage, with the start of the show Nguyễn “Chim Sẻ Đi Nắng” Bình who looked dominant throughout as he fought he was to the crown. The Grand Final saw Chim Sẻ Đi Nắng” Bình face off against fellow countryman Nguyễn “BiBi” Hùng, who put together a dominant victory with a 3-0 win across Continental, Small Islands and Coastal.

On his win, Chim Sẻ Đi Nắng said “I’ve played in AOE tournaments for almost 13 years, and this is the most special one I’ve ever taken part in. The event is really really cool and I’m so happy that I’ve been able to be a part of it.”

Saturday also saw the Age of Empires II tournament, with a star-studded lineup including Kai “Liereyy” Kallinger and Ørjan “TheViper” Larsen entering the 14-player tournament.

In arguably the highlight of the tournament, TheViper faced off against fellow favourite Liereyy in the quarterfinal, in maybe the greatest rivalry in AOE history, with the latter taking a convincing win. On the other side of the bracket, Canadian player Hera looked unbeatable as he crushed all competition in his way, not dropping a round until he faced Spanish talent Roberto “TaToH” Jiménez, who put Hera’s run to an end with a 3-1 victory.

Liereyy and TaToH met in the final with a best of seven match, a tense matchup that saw TaToH take a strong 2-0, before a strong Liereyy push made it 2-2. TaToH kept his cool however, taking the next two games and the title of Red Bull Wololo: Legacy Champion.

“It was a good start” TaToH said on going 2-0 up, “But with Liereyy I have seen other players have a good start against him in other tournaments and then get reversed swept, so I wasn’t fully confident at all. Liereyy is one of the best so you can’t be overconfident against him”

Featuring some of the best talent Age of Empires has to offer, the AOE IV circuit concluded on Sunday as one of the most exciting tournaments at Castle Heidelberg. A fiercely competitive group stage saw strong showings from IamMagic, TheMista, 1puppypaw and Beastyqt, as LucifroN7 knocked out deafening champ TheViper in the final match. The following knockout stages saw two stars put on dominant performances on the way to the Grand Final, Themistoklis “TheMista” Bonidis and Alexis “MarineLorD” Eusebio, who faced off for the final match of the tournament. In the end it was MarineLorD who took a commanding victory, with a 4-0 sweep.

Speaking after his victory, MarineLorD said “It feels incredible. I’ve won some online events i the past but offline it feels different. The trophy is amazing, I’m so happy.”

Away from the gameplay, a key highlight of the event was undoubtedly renowned host and caster Tristan “T90” Berry proposing to his partner on the balcony of Castle Heidelberg.