Jon Dunning
Staff Writer
jdunning1@murraystate.edu
Murray State Esports’ League of Legends team played two matches over the weekend, going 2-1 against the Hybrid Wolves on Friday, Feb. 14, in the Upsurge Junior League and falling 2-0 against the University of Manitoba on Saturday, Feb. 15, in the Riot Games College League.
Upsurge Junior League
Murray State faced the Hybrid Wolves in League of Legends in the Upsurge Junior League tournament on Feb. 14, winning 2-1.
Murray State received an automatic loss for round one because of a roster error.
Going into round two, Murray State chose to run Jinx, Orianna, Zac, Gnar and Braum. The Hybrid Wolves picked Ornn, Jarvan IV, Cassiopeia, Senna and Leona.
The Hybrid Wolves claimed the first kill of the first match at 8:45, but Murray State quickly jumped to a 4-1 lead in kills by 9:23. The Racers strengthened their lead by taking the first dragon objective at 9:52, slaying a Cloud Dragon.
Murray State claimed the second dragon objective at 15:10, slaying an Ocean Dragon.
Murray State took the first turret of the round at 15:55, then took the second at 16:03. Murray State also further advanced its lead in gold to 28.6k-23.9k.
The Racers continued to dominate the first round, taking the game at 24:50 with an 8-0 lead in turrets, 26-7 lead in kills, 49.9k-34.7k lead in gold and 3-0 in dragon objectives.
In round three, Murray State chose a team consisting of Valdimir, Sfjuani, Lissandra, Aphelios and Nautilus. The Wolves picked Ornn, Dr. Mundo, Orianna, Ashe and Thresh.
The Racers took the first kill of the round at 3:41, boosting them to a 6.0k-5.2k lead in gold. Murray State also claimed the first dragon objective of the second round, slaying an Ocean Dragon. Murray State took the second dragon objective as well, taking down a Cloud Dragon at 12:49.
Murray State took the first turret of the second round at 15:30, allowing the Racers to lead in every aspect of the game with at 14-5 in kills, 1-0 in turrets, 2-0 in dragon objectives and 28.3k-23.1k in gold.
The Wolves took their first dragon objective at 18:50, slaying a Mountain Dragon. They also took their first turret at 20:14, putting them behind Murray State in the turret score 4-1.
Murray State continued to dominate the rest of the match, taking the win at 29:30. The Racers led in kills with 40-10, gold with 58.0k-44.1k, turrets with 11-1 and dragon objectives 3-1. The Racers took the series 2-1.
Murray State staff adviser Sean Mitchuson believes the Racers took the match by just sticking to the basics.
“There wasn’t anything too crazy coming out of our team,” Mitchuson said. “There wasn’t anything that we were trying new there. [The Hybrid Wolves] just really weren’t able to keep up with our higher skill players and [we] were basically able to completely steam roll.”
Riot Games College League of Legends
Murray State faced the University of Manitoba as part of the Riot Games College League of Legends on Feb. 15, with Manitoba winning 2-0.
The Racers entered round one with a lineup of Vladimir, Seujani, Viktor, Xayah and Rakan, while the Bisons decided to play as Aatrox, Olaf, Syndra, Rumble and Leona.
At 3:55 into the first game, Manitoba got the first kill, pushing the Bisons to 6.3k gold over Murray State’s 5.4k gold. The Bisons got another advantage at 5:26 into the match when they took the first dragon objective of the round, slaying an Ocean Dragon. They took the second dragon objective as well at 12:04 with the take down of an Infernal Dragon.
Manitoba continued to lead the first match, taking the first turret at 14:57. At this point, they were up in kills 10-6 on Murray State and had earned 26.8k in gold compared to Murray State’s 21.7k.
Murray State destroyed a Manitoba turret at 16:18, maintaining a presence in the game. Manitoba responded by taking another dragon objective at 17:23 with the slaying of a Cloud Dragon. By 22:42, the Bisons had managed to gain major leads in every aspect of the game. They were up 4-1 on turrets, 17-7 on kills, 4-0 on dragon objectives and had gained 43.1k in gold compared to Murray State’s 32.8k.
At 31:12, the Bisons destroyed the Racers’ Nexus to take the set 9-1 in turrets, 32-8 in kills, 4-0 in dragon objectives and 64.8k-44.3k in gold.
Entering round two, the Bisons chose a team comprised of Soraka, Olaf, Ornn, Nami and Vayne. The Racers ran Gnar, Gragas, Lissandra, Jinx and Braum.
Manitoba took the first kill of the second round at 3:52. The Bisons also claimed the first dragon objective at 10:56 by taking down an Ocean Dragon.
The Racers got on the board at 12:33 with their first kill, but were still behind Manitoba 5-1 in kills and 20.6k-18.1k in gold.
Manitoba took the first turret of the second round at 14:08, solidifying its lead further. At 17:09, the Bisons claimed the second dragon objective by slaying a Cloud Dragon and took a second turret at 17:54.
Murray State took its first turret at 20:51, putting the Racers behind 2-1 in turrets. Over the course of the second round, Murray State took down two more Manitoba turrets, but it was not enough to stop Manitoba from taking the match at 31:49. Manitoba led 8-3 in turrets, 27-8 in kills, 4-0 in dragon objectives and 59.3k-47.5k in gold, giving Bisons a 2-0 sweep of the Racers.
Mitchuson attributes Manitoba’s advantage to its higher experience level.
“Everyone on their team is ranked diamond and a few of their players I believe have hit masters in the past,” Mitchuson said. “So overall they have a much higher experience level game-knowledge wise than our players do.”
Murray State Esports’ League of Legends team will be back in action Friday, Feb. 21, against Old Man Gaming in the Upsurge Junior League and will be facing a yet-to-be-determined opponent on Saturday, Feb. 22, in the Riot Games College League.
To keep up with all of Esports’ activities, viewers can subscribe to the team’s Twitch channel at RacerEsports and YouTube channel at RacerEsports.