Esports Weekly Wrap-Up: Jan 8th – 13th
Amelia Green Jan 13th, 2024
Hello, Vandal Fans! Our program is ecstatic to bring back people from last semester and welcome newcomers to the world of competitive collegiate gaming. We have been hard at work with many tryouts from games in the fall semester, as well as adding new games for our incredible viewers to enjoy. This week and next, we will focus on tryouts for these new teams before we dive into two leagues! We will be participating in NACE and ECAC this season.
Of course, there has yet to be any confirmation for placements on the team, as there is another week of tryouts. However, the tryouts so far have been absolutely amazing to witness. During the first Rocket League and FC (FIFA) tryouts, our staff was still setting up our stream, so there wasn’t a record of these games’ fantastic first week of gameplay. We finished setting up by Tuesday the 9th, and we witnessed quite the show for a Super Smash Bros Ultimate bracket while Street Fighter 6 and Overwatch 2 were trying out! Following our Tuesday Smash stream, we had Valorant tryouts that got heated. SomeCheese, the IGL (in-game leader), led two excellent matches between all potential Vandal Gamers with Fall Varsity players in the mix. We are expecting another superb team for the Spring Semester.
Thursday was dedicated to Smash Tryouts on stream, while Fortnite, Mortal Kombat I, Teamfight Tactics, and Rainbow 6 were also trying out. We now have quite the amassing of teams compared to last semester and are excited to stream these various matchups! For Friday the 12th, we have another League of Legends and Counter-Strike 2 team with the addition of Omega Strikers. There is much excitement and expectation for these teams!
As for Saturday, the 13th, we hosted the first monthly Smash bracket of the new year! This exciting event and the Chess.com tryouts brought in 72 people! It began with a 10 v 10 Crew battle that ended in FangWho’s team’s favor, 0-2. Many intense battles concluded the matchup as a very close call, with both teams being on their last player! Following the crew battle, we had a singles and doubles bracket that brought just as much competitiveness. This was all cast on the Palouse Gaming Channel – Palouse_Gaming – on Twitch, not our UIdaho Channel. Be sure to check it out!
Coming up, we have another amazing week of tryouts ahead of us! The tryout schedule is listed on the tryouts page of our website. Tryouts – UIdaho Esports
If you want to see our amazing Vandals, make sure to join us on our Twitch – UIdahoEsports -, our VOD channel on YouTube – UIdahoEsports -, or come in-person to the Pitman Center, Room 040!
Thank you for reading!