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League A-Team End of Season Update

February 29th, 2020 marked the end of the season for FAU’s League of Legends A-Team. The team, consisting of Tavis Hom, Christopher “Carson” Troeh, Tyler Kurtz, Ethan Trieu, and Alex Kurtz, left off in a pretty good spot. In their first competitive season, they ended up placing third overall in their division in the Collegiate Starleague competition.

The Boca Raton Owls, a name chosen due to it’s humorous acronym BRO, formed in September of 2019. In their mere 6 months of competing, they’ve come a long way, having bested 12 competitive games and 6 preseason games. No small task, considering they began playing together as a team in the same month the season began. It definitely didn’t come without any challenges.

“One of the hardest aspects is just that everyone is in college and kind of doing their own thing, so it’s really hard to schedule practices and get everyone together,” said Hom, also known as Tavis King in-game. When the team was able to get together online, they would primarily practice by playing in scrimmage matches with other universities and amateur competitive teams. They would try to make time every week to do so. Some of the members also engaged in duo games, where they played in pairs to practice their cohesion. This helped them build up a number of team-wide strong points.

“We’re really decisive as a team. When we have an idea, we’re pretty good at sticking to it and playing it out,”said Trieu, or ngocvun in-game.“Our synergy was well developed considering we were pretty much thrown together last minute.” This synergy seemingly translated into friendship, as the group also enjoyed hanging out together when they weren’t practicing or preparing for a competition.

However, with strong points come a share of weak points, and the Boca Raton Owls are well aware of what they need to work on. On top of it being difficult for them to put together set practice times, it was also noted that as a team, they tend to lose sight of win conditions. They were prone to not capitalizing on the mess-ups of their opponent teams.

The team would majorly practice together online, and meet up in person to discuss the results of their practice games. Their hope is that, with the opening of the much anticipated eSports arena, they will be able to partake in more face-to-face game time. “We’re looking to play in person next season, and once the arena opens, that will be possible,” Trieu said. That is not the only hope for the arena; the League coaches are also looking to use it as a set meeting place for practice game reviews.

In their final game against Purdue University’s Competitive League of Legends team, the Boca Raton Owls were off to a good start, with an ending play that had them in the lead 1-0. However, Purdue managed to prevail, beating out the Owls 1-2.

“We didn’t expect to win,” said Kirk Sookhoo, one of the League coaches and team coordinator. “But we thought we would do better than we did. But it is what it is, that’s life.”

While the group was inevitably upset by the loss, they know that their final rank is nothing to scoff at, especially for a first season team, and their conditions upon forming.

“I think we had a good standing for the first FAU season and as a beginning team. Considering other teams have been together longer, and have actual coaches, it’s a good start,” noted Tyler Kurtz, otherwise known as propancake.

“As a team thrown together last minute, I think we did pretty well. Third in our division isn’t bad,” Hom also commented. “We’ve only been playing together since September, which is about six months…compare that to other teams who have been playing together for a year.”

With the first season out of the way and over, the A-Team is now looking ahead to next season. They have some things to work on, and much more to look forward to. With the arena on the way to being officially opened, their spirits for it are high.

“I think overall gametime will improve our cohesion,” Sookhoo said. “This is where we fall behind compared to our other teams, like Overwatch. Their players just have more free time, and have less scheduling conflicts. But once the arena opens, we hope to be able to fix that.”

The new season also brings up some prospects of recruitment. With a solid placement under their belt, the League group is now looking to open up tryouts for the purpose of forming other competitive teams. While still being discussed, the goal is to concentrate on the quality of players who try out, and create teams based on the turnout. They hope to form another A-level team, so both teams will have the ability to practice in scrimmage matches with one another.

“There is a spot for everyone, because we can build as many teams as we want. Georgia Tech has 7 to 8 B-Level teams. We can be on that level,” Sookhoo said.

And so, while FAU’s first League season comes to a close, things have only just begun for our League players. Good things are in store for the team, and the organization as a whole.

-By Lindsey Cartwright

Featured

Welcome to the Blog!

