Waubonsee Community College's Esports squad saw its' Fall 2022 season come to an end over the weekend. The Chiefs were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the 16-team League of Legends (LOL) Tournament by St. Clair (MI) College two games to none. Coach Juan Gonzalez's LOL crew, consisting of Nathaniel Brazen, Charles Farmer, Alex Gruener, Gio Martinez and Devin Martinez De Valdivielso, had beaten Spokane (WA) Community College-Bigfoot in the first round 2-0 after going 5-2 in the regular season.
Waubonsee also had three individual players compete in Smash Bros. this fall, with one qualifying for the double-elimination Smash Bros. Tournament against participants from other junior colleges across the country. After going 5-2 overall in the regular season, the Chiefs' Jacob Loizzo eventually bowed out in the second round. The sophomore from Geneva High School headed into the 64-player tournament coming off of a 3-1 win versus an opponent from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Loizzo then lost his opening playoff match to a competitor from Suffolk (NY) Community College to fall into the consolation bracket. He stayed alive in the tournament with a close 3-2 win against a foe from Finger Lakes (NY) Community College, before falling in three straight games to a player from Rockland (NY) Community College.
The Chiefs' Caleb Valero and Tyler Savitski both finished the regular season with 2-5 records overall and did not qualify for the post-season. Valero, a freshman from Oswego High School, fell in three games to an opponent from Hudson Valley (NY) Community College in his final match of the season. Savitski, a sophomore from Hinckley-Big Rock High School, closed out his regular season with a 3-0 win over a competitor from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Throughout the season the Chiefs Esport team collectively competed against schools from Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Washington, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin.
League of Legends is a cooperative strategy game where two teams, consisting of five players each, compete to destroy the other team's Nexus Crystal which is located in either team's base. The map the teams play on is divided into three lanes, with a Top lane, Mid lane, and Bottom lane. Each lane is lined with a set of turrets that must be destroyed in order to enter the opposing team's base and gain access to the Nexus Crystal. This entire process happens over a game that lasts anywhere between 20 and 45 minutes. These lanes divide the players into their five unique positions which are the following; Top Laner, Mid Laner, a duo of Bottom Laners labeled as an Attack Damage Carry (ADC) and Support, and a Jungler who navigates in between these three lanes through the early portion of the match to create man advantage situations.
Smash Bros. is a fighting game in which players work against one another to knock the other out of the arena within an 8-minute battle. In tournament play the participants fight one-on-one, choosing from a roster of characters from Nintendo and other third-party franchises. During the one-on-one battle each participant has three stocks (or lives) that must be reduced to zero before one fighter wins. Throughout the course of the battle each player accumulates damage, represented by the percentage displayed by their characters frame on the lower portion of the screen. The higher percentage of damage, the more easily they can be knocked out of the arena. However, this counter resets upon losing a stock.