Written by Stephanie Fletcher
Edited by Nicholas Uster
Teamfight Tactics makes for an interesting tournament with its ever-shifting rankings and the subtle reliance on luck to acquire the perfect combinations of champions and items. Standard compositions of playable champions are common, but there are times when the selected group that comes out on top is a completely fresh idea. Once players reach the top three, the possibility of a double-elimination is even made possible due to the game’s design. The Esports and Game Design Collective’s (EGD) Teamfight Tactics tournament on June 19th showcased each of these twists and many more.
Players competed in Mid-Set 3 on Patch 10.12. There were a total of three rounds in which the top four players from each round were able to move onto the next. A wide range of talent came out to compete, from unranked and bronze to masters and former challenger players such as Simon “Double Yip” Y.
Since some contestants could not make it, a number of players such as Jeongdae “meishduck” K. and James “LaoZedong” L. received byes in the first round. Joel “Xzero Reborn” F. hyperrolled for Nocturne to get through the first round and got out early with four snipers in the second. “Stunning7” became the strongest competitor in the first round with an astro/sniper comp. Unfortunately, they ended in only third place during the second round despite the use of the same team composition. In that game, Simon Y. with cyber/blademaster and Jeongdae K. with brawler/blaster/rebel beat him for first and second place respectively. The second round was much closer than the first, but all four players mentioned managed to move onto the final round.
Round three was intense — as to be expected of the final round. Every player except “Handicap00” made it far enough to create two-star five-gold units. “EliteHare” had a two-star Lulu when they placed in seventh. “Stunning7,” despite a strong start, placed sixth with cyber/blademaster. “FluffyDay” held on until fifth place with an astro comp. Going into the round, there was a lot of hype for Simon Y. in EGD's discord server. He ran mech/demo/sorcerer, but all that damage and hype could only carry him to fourth place. Jeongdae K. ran brawler/blaster/rebel again with an Aurelion Sol carry while Bernard C. ran cyber/sniper with a Vayne carry. However, James L. from Columbia University rapidly rose to the top, despite starting out in second to last place during round 2-6. He ran vanguard/mystic with a stacked three-star Cassiopeia and two-star Jayce. Jeongdae K. and Bernard C. shared the spotlight with James L. in the final round by placing second and third at nearly the same time.
During post-game interviews, Jeongdae K. told me that they peaked Diamond 4, with Bernard C. also mentioning they peaked Diamond 2. Furthermore, James L. was once Masters with 200LP. Jeongdae K. loves loading into TFT with their Featherknight Pengu in hopes of playing any galaxy but Starcluster. Unluckily for them, this happened to be the galaxy played in finals. Bernard C. showed their love for cybers in their gameplay, but was unable to play Galactic Armory in finals, which could have carried them to victory. James L. was the only one of the three to play a composition that was not their favorite in finals. They prefer mech/sorcerer, but their ability to flex to vanguard/mystic helped them win it all and earn $20.
If you're interested in watching any of our participants play TFT games on your own time, be sure to catch them on their Twitch streams:
Double Yip - https://www.twitch.tv/tridarksouls
meishduck - https://www.twitch.tv/meishduck
Stunning7 - https://www.twitch.tv/stunning1
EGDC’s Teamfight Tactics tournament is part of a larger Summer Series. Future tournaments include CS:GO, League of Legends, Valorant, and Super Smash Bros. Join the EGDC Hub on AVGL to sign up and play for some prize money!