Illinois Tech Esports Hearthstone finishes top 8 in the nation for the 2019-2020 academic year
On July 11th, one of Illinois Tech’s Hearthstone teams <Where’s Klompy> participated in the Hearthstone Collegiate Open Championships Championship Bracket stage hosted by Tespa. This year’s season run was definitely an unprecedented one, with a pandemic making the teams have to play apart from each other, on top of an interrupted season where matches had to be postponed midway for the administration to wait for teams to reorganize under the new social distancing & shelter in place guidelines.
The team started their journey in the open division regular season back in February, where over 400 schools across the USA & Canada had signed up to compete. After a successful run with a record of 6 - 1, the team advanced to regional playoffs (split by west/east). The Hawks had a perfect run through playoffs, taking a 4-0 head-to-head matchup against 32 other schools in a double-elimination Bo5 matchup. Their success put them into the championship bracket with only 8 teams remaining, where teams were once again put into dual elimination brackets (Bo5), but this time only containing 4 teams/schools in each group. Finishing the top 2 in the championship bracket would secure a spot in the grand finals bracket made up of the top 4 schools.
Illinois Tech (IIT) was pulled into group 2, including themselves, Northeastern University, Carleton University, and Texas Tech University. IIT matched up against Northeastern University first and made a quick start with their warlock and demon hunter decks to a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, their final Hunter deck was ousted by Northeastern University's (NU) demon hunter deck, with an incredibly lucky (1/16 chance) draw on NU’s part to pull the victory. The Hawks would then proceed to be reverse-swept to be put into the loser's bracket (2-3). With their first loss in the championship stage down, the Hawks were in a must-win situation against their next opponent - Carleton University. Hawks would once again take the early victories with their warlock and demon hunter decks. This time, though, their hunter deck struggled against the pressure of Carleton’s demon hunter for one loss, but they ultimately triumphed in the hunter vs. druid matchup to secure victory (3-1). Meanwhile, in the winner’s bracket, Northeastern was able to also take down Texas Tech (TTU), making them IIT’s last opponent to faceoff in the hopes of moving past the championship bracket into the grand finals. In a pitched battle, IIT’s warlock deck was trumped by TTU’s druid deck for game 1, and game 2 had their warlock deck fall as well to TTU’s demon hunter deck. Hawks would bring back the series with a game 3 victory on their hunter deck against TTU’s rogue, but ultimately stopped short when their warlock deck could not overcome the rogue (1-3).
With that result, <Where’s Klompy> finished 3rd in their group, and did not move on to the grand finals stage. The team can still hold their heads up high, though, with a 5th-8th place finish in the championships, giving each player a $300 USD scholarship. Their season run is the furthest in Illinois Tech Esport’s history and gives high hopes for future successes in the coming years.
Hearthstone Team C Players: Where’s Klompy
- [Captain] Erik Cordoba (HiddenJoker) - BA 2023
- Dan Kiompenhower (Pub) - AM 2022
- Christian Razo (Sketch) - CS 2023
Statement from Erik Cordoba, Captain: This season was absolutely bonkers! The unexpected delay of the season's matches midway through caused quite a predicament in the flow of how the tournament was progressing. The strong 2 - 0 season start kept us in high hopes during the break. Due to my really bad internet connection at home, we lost our only normal season game due to a connection issue. Even with that unfortunate event, we held strong for a playoff appearance. After finishing the normal season with a dominating record, we knew we had to become much more serious, so out of nowhere, Dan started writing up some spreadsheets of his own to start calculating the best and worst outcomes for the games. These spreadsheets were life saviors! The playoffs were full of great teams that provided a challenge. Unfortunately, we got knocked out of the championship bracket on our last match to the Top 4, but knowing the talent that Dan and Christian provide, IIT can bring in a National Title next season. Great things are still to come from these players!
Statement from Dan Kiompenhower, Player: This season went extremely well. Admittedly, it started in a very unique fashion. After the first two weeks of the season, the pandemic hit, and the season was suspended indefinitely. In late May, out of the blue, we got an email letting us know the season would resume in the first week of June. Having many other activities canceled, we had more free time to practice and plan for the matches. As the regular season wrapped up and we earned a playoff berth, we began to rethink our strategies. We collected data and began taking a data-driven and mathematical approach to the game. We used Excel and other tools to optimize our lineups and decision-making. We saw the results of our work right away in the playoffs, taking a 4-0 start in our first weekend of competing. Despite losing in the top 8, we had a great season, and I had a blast competing with Erik and Christian. I’m looking forward to next season, where we can implement more technology to further our chances of success.