“The waves of changes propel advancement.”
— Zoltan Andrejkovics, The Invisible Game: The Mindset of a Winning Team

As the club expands and we strive to reach a collegiate level, we’re also striving to market our competitive teams and organization as a whole. As we begin to update our Instagram and our Twitter, we will also be expanding into other outlets, such as content creation on Youtube and Twitch, and of course, blogging. Here we will post exclusive interviews with our competitive players, updates on the competitive team seasons, announcements, and a lot of other things you probably don’t want to miss. If you already follow us on Twitter and Instagram, feel free to follow us here too!

Overwatch Red Team Update

FAU’s Overwatch Red Team is just beginning their season in the Tespa Overwatch Collegiate Championship, and they’re already off to a good start. On March 1st, the team faced off against Regent Elite Gaming, and won 0-3. It was only the second game of the tournament, which consists of 12 rounds, with one happening every week. There are seven teams in Red Team’s division, but they are still unsure how they rank compared to the rest.

“It feels like we’re not at the top, but we’re definitely above average,” said Robert Jones, one of the teams Support players, otherwise known as Orange. While the team has been able to beat a good majority of college teams, they still know where their competition lies.

“There’s definitely a handful of really good college teams that are really tough to beat,” said Ryan Peters, the team’s other Support, also known as FiveHead. He was mainly referring to the universities with teams that have been long established, like FSU and UCF. Being that eSports is still a growing activity, especially in college settings, a lot of skilled players are still unaware of what opportunities their schools might be offering. More established teams end up with more established and skilled players, and typically rank better than others in competitions.

However, Red Team is still eager to overcome whatever challenges they may face. To prepare, the group makes time to play scrimmage matches two times a week. After these matches, they will occasionally review the outcomes, picking out strong points, and discussing where things need work.

“I think we have a good overall mechanical skill. People on this team know how to aim,” commented DPS player James Goedmakers, or Goedmaker in-game. This goes a long way in competition, being that a lot of teams lack players with refined skills in the basic mechanics in the game.

However, the team agrees that they do need some sprucing up in terms of their coordination and teamwork. A lot of this issue stems from the fact they are playing a man down. Before the Tespa Overwatch Collegiate Championship began, the Red Team faced off in Open Division matches, which had them competing against both collegiate and independent teams. During this time, their sixth teammate quit, leaving the team divided, and having to find a fill for every match. “I think we’re still recovering from that loss,” said DPS player Yafee Islam, or iYafee. “This is why our main problem is in teamwork and overall map control.”

Plans to help combat this are in order, though. The group has already narrowed down potential candidates for their replacement sixth teammate. With that problem solved, they are hoping that will get them on track to being on the same page.

“Top colleges seem more practiced and disciplined, and that’s where we want to be eventually,” said Goedmakers.

Even with their internal struggle, they’re still in high spirits about where they stand and their ability to grow together. It is clear that outside the game, they’re all really good friends with one another.

“I love my teammates. I don’t think there are any bad apples here,” commented Islam.

“I think we’ll make a better team with more time put in,” said Peters.

With more games left to play, and a lot more room left to grow, things are looking bright for our Overwatch Red Team. We’re looking forward to the rest of their season!

-By Lindsey Cartwright

Arena Opening for Testing

The eSports Arena will be temporarily opened for students to come in and test the computers and console area on February 27th and 28th.

On the 27th, testing was conducted from 12pm to 3pm, and was only open to current members of the eSports Club. Members were allowed to enter with a valid Owl Card and proof of registration on Owl Central. Seats were first come, first serve.

Testing hours are extended on the 28th, going from 12pm to 5pm. This round of testing will be open to all students. Seats will remain on a first come, first serve basis. However, if the arena becomes too full, students will be rotated out every hour to allow a chance for all attendees to play. Students are also welcome and highly encouraged to bring their own consoles from home to test the console area.

If you’re interested in getting a first glimpse at the new eSports arena and testing out the system, please feel free to drop by! We hope to see you there!