Fall esports teams readying to finish seasons strong

The fall esports season will come to an end next week, and teams are trying to cement their place’s in the upcoming playoffs. Numerous teams are on the verge of qualifying in their games. Coach Brian Unruh is optimistic about how the regular season will end. “I think there is a Smash team that will qualify for the playoffs, and we also have a Valorant team which is kind of close to qualifying and a Fortnite team, and then also one of our Marvel Rivals teams,” Unruh said. “They kind of could go either way.”

Junior Kenneth Biggs is a veteran player and is the captain of the Smash team. He’s been playing Esports for a number of years. “In general it’s more like seven years, and I’ve been playing through the school,” he said. “This will be my third.“ 

Unruh said he believes that Biggs and the Smash team will have a strong end to the season. “Smash is pretty much the same team as last spring, and they made the playoffs. They’re doing pretty good again this season. We probably knew they were going to qualify, but it’s a matter of seeding for them, and it will be interesting to see who they kind of match up with when the brackets come out.”

Biggs has been in this position before and is ready to make a strong push this post-season. “We’ve been in the playoffs every single season, including my singles and all of my team seasons. I was top eight in playoffs during my singles season, though I’ve only gotten one singles season.“

Biggs’ team has a record of 5-2, and is ranked 30th out of 166. The top 64 make the playoffs.

With the Smash team likely to make the playoffs, their matches will be every other day starting on Monday, Nov 16. This will coincide with Valorant matches if the Valorant team qualifies. The teams will play until they lose. 

For Valorant to make the playoffs, they’ll need luck to be on their side. They are 3-4 and ranked 50th out of 104. The playoffs will take only 32 teams. To add to the tension, there are 30 teams with a record 4-3 or 3-4, and only 10 spots are available. 

Fortnite and Marvel Rivals will play opposite of Smash and Valorant, with matches on Tuesday, Nov 17, and the following Thursday. Just like Smash and Valorant, matches will continue until teams lose. 

The Marvel Rivals team has strong motivation to qualify for the playoffs this season.  

Sophomore Simon Pauls captains one of the Marvel Rivals team and was on the team last season. Last season, they were “one placement off from making it.” Pauls said that this led to a renewed spirit and drive to do better this season.

Unruh echoed this. “The Marvel Rivals team was pretty much the same team last spring and they didn’t make the playoffs, so I think they’re doing a little bit better and they were motivated to try to do that.“

Pauls said he believes that if the team qualifies, they will have a good post-season. “I think if we make it, we’ll be decently prepared. It will be a unique experience because I don’t know if our team specifically has made it before, but the current team we have that’s in the position of making it to the playoffs looks promising.” 

It is looking likely that the team will qualify, as they are ranked 28th out of 144. Pauls is not on this team, but is on the second team, currently ranked 77th. However, they’re record of 3-3 is the same as the team in 48th. The playoffs will take the top 64 teams. 

The Fortnite team has a good chance of qualifying for their playoffs, boasting a 5-2 record and being ranked 19th out of 220. 32 teams qualify for the playoffs.

This season, teams have been more successful than previous. “Last year I don’t think we had too many teams qualify so it feels like there’s maybe a little bit more,” Unruh said.