November is here, and that means it’s time for Stack Up’s annual Call to Arms LIVE! event! Every year around Veterans’ Day (or Remembrance Day), Stack Up hosts our big Fall fundraiser. We pull together roughly 16 streamers who have been working with us throughout the course of the year and put them in a bracket-style head-to-head competition playing one-off indie games. In years past, we used to fly streamers out and play games live for the competition (hence the LIVE), but COVID threw us for a loop. Ever since we’ve been hosting the tournament virtually and streaming coverage on our Stack Up Twitch channel. Streamers play in one-on-one matches, moving up the bracket to the final showdown, and only one emerges as our Champion!
Last year, our reigning 2-time Champion EdgarAlanBroLIVE went up against wildcard WintersWolfCry. It was an epic match-up that threw everyone for a loop when Edgar suffered, as he called it, “agonizing defeat”! Winters was shocked as well, stating, “Honestly, I feel like I won on a technicality last year.” But both streamers are looking forward to a rematch opportunity in this year’s bracket! “I’m excited for a rematch this year. Edgar is a GAMER,” expressed an excited Winters. Edgar is just as enthusiastic, proclaiming, “Hell yeah, I will reclaim my title!”
Defending Champion WintersWolfCry first began fundraising for Stack Up years ago. “An Influencer Relations Team member reached out in 2018 and introduced me to the charity. After doing a little bit of research, the decision to get involved was easy!” We here at Stack Up pride ourselves in our transparency, but also in the care and attention we try to give our streamers through our Influencer Relations Team (affectionately known as the IRT). Every year in December, as we wrap up our campaign for the year, we send out a Google Form to our streamers to request feedback on their experience. It’s important to us to take that feedback and try to find any new ways we can to support our streamers. Happy streamers tend to come back, and they also tell their friends. “My friend Cahla introduced me to Steve, and Steve introduced me to everyone, and I fell in love with the cause and the amazing folks who make it happen,” said Edgar about his introduction to Stack Up.
While both streamers are looking forward to duking it out amongst the bracket this weekend, they can both agree on their favorite part of fundraising with Stack Up. “My favorite part is getting the Supply Crate updates and being able to see exactly how great an impact we make; I love being able to see that because it shows exactly where the dollar goes,” said Edgar. Winters wholeheartedly agreed, adding, “Seeing the work we do actually making a difference in people's lives is amazing.” As stated before, Stack Up prides ourselves on our transparency, and sharing Supply Crate updates with streamers and their communities is only one part of how we do that!
Edgar also joined the Influencer Relations Team this year and has been working with our team for the Fall 2023 season. “After spending years being friends with the RedShirts and seeing the incredible things they do, all the folks they help, and the community they created, being able to be part of that is all I’ve ever wanted,” said Edgar. It’s been a pleasure getting to know Edgar better and working with him over the course of the season!
If you’d like to check out either of these streamers, you can find them on Twitch! WintersWolfCry is currently into playing games such as New World, Baldur’s Gate 3 (a personal favorite of mine as well), and Diablo 4. He also stated, “I have a backlog of games that released this year that I still need to get through!” Edgar plays a variety of games, including Starfield, Dead by Daylight, and Lords of the Fallen, and is generally open to trying almost anything he finds interesting on his streams.
Joining WintersWolfCry and EdgarAlanBroLIVE in this year’s Call to Arms LIVE! event will be DreamWarrior, FrostLouve, IGotPuppies, UnoRaptorMon, GryphonAMX, MittensKittens, Nerdy_Senpai, DarlinSincerest, FallDownGoBoom, Lisjustice, MorganTremaine, LordlyKingSDot, DJSoundStorm, and ProjectDits! Tune in to the Stack Up Twitch channel on November 11 from 12 PM to 8 PM PST for full coverage of the event, or check out the creators participating on their individual channels!