In correlation with a surge of esports being played worldwide, along with the foundation of a program at Northwest, the Northwest League of Legends team is hoping to make a name for itself in the gaming community.
Last year, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and Rocket League were two of the games that the program was heavily invested in. League of Legends was in that group, but not to the extent that it’s focused on now.
“Last year, it was pretty fun,” Northwest junior Brennen LaMastres said. “COVID just got rid of a lot of our excitement for it. So, the excitement kinda died down just a little bit, but once we started going again this year, it was pretty fun to see it surge out.”
The game is one that puts two teams of five players against each other in an attempt to complete the objective of destroying the other team’s base, otherwise known as the Nexus. Both teams are comprised of players that have different roles, as the game has 140 characters to choose from.
Included in the program’s team this year is Northwest junior Thomas Thach, who is in his first year with the team. Without joining the program, Thach said, he doesn’t really know what he’d be doing.
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot, especially with this new esports room, instead of playing at home,” Thach said. “I wouldn’t have met any of these guys if I hadn’t joined the program. The program so far, playing with these guys has just been great.”
Despite being new to the program, Thach isn’t new to the game. He’s been playing LoL since 2013, four years after the game’s release.
“I actually have people to play with now whenever I feel like playing,” Thach said. “So, it’s been pretty nice.”
Thach and the rest of the team opened the nine-match season against the University of Iowa and completed a 2-0 sweep of the Hawkeyes. He said the matchup was surprisingly easier than he originally thought it would be, considering Iowa is a Division I school.
LaMastres was shocked as well.
“It’s pretty cool because when you hear about who Northwest would be playing, a lot of the athletics don’t stand a chance,” LaMastres said. “Our football team going against LSU, they’d just get killed. But, for us, we’ve had a lot of success playing Division I schools.”
The fun part about a spike in participation among the program, LaMastres said, is that people are branching out and trying new things. He said that a few people joined esports without ever playing LoL, or having their own computer, but have already had an impact on the team.
The convenience of the new esports lab on the third floor of the J.W. Jones Student Union allows the team to practice and play in the same setting, along with providing the necessary equipment for people that perhaps wouldn’t have it otherwise.
Last year, in a league in which the team joined, LaMastres said they went pretty deep in the postseason.
This year, the LoL team is looking to get back to that point — and then some.
“It’s really exciting,” LaMastres said about having a full season in front of them. “I feel like we have a really strong group. … I think the team we have right now is a lot stronger than the one we had last year.”
