Last weekend was the first tournament that the Michigan Tech League of Legends Club hosted for this year, and it was a remarkable success. Thirteen teams showed up to take part in the competition, all Michigan Tech students, and I was lucky enough to find a team to participate in too.
I joined the team “Illuminati” last minute as the jungler, the guy who runs around in the jungle and kills monsters. Our team had only played a couple of matches before the tournament, so we were a little nervous about competing against more experienced teams.
The set-up time was 6:30 p.m. on Friday. My friend and I lugged our equipment over to the Wadsworth dining hall, computer towers in hand and backpacks filled with keyboards and mice. My roommate followed behind with our monitors in both his hands.
In the dining hall, the tables had been arranged into two long columns with thick black power cables running between them. People were starting to set up their computers, cords running in every direction of each team’s table.
This was my first League of Legends tournament and the most competitive thing I’ve done since high school track, so I was more than a little nervous. By the time we got to warming up my nerves started to settle. Our team was ready to go, and so was I.
Our night started off well. We played our first game against Daedalus, the twelfth seeded team, and we won. Our team got kills early in the game, we started to get an advanced lead, and it grew even more as we got more objectives. We won after 28 minutes, 15 kills to their 8.
The second match didn’t go as well for us. We faced The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The outcome of this game was the exact opposite of the last game. We lost kills early on, and we were unable to keep up.
TMNT’s lead grew as they killed dragons and destroyed our towers in the lanes, where most of the champions fight. TMNT secured their victory by taking on the epic monster, Baron, and finished the game at 29 minutes.
We won our next two games against Pugly Mugs and Hypernetik Glitch, but our time at the tournament ended when we lost against Here to Clap. They went on to face the team After 4 Tournaments I’ve Run Out of Names, who took home the title of Supreme Champion. Our team finished in sixth place overall, and for what we did, we were proud of it.
This tournament was certainly something I’d do again in a heartbeat. The atmosphere was energetic, tense, and fun all together.
The League of Legends club here at MTU managed to bring a lot of passionate people together for a night of friendly competition, energy drinks, and unforgettable experiences.
