Dire Wolf Digital has just announced their Ark Nova Digital Championship Series: ‘a multi-stage competition that will give players the opportunity to compete against the best players in the game and ultimately qualify for the Ark Nova World Championship next year in Berlin!’
They’re running monthly 2-day qualifier rounds between October and January, in which players compete across four games of Ark Nova (using the Dire Wolf PC or mobile app, naturally) on the first day; the top 16 players repeat this exercise on the second day, with the winner going through to the live-streamed final stages. (I wonder if those matches will be at a time that’s friendly to UK players and spectators.). There will be two 1v1 semi-finals followed by the final, to determine ‘the Ark Nova Digital Champion,’ with the prize being one of the four seats at the 2027 Ark Nova World Championship in Berlin, flights and accommodation included. All the games will be using the ‘alternative’ maps, not the ones that come in the physical box, and will use ‘advanced drafting.’ Participation is free, and anyone taking part in the qualifiers will be rewarded with an exclusive game avatar (big whoop).
Dire Wolf are running a test event this week, for everyone to get a taste of the format, as well—and I imagine this is the primary motivation—helping them prepare for the real event, not just as a test run but also by gathering feedback.
More information can be found here.
Note that this is not the only way to get to the Berlin event: you can also enter via the World Series of Board Gaming event in Las Vegas or via the BoardGameArena Season 27 championships—more details and relevant links are on the World Championship site.
