UCI Varsity LoL: New Season Updates!


by | Jan 19, 2019, 8:00AM PDT

(The stage during the 2018 College Championship Semifinals)

UCI’s League of Legends Varsity Team kicks off the year strong with a 3-0 sweep against UCSD’s Varsity Team in the 2019 Winter GameFest! Hosted by UCSD’s Sixth College, UCI took 1st place at the LoL tournament last week, beating UCSD on their own turf.

By score alone, 3-0 may seem like a clean win. In reality, UCI struggled to cap the enemy nexus in the early games. Although victory was secured in the end, the team definitely took note of their weaknesses in gameplay.

Winter Gamefest was a great warm-up for our team and an opportunity to compete against the solid UCSD squad. We clearly have some things to work on and I know several players will want to improve on their performances. I want to give a shout out to Youngbin “Youngbin” Jung and Jeffrey “Descraton” Du for their solid play that carried us to the win!

Mark Deppe, Director

In tandem with the beginning of this year’s collegiate League of Legends season, ESPN released its first-ever College League of Legends Rankings with UCI placed at number one! The article highlights UCI’s Varsity LoL team victory from last season, showcasing an image of their hoisting of the trophy in celebration after beating Colombia College in a 3-0 sweep in the finals. The recognition from ESPN in itself is an amazing feat for UCI Esports and only goes to bolster the team’s determination to uphold their title as Champions of the Rift.

Not only is this the first ever collegiate ranking by ESPN, it’s also the first poll of its kind in college esports. The ESPN rankings will be updated biweekly as the season develops, so make sure to follow closely to see which colleges will rise to meet our victors! The general overview for the 2019 College League of Legends Championships can be found here and the more specific West Conference schedule here.

For Round 1 (January 26, 2019), UCI has a “bye” and will not be participating in any matches due to seeding and the uneven amount of teams involved. But keep on the lookout for their first game in later dates!

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Gianeen Almaria

Gianeen Almaria is a fifth-year student at UCI pursuing a double major in Computer Game Science and Art. As the current Shoutcasting Manager of UCI Esports, she’s been following the esports scene for as long as she can remember, and continues to avidly follow the growing competitive scene among all games.