Illinois Tech Esports Weekend 2/22-2/23 Recap

Two of Illinois Tech Esports game divisions - Overwatch & Super Smash Bros - had teams travel off-campus to compete against other colleges and/or players.

Overwatch

Illinois Tech Esports took part in the Chicago Overwatch: Battle for the Midwest Tournament on 2/22/2020. Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer with 6 players on each side. With 10 teams participating, Illinois Tech fielded 2 teams in this tournament - Scarlet Hawks A & Scarlet Hawks B. The format comprised first of a group stage with 5 teams in each group playing in a round-robin format online. The second half had the results from the round-robin seed players in a 10man bracket single elimination.

Scarlet Hawks A saw a 3-1 record on the round-robin, taking wins against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (2-0), Columbia College Chicago (2-1), and University of Illinois at Chicago (2-1) with only one loss against Depaul Varsity (1-2) culminating in a 2nd seed in their group.

Scarlet Hawks B were on the other group with an 0-4 record on the round robin. Against Indiana Tech JV (0-2), University Nevada Las Vegas (0-2), Indiana Tech Varsity (0-2), Depaul JV (0-2), culminating in a 5th seed in their group.

On the bracket stage, players traveled to the Bunker Gaming LAN Center in Glenview, IL to play their matches live (in-person) against their opponents.

Scarlet Hawks A were able to receive a bye in the round 1 playoffs, and moved right into round 2 with a victory against Indiana Tech Varsity (2-0), but would fall short in the semi-finals, losing to the eventual winners, University Nevada Las Vegas (0-2).

Scarlet Hawks B were unable to move past round 1 playoffs, falling to Columbia College Chicago (0-2).

Statement from Pavan Sistla, coach of the Overwatch Division of Illinois Tech Esports: “The players did the best they could given the level of competition from the teams that were participating in the tournament. Many of the opponent teams were on average at a higher skill level, but the Hawks were able to hold their own at times. This tournament allowed both teams to connect with the midwest collegiate community, and allow possible scrimmages in the future as well as seek advice from the higher skilled players and teams. Scarlet Hawks A did place 3rd overall since they had defeated all the other teams. The Overwatch Staff and team look forward to more events like these where one can play in a live setting and also experience tough opponents to keep improving to hopefully perform better in the collegiate leagues like Tespa. We would like to thank Illinois Institute of Technology and the Office of Campus Life for giving us the opportunity to compete in the tournament and hope that we will continue to gain support for the esports scene in general.”

Both teams now enter the spring season with Tespa collegiate matches starting in late February. Both teams will play online against opponents across North America in the hopes to win glory, epic prizes, and scholarships on the line.

Scarlet Hawks A Team Members (Name, Major/Grad Yr): Ethan Fox, MMAE/2021 | Asim Hyder, ITM/2021 | Ryan Lusk, CHBE/2021 | Kevin Koury, ARCH/2022 | Pavan Sistla, CHBE/2021 | Matthew Gombar, ECE/2022

Scarlet Hawks B Team Members: Greg Bonnema, ECE/2021, Soren Stairs, AMATH/2022, Lyndon Sully, PHYS/2021, Christopher Dharma CS/2022, Adam Sundquist ECE/2023, Dominik Radzik CHBE/2023

Smash

Outside Illinois, our smash division sent 7 players to compete at Detroit, Michigan in the Frostbite tournament. Frostbite is a super smash bros ultimate tournament and is considered as a ‘major’ tournament - meaning it features a large prize pool and a good number of top-tier players. Players left Friday (2/21) afternoon and competed for 3 days in the singles event with over 1200 players. Format consisted of double elimination phase 1 pool, then progressing to the top 384 into a phase 2 pool, then a 96 man bracket. This was a historic event with IIT’s first official representation at a majors event. Results listed below[Name/IGN (W-L)]:

• Sean Graney/FanFu: 4-2 (129th)
• Elijah Shobe/Hihahaba: 3-2 (385th)
• Jackson Lapp/DDC: 3-2 (385th)
• Edwin Vallecillo/Ln0: 3-2 (385th)
• Ryuta Suzuki/ktrZetto: 2-2 (385th)
• Aryan Dejesus/Oof: 1-2 (769th)
• Jorell Socorro/smallcpu: 1-2 (769th)

Statement from Jackson Lapp, Co-Captain for the Smash Team - "I am so proud of IIT. This was the first major for many of our players and we seriously brought the heat. Anyone at 385th was one game away from getting out of pools which is a huge accomplishment for people new to the competitive scene. Good things are coming for Illinois Tech Smash."

The Smash team practices weekly on campus and travels to a number of local events around Chicago frequently.