Condors Esports NECC 2022-2023 Season Review
Condors Esports is now a toddler, three years old, and running amok. Maybe not amok, but at times it certainly felt like orchestrated chaos as we progressed through the year. Last summer, we welcomed our first full-time esports staff member Zack Dodge, supervisor of esports operations, and he hit the ground running, ushering in the next stage of Condors Esports.
At the start of the school year, Condors Esports had three teams: varsity League of Legends and Rocket League, and an academy team for Valorant, an overall reduction in teams compared to the prior year. However, the start of this year also saw Condors Esports step into the wider collegiate esports arena as we entered numerous competitions, with NECC (National Esports Collegiate Conference) at the forefront.
Early on, our varsity teams proved their worth by placing in the NECC’s Champions division for League of Legends and the NECC’s Challengers division for Rocket League. These divisions are the second highest level of competition offered by NECC. They fought semester-long, overcoming tough competition, which saw both the League of Legends and Rocket League teams make their way into the semifinals for the fall season, where they eventually fell—their debut NECC season resulted in a top 4 finish. Amazing.
Additionally, the academy Valorant team was hard at work developing their roster and making an initial attempt at CVal (Collegiate Valorant), where they began to ruffle some feathers. Moreover, the fall semester saw the addition of genre head coaches, Yuri — MOBAs, Will — FPSs, and Jake — Racing, and saw the opening of the Esports Hub at the Waterloo campus. The Esports Hub was, simply put, a game changer. The esports and gaming community grew massively with weekly events and thousands of hours of games played.
The holiday break offered a nice respite from the competition. But we were restless. The start of the winter semester saw us taking flight with the new additions of academy teams for CS:GO and DOTA2 and a varsity Valorant team.
The academy teams saw much growth this semester as they explored other competitive leagues, with the CS:GO and DOTA2 teams competing in the NACE (National Association of Collegiate Esports) open league, where both teams barely missed playoffs. The academy Valorant team competed in NECC’s challenger division, where they secured a playoff berth and had initially won their quarterfinals match before being disqualified.
The League of Legends team had roster adjustments over the break and was a little slow to get going. But once they got going, Condors varsity League of Legends proved to be a force to be reckoned with. Not even additional roster changes and shuffles could slow their momentum as they finished the NECC spring regular season 6th overall and had a respectable CLoL (Collegiate League of Legends) run. Playoffs proved unpredictable as Condors clawed their way into the finals by beating the 2nd seed overall, Waterloo Black. This marks the first and only occasion where Condors Esports has beaten Waterloo. Despite a valiant effort, Condors Esports finished 2nd overall and, through points earned, have been given a bye as a top 4 team going into the NECC’s national tournament. This guarantees a minimum of 8th overall for NECC’s Champions tier, comprising three divisions totaling 30 teams. The Condors varsity League of Legends team continue their journey in June for the NECC’s national’s tournament bracket stage.
The Rocket League team started their engines and were off to the races with an extremely hot start in NECC’s spring season. Early on, Condors varsity Rocket League was a contender for first and held 1st overall for a few weeks. Ultimately, they missed out on first in the regular season due to a single-game difference as both 1st and 2nd finished with seven wins and two losses. The results repeated in playoffs as Condors fell to the Windsor Lancers, 1st seed overall, in the finals. However, their NECC journey continues as they qualified for NECC’s national tournament and have already battled their way out of groups advancing to the bracket stage in June. Moreover, during the semester, the Condors varsity Rocket League competed in CRL qualifiers and in the No Man’s LAN held at St Clair and posed a respectable challenge before being knocked out in both.
The varsity Valorant team was placed in NECC’s Champions division, the highest tier available, and managed to make it to the quarterfinals, where they were ultimately knocked out by 1st seed St Clair. The Condors varsity Valorant team also competed in the McMaster Extra Life charity LAN event, where they had a respectable run deep into the bracket, and competed in CVal again, where their run was cut short. Through their efforts, they were recognized as a top-ten Valorant team by Esports Canada Post-Secondary.
It has been a whirlwind of a year, and many have joined the flight to fly with high with Condors Esports. There is still work to be done at nationals. Let's Go, Condors!!!
To everyone, good games and well played.