Written by Stephanie Fletcher
Edited by Melissa May
The Esports and Game Design (EGD) Collective hosted a double-elimination League of Legends tournament on Monday, June 29th, in which six teams fought long and hard for $100 total in prizes. Some old names from the Teamfight Tactics tournament such as Simon “Double Yip” Y. showed up to compete, but new champions of the Rift were crowned this time around.
It was a late night of gaming in the EGD Discord server, but the casters and players ignored their fatigue and remained strong. The casters stuck it out until the last game, but the players appeared to be too tired to make flashy plays in the finals. There were countless people working behind the scenes to keep the matches running smoothly and one team stepped it up, took some risks, and won themselves $75.
In the first game of the tournament, “Double Yip”, a Masters player, attempted to carry his team on Hecarim through ganks and unsuccessful Baron steals. However, “Admit” on Ezreal and “CrossSeal” on Karma carried bot-lane against Vayne, played by “88Ryzing.” Mid-laner, “WARMACHINE,” and jungler, “Boxford” got a few kills of their own. Finally, top-laner, “anything4444” assisted the team to victory with a few Gangplank ultimates. The other preliminary game occurred simultaneously and featured another Ezreal carry despite their name being “Terribly Vayne.” A Nami support played by “Invenium” assisted with a total of 20 assists, the most seen until “Keon” stepped it up in the final matches.
Understandably, the players chose to ban Ezreal during champion selection in the second level of the bracket, but it did not affect the turnout of the game. Better Corki’s team of Diamond players quickly defeated “Terribly Vayne”’s team which included players ranging from unranked to Platinum. The game was played for fun and the higher ranked team won with a total of 29 kills and 1 death. At the same time, “Admit”’s team played a much closer game against “Radiating” and their team. Even though “Admit” won bot-lane on Ezreal again, Radiating played an unconventional Lulu top-lane and defeated “anything4444” on Sett. “Radiating” and “Steoul” on Jarvan IV dominated in kills and sent “Admit”’s team into the lower bracket.
The ranks evened out in the upper bracket where the average was Diamond, and the fights became less predictable. Ezreal remained banned, with the addition of a Lulu ban. Players tried to force opponents off of their main champions. This was not effective given that most of the players were good at multiple champions, such as “Radiating” who switched to Urgot. Better Corki’s team ran a crowd control (CC) composition, meaning that Ashe’s arrow, Nautilus’ death charge, Orianna’s shockwave, and Wukong’s cyclone abilities permanently stunned anyone who was caught out of position. “Korosu” demonstrated their aim with Ashe arrows, consistently landing them across the map. Kill/death/assist (KDA) counts proved that picks like Urgot, played by “Radiating”, and Fiddlesticks, played by “Steoul”, were viable. “Juë Viole Grace” on Varus showcased that they did not need CC to win as they got a triple kill in the final Baron fight, winning Radiating’s team the match and position in the upper bracket.
Even though “Better Corki”’s team was sent to the lower bracket, they fought their way out and made it back into the finals with “I Like Pogz” carrying 20/0/7 on Kassadin. The finals were a repeat between them and Radiating’s team. In the first game, “I Like Pogz” continued carrying by getting solo kills in lane against “Mòmó” after reverting back to playing Orianna. Twelve minutes in, the game was even in kills. “Better Corki”’s team won a fight against Radiating’s team due to a failed tower dive, then lost a fight over the first inferno dragon, and won a risky fight taken for Baron. Ultimately, they became overconfident and four of them died trying to get a second inferno dragon, costing “Radiating”’s team the match.
Since they had only lost once, “Better Corki”’s team had to face them again to determine the winner of the tournament. In champion selection, “Juë Viole Grace” was able to secure the Ezreal pick. Since it was late, early-game featured no invades or kills. Suddenly, top-lane was ganked. Jarvin IV, played by “Steoul”, secured first blood onto Graves before dying to Azir, played by “I Like Pogz”. Bot-lane, “Keon” on Thresh started landing some precise hooks, winning “Korosu” on Vayne the lane. “Juë Viole Grace” fell too far behind to catch up in items and damage. Then, “I Like Pogz” missed an ult onto “Steoul” and died, so “Radiating”’s team killed the dragon and received 4 other kills almost simultaneously. This was not taken advantage of and Graves on “Better Corki”’s team killed Rift Herald. They used it to take down a couple of mid-lane towers, even though they lost three teammates. “Keon” then landed a couple of hooks to pick off “Jusudowoodo” on Alistar and “Juë Viole Grace” on Ezreal. “I Like Pogz” finished “Better Corki”’s team off with a triple kill, destroyed the Nexus, and won the tournament.
The winning team started playing between Season 2 and Season 4, though not all of them have played the game consistently since then. “Any game mode with the boys is [their] favorite, but if [they] had to choose [a favorite event] it would be URF,” which is a typical pick for veterans of League of Legends. URF stands for Ultra Rapid Fire, and the gamemode features an 80% cooldown reduction leading to all kinds of craziness and viability across Summoners Rift. In general, they love playing together because they can rely on each other to do their jobs in lane and communicate in team fights. Admittedly, the team was tilted after one loss, but upon learning that they “still had a chance to win” they regained morale. With high spirits and some pre-game discussion they figured out how to best face “Radiating”’s team, which received $25, and walked away with $75.
EGD’s League of Legends tournament is part of a larger Summer Series. Future tournaments include League of Legends, Valorant, and Super Smash Bros. Join the EGD Hub on AVGL to sign up and play for some prize money!