Finals-bound Sac State Valorant avenges Smash Ultimate team’s loss: E-Swarm Report

SSBU to fight for third in ECAC playoffs

Colby Case

Each week, The State Hornet will recap all the action from Sac State’s esports games.

Colby Case
April 24, 2021

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Sacramento State Smash Ultimate Green team lost 2-0 against Wayne State College on Monday, April 19, unable to get its revenge against the team that eliminated the Hornets last season. 

The Green team started with difficulty taking some early losses to WSC’s Brandon “Chef Lewie” Lewis’ Terry. Super aggressive plays from the Wildcats’ Penelope “pen pal” Harding’s Mii Brawler sealed the deal, forcing Green team player Aaron “ArgonGames” George to go against a heavy Ridley understocked. This continued throughout the game with each opponent taking more stocks than Green until eventually none were left. 

The second game went similarly for Sac State, this time with Ridley draining those ever-important stocks and Mii Brawler closing against Jahque “JJStatic” Wilson. The fast, aggressive movement and hard-hitting moves on top of a stock deficit spelled defeat for the Green team.

Though no longer in the running for first place, Green has an opportunity to slide into third against Farmingdale State College on April 26 at 5 p.m.

Valorant

Eastern College Athletic Conference

After beating Wayne State College’s Valorant team April 20, the Sac State Hornets are moving into the ECAC Valorant finals. 

The match was a close 2-1 for the Hornets, with all three games decided by five rounds or less. 

The first game, on Ascent, saw the Hornets rocket ahead, winning round after round until they were 11-3. 

Then the problems happened: The rounds started going down the drain one after the other as WSC came back with a vengeance, nearly throwing the Hornet hold on them. The Hornets won one round amid the WSC onslaught and finally won the all important thirteenth round to take the first game for the Hornets.

In the second game and a complete 180 on the map, Haven, the Wildcats took the first five rounds in a storm of gunfire using their familiarity of the map and their ability interactions to keep the Hornets backpedaling. The Hornets lost more rounds than they took until just like WSC in the previous game, they adjusted their tactics and went on a rampage, unfortunately, just a little too late, losing 13-11.

Story continues below…

Sac State battles to take the bomb-site against Wayne State College for the winning round of game one Tuesday, April 20, 2021. A brutal fight to secure the site foreshadows the next two games where both teams fight to make it into finals. Video courtesy of ECAC esports.

“During Haven it took us half of the half to figure out how to counter their full retakes on offense,” said Marc “iSyko” Alfonso over Discord. “The pressure was building and it was messing us up, up until we tech paused and came up with a solution.”

The final game against WSC took place on the map Bind. Even though WSC took an early lead, the Hornets focused on their practiced defense and won multiple rounds, many of which came down to the final person. 

In the game’s back half, offense rounds for the Hornets, the substantial lead the Hornets built up during the defense rounds began to wane, but the Hornets dialed it in and started trading rounds, sustaining their lead and turning it into a victory for the game and set.

A tweet from the esports club’s Twitter account sparked a little rivalry between the two schools, who had just completed semifinals matches against each other for both Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Valorant.

The final match against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be streamed on ECAC’s Twitch channel at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 27.

New England Collegiate Conference

The Sac State Green Valorant team was eliminated from the NECC playoffs after a 2-0 loss against Boise State University for the first match of the playoffs April 17.

The first game went poorly for Sac State Green who lost 13-2 on the map Bind. The Broncos pushed into sites as a group and relied on their aiming skills and character ability usage to pull them through the matches. BSU won six rounds in a row before the Green team was able to put a round on the board. This was followed by another four rounds taken by BSU before Green could secure their second round, their last of the game. 

The second game went much better for Green, albeit later in the game. Green lost the first nine rounds, a daunting start, but slowly one win turned into two and then seven. The stabilization of their economy after the early pistol rounds allowed them to dig in their heels and go down with a fight, losing 13-7.

The Gold team played against the Bryant University Bulldogs on April 15, winning 2-0 and advancing to the semifinals. Their next match will be April 22 against the California State University Dominguez Hills Toros.

League of Legends 

MetaShift League

The Sac State Gold League of Legends team (1-5) lost 2-0 against the Slam Dunk Crew (1-5) on April 18. 

While the first game started very close with both teams securing kills and gaining gold early, Gold pulled ahead. Getting some kills from a teamfight over a dragon seemed to secure the game for Sac State, but a series of bad engagements launched the SDC ahead, which snowballed and won SDC the game.

“I think we are struggling drafting comps that complement our strengths and enable us to have a fighting chance in the early/mid game,” said Justin “JJustin” Vierstra over Discord. Vierstra plans to check if switching roles between different players could help the team’s synergy and possibly improve their results. 

The second game was a neck and neck battle at the beginning due to picks and farming gold. However, throughout the middle game, multiple teamfights left the SDC one kill up, moving them ahead bit by bit until a blowout teamfight handed them enough gold to finish the game and set.

They play next on Sunday, April 25, against the “Baka Collective” (3-2) for week seven of the season. Playoffs begin May 16.