uLoL Semifinals: UBC vs. Georgia Tech

The results are in, the tickets are punched, and the top teams are taking a well-deserved trip to PAX East this weekend!

It’s been a long road to get here, but each of the finalist teams have earned their spot among the most elite collegiate teams in the world. University of British Columbia and Georgia Tech are about to face off on April 23rd in a battle of collegiate giants in hopes of securing their spot in the uLoL Campus Series finals!

So, what are these two teams all about?

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For any team, making the final four of the largest collegiate League of Legends tournament in North America is quite the achievement, but for the defending champions UBC, it is just as much an expectation as it is an accomplishment. “We expected to make it to the Final Four, but we are super excited to compete on stage at PAX East,” says team manager Carman Lam, “It will probably be the biggest audience we play in front of, but we're ready to crash the party and show that the west is the best.”

When you talk to the former champs, they ooze confidence -- and for good reason! They find themselves in prime position to defend their throne as they take on Georgia Tech for a spot in the finals. UBC feels like they have a significant edge heading into the semifinal clash, “We have the experience of competing on international stages, as well as our familiarity with each other's strengths and weaknesses that we have built over the past years. Consequently, our shotcalling became really decisive and accurate,” says Lam, speaking on UBC’s dominance coming into the Final Four. Shot calling is a massive asset to the team and crisp, clean calls can make or break an entire series. UBC having confidence in their shot calling could translate into them having a coordination advantage over Georgia Tech.

On top of having confident shot calling, UBC also believes that their map play could give them yet another edge. UBC have shown an ability to play a variety of compositions that each have different ways of controlling the map.“ A major strength for our team is our map play. We have a very objective based style of strategy which gives any player on our team the opportunity to carry Bob,” says Lam “Our biggest weakness is that Bob is heavy.” If UBC’s map play shines through, they believe that they can effectively carry their Challenger tier mid laner, Bob “BobqinXD” Qin, through to the finals.

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While Georgia Tech may not describe themselves as an underdog, not many people picked them to come out of the South Conference as victors. Yet, they carved their way through playoffs, downing the southern favorites Texas A&M along the way. Their ability control top lane and play from behind will be the key factors that will propel them past UBC and into the finals.

The ability to play from behind is one of the most difficult skills to acquire as a team because it requires the utmost confidence in teammates, but that synergy is built over time together as a squad. Georgia Tech’s emphasis on farming means they are willing to give up an early advantage in order to commandeer the late game in their favor. With UBC being a particularly potent early game team, playing from behind may be a skill that Georgia Tech will have to lean on in order to claim victory!

During their broadcasted match against Florida State University, Georgia Tech put their resiliency on display. In their second game, Georgia Tech fell behind early and were playing at a disadvantage until the mid game. That’s when Chris “Yook” Hauser took over on Nasus and became an unkillable monstrosity in the late game. If Georgia Tech can draft Yook a scaling top laner and protect him through the early to mid game, it will be their best shot at downing UBC. “I kill minions, then champions,” says Hauser in regards to his playstyle. They’ll need Yook to kill a lot of minions and champions in order to punch through the great northern wall that is UBC.

Viewing the uLoL Finals

The uLoL Finals will be hosted at PAX East this year and the four best collegiate teams will duke it out for the Campus Series trophy! You can catch the games broadcasted live on April 23rd-24th over on watch.lolesports.com! Need to catch up on all the action so far? Subscribe to uLoL’s YouTube page and follow the Twitter for more collegiate League of Legends!