Assumption Esports teams prepare for ECAC playoffs

By Caleb White, Online Editor

As the semester comes to an end, Assumption’s esports teams in League of Legends, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Rocket League prepare for online playoffs.

The teams are competing in the Eastern College Athletic Conference, where they have experienced a large amount of competition during the regular season. After various ups and downs and close losses against rival teams, League captain Travis “KnuckeD” Robie and Smash Ultimate captain Alec “Penta” Prentiss are looking to contend for the podium.

Robie wasn’t initially certain how his team would fare at the beginning of the season. Although they made a strong showing in the previous year, their two new pickups, Sean “Hurdle” Hurley and Gabe “GabeForce” Purdy were still getting used to playing with the team. 

“Team coordination was a little rocky at the start, since three of us have played previously together, but we weren’t sure how the new guys would slot into our lineup,” Robie said.

Although they lost their week one match, the Greyhounds reviewed their gameplay, picked out the strengths in their coordination, and ended up winning their next five games in the season and finishing second in their bracket. Out of the 12 teams initially in playoffs, they’ve made it to the final four.

This upcoming Saturday on Dec. 4, the League team will be playing their final sets of matches to determine the season winners. Their first game will be at 3 p.m. against Muskingum University, which they’ve never played prior in the season. However, Robie is confident they’ll be able to secure the win, as they’ve lost to teams which Assumption has beat. If they’re successful in this match and the next, their opponent in the grand finals will be Stevenson University, which had previously sent them to the loser’s bracket. 

In their loss against Stevenson, their opponents got the edge before the match by banning Lillia and Evelynn, some of the best champions played by their jungler, Ricky “Sleepy Vanilla” Zheng. With plans to bring new characters into Zheng’s champion pool, Robie is confident they’ll be playing a better game than last time. 

“Against Stevenson, we’ve gone back, we’ve watched the footage. We’ve come up with some new game plans against them.” 

For Smash Ultimate captain Alec Prentiss, the beginning of the season had been similarly tough for their JV team, Greyhounds Blue. As their new roster pickups improved through the semester, though, they were able to pick it up during the later stages of the regular season. Blue ended with a win-loss of 4-4, and entered playoffs tied for 49th. Their varsity team, White, finished 6-2 and tied for fourth. 

“The goal was to get both teams into playoffs, and both teams made it,” Prentiss said. “Holding the momentum that we have is our next goal.” 

Helping to maintain that momentum is Robert “Madness” Austin, who mains Lucina. Austin was also a new pickup at the beginning of the semester, but his performance was impressive enough that he jumped straight into the White team alongside Prentiss and Ryan “Source” Donahue.

According to Prentiss, Austin’s thought process has been greatly beneficial to the team. “He has a very good mind for the game, and has a really good knowledge base to pick from. He’s usually my second-in-command for spreading information about the game to other players, or helping Blue players to get past some blockades.”

Other inspiring moments during the season included dramatic comebacks from both White and Blue. During a crew battle versus SUNY Canton, White was initially only able to take two stocks, while SUNY took six and eliminated two of their players. Prentiss himself, however, was able to clutch it out by taking out seven stocks with Hero and winning them the best-of-3. On Blue, Marc-Andy “Kandi” Mexil had a similar seven stock comeback while using Pyra/Mythra.

The Smash Ultimate teams will be competing this weekend to determine where they’ll land in playoffs. On Dec. 4, Blue will be matched against the New York Tech Cybears, while White will be playing again versus SUNY Canton. 

The two Rocket League teams, Assumption Blue and Assumption White, were unavailable for comment. Team Blue, with leader Ryan “Redheaddude619” Imbriglio, Cam “Camars” LaMarche, and Brett “Brettice” Dufault, finished the fall season with a record of three wins and five losses. Team White, which is composed of leader Ryan “TyphonRL” Jensen, Daniel “T00Toasted” Dee, and Lucas “Kyra” Caira, entered playoffs with four wins and four losses. They are slated to play against Randolph-Macon College on Dec. 4 in a best-of-5. 

Some of the Assumption teams will be streaming their playoffs matches on Twitch. The League team will be live at www.twitch.tv/articshock, and the Rocket League White team streams to www.twitch.tv/au_greyhounds. Season matches and brackets can be viewed at www.ecac.leaguespot.gg.