HoMM Olden Era: the Alvari Cup, first official tournament, has a €5,000 prize pool

The Alvari Cup, the first official tournament for Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, started on August 1, 2026, three months after the game launched in early access. Sixteen invited players compete in single elimination, with best-of-three matches and a €5,000 prize pool. The question is what this event says about the competitive scene of a game that is still being built.

Update, October 26, 2026: the Alvari Cup ended on October 17, and Ritosux won it ahead of Lexiav, Roniu and Ordulops. The €5,000 prize pool was shared between the top four, according to the final release from Unfrozen and Hooded Horse.

Format and prize pool

According to Unfrozen’s Steam announcement, the tournament is run with Behemoth’s Lair, Ubisoft and Hooded Horse. The sixteen invited players face each other in single elimination, and every series is played as a best of three. Matches are streamed on Twitch and YouTube, and the end of the competition was announced several weeks after the start.

The Steam announcement gives no amount and promises to reveal the grand prize soon. GameDaily put the prize pool at €5,000. Some sites repeated it in dollars, but the final release confirms euros.

A game still on the move

Olden Era has been in early access since April 30, 2026 and passed one million copies sold on May 28, according to Unfrozen’s post. Patches keep coming at a steady pace: twelve numbered patches were out by mid-July, plus several quick fixes.

Two of them touch competitive play directly. Patch 8 rebuilt Summon Avatar into a purely magical ability: the avatar’s attack bonus now depends on the hero’s spell power, and the avatar survives a fixed number of hits, between two and four. Patch 10 saves the formation from the tactical phase, but only against neutral monsters, not against other players.

To compare factions before following the matches, our Olden Era faction tier list 2026 is a starting point. The May roadmap article covers the next steps, including the Teamplay mode planned for the third quarter of 2026.

What to watch

Unfrozen promises more official tournaments, including formats open to everyone. That is where the scene will really be tested: sixteen invitations make a showcase, but an open ladder will show whether balance holds up against hundreds of players.

The risk is that an invitational, even an official one, stays mostly a visibility event until the competitive roadmap ships. Matchmaking and an observer mode are announced for the fourth quarter, and the game has no release date for version 1.0.

Going further

• Our Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era hub: every article on the game.
• Olden Era faction tier list 2026: factions compared.
• Olden Era: one million sold and the roadmap: the early access milestones.