2017 College Championship – Semifinals Recap

Riot·May 27, 2017·1 votes·7,691 views

One team has secured its spot for Sunday’s 2017 League of Legends College Championship final on the NA LCS Arena stage. The University of Toronto continued its march for championship glory and will face the winner of today’s Maryville vs. Robert Morris-Illinois semifinal.

Toronto is attempting to secure the third consecutive win for Canada after University of British Columbia won the past two college titles. Toronto jungler Jacob “Susice” Bulir joined the team after winning the region title.

“The first few weeks that I subbed in were definitely rough,” Susice said. “[Regular UofT Jungler] Casey “yummibananas” Woo definitely has a very aggressive play style, and the idea for the team is to follow along with what he does. I play a more conservative style and like to farm a little bit more. I don’t like to invade as much, so we needed to focus on our macro decisions, rotations and things like that over just skirmishing all the time.”

You can catch the Maryville-RMU semifinal match today (5/27) at Noon PT and see Toronto face the winner Sunday (5/28) at Noon PST on watch.lolesports.com.

Toronto 3, Carnegie Mellon 1

After blitzing Carnegie Mellon early for a 2-1 lead, Toronto had an unorthodox but effective strategy to close out game four and punch their ticket to the Finals.

“We’ve been working on teamwork,” Toronto senior mid laner James “JhEEsh” Swann said. “Even if you watch CLG videos or TSM, they all emphasize teamwork and trust. A bad call that everyone follows is better than a good call that only a couple people follow, so we always try to make sure that we’re cohesive as a unit and go in where other people go in.”

Freshman top laner Alvin “Gaow Gaiy” Ngo was left for dead and tasked with cancelling recalls while the rest of Toronto was able to rush past and destroy the Nexus before Carnegie Mellon could respond. Carnegie Mellon was able to pick up three kills, including a double kill by senior top laner Patrick “MegaZero” Glinsman, but time had run out.

Game one was a dream start for Toronto, finishing 19 kills to 0. Gaow Gaiy took first blood three minutes in and Toronto grew their kill lead to eight by 15 minutes. The bot tower taken by Carnegie Mellon senior ADC Daniel “Coggles” Farina was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect game for Toronto.

Carnegie Mellon responded in game two after another rough start. Despite being targeted with repeated ganks early, Coggles propelled Carnegie Mellon to a win with a quadra kill in the final team fight. Carnegie Mellon senior jungler Christoffer “Tiggy” Thygesen had a bounce back game, finishing 4/3/10 on Sejuani.

“I felt pretty confident with my Sejuani play; I’ve been practicing her a lot,” Tiggy said. “There were a few moments where I actually could have had game-winning ultimates, but I missed twice. I made up for them in fight-winning ultimates in other places, so I can’t be really too mad at myself.”

Game three was a back-and-forth affair before Toronto ultimately took control. Carnegie Mellon countered the over-aggression of Toronto to take their first gold lead of the game at 27 minutes, but it was short-lived. Toronto’s jhEEsh scored a key double kill in Dragon pit at 30 minutes to allow Toronto to secure Infernal Drake and Baron Nashor.

Toronto also beat Carnegie Mellon 3-1 in the Campus Series East Finals.

“It would be cool if University of Toronto went on to win it all so that we were kind of validated,” said MegaZero, who finished his college - and likely his competitive League of Legends - career with a combined 7/9/16 KDA.

Toronto freshman ADC Sang “Erry” Park finished with a combined 19/5/23 KDA.

13 Comments

DxDisFxnnyMay 28, 20176 votes

Just my 2 cents worth. Being a 47 yr old dad, turned onto this game by my 17 yr old soccer playing son. I know its not a "sport" in the conventional sense. But makes it no less one either. Yeah, it's not a total body exercise, but I do see the similarities. The teamwork, strategies, elation and frustration. The practicing countless hours for some to get that much better. Hey to each their own. I'd like to also add...GO UofT GO!

BPottsMay 28, 20173 votes

I hate the people that hate on ESports because people just "watch someone else play a video game." Those same people probably watch sports, where they watch someone else play something. Smh.

III DNA IIIMay 27, 20172 votes

I'm sorry, but it's a FCKING VIDEOGAME! This will NEVER be a legitimate sport.

Mig89May 27, 20175 votes

Nobody calls it a sport. its an Esport. Nobody is pretending theyre athletes. Colleges have chess, debate, science, and all sorts of teams that offer scholarships. Why not have Esports where they get exposure to boost recognition.

Perplx DigitehKMay 27, 201711 votes

Yeah... Love what you're saying, Mig89. I'm simply confused by the fact that people spend their time playing/learning something and shout "IT'S JUST A GAME". Football is JUST A GAME. Everything in life is 'just a game' if that's the case. You spend your time learning something and growing. Sounds JUST like everything I've ever done whether it be cooking, a job, driving, being social, skateboarding, dirt biking. It's ALL just awareness, learning and growing no matter what it is. Some people just take the things they do more seriously than you, DNA. ALL the things I spend my time on are not just 'games'. It's my time, and thus, my life.

TuumrMay 27, 20175 votes

Logged in to downvote. If it's just a game, why watch it? Why have competitions? To see who's the best at it. That includes football, baseball, softball, basketball, soccer...

I'm SoRrY, BuT iT'S a FcKinG VidEOgAmE! ThIs WiLl NevER Be A LeGiTiMatE SpORt. Azir Azir Azir

høgsqælMay 27, 20171 votes

I play Shyvana, it's not a game... It's a life style... Shyvana Shyvana Shyvana

Sweet FeanMay 28, 20172 votes

Logged in to downvote

Kanata AgeMay 28, 20172 votes

If you have Respect for the other real games, they so call, Example: soccer-basketball-softball-football and so on, then you can have respect for League of Legends, whether or not it takes the same concept to play this just like it does those others and we all enjoy doing something we love to do, so if you can't talk about something with respect then don't share your Opinion.
Teemo @DNA

I'm sorry, but it's a FCKING VIDEOGAME! This will NEVER be a legitimate sport. [slayer-jinx-unamused]

BPottsMay 28, 20172 votes

I believe that the problem with many is the admittance with the legitimacy of ESports. They try and attach ESports as a sport because there is no other genre or idea that they have established. When ESports grows and people learn about it, many will not be ashamed to call it an ESport.

CHRISERIN0May 29, 20171 votes

let me just say, there is a huge difference between physical sports and mental sports. You cannot compare the two. One is a mental sport and the other is a physical one (if you didn't get the gist of my prior sentence). They each have their own category. That being said. You should be comparing this to chess tournaments, not people who condition their whole lives for a physically demanding sport.

And that all being said, it should be noted how novice these teams are versus LCS. College competition is like the bronze league for esport competition. Watching the outcome of some of these was cringe worthy at the lack of basic comprehension of team comp and team fights in general. This will not make it as a college level esport competition. And will not be a means for scholarships. It would be cool if that was going to be a thing but let's all be realistic for a minute.. You're burdened with studies, you may work a part time job, life, it all gets in the way of the required "League time" to practice as a team.