The University eSports club is headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in the “Final Four” of North America’s largest collegiate eSports tournament, “Heroes of the Dorm.”
The team consists of five University players and a substitute, led by captain and mass communication sophomore Ben “Hoss” Hosford. The team is coached by Landon “Aether” Barker and managed by Morgan “ArtemisHowl” Kirpatrick, two prominent figures in the “Heroes of the Storm” scene.
Three of the team members, chemical engineering juniors Victor “Viccuri” Alvarado and Nick “Drated” Broyles and dietetics sophomore Austin “HecarimJ” Bollich, have known one another since middle school. Kinesiology sophomore Nathan “TheWinds” Fontenot joined the team just before the tournament.
“We’ve all come together and meshed really well in and outside of the team environment,” Hosford said. “In the game, everyone has improved in their skill level, and it shows in our gameplay.”
Over 300 teams competed in “Heroes of the Dorm,” but the final four teams are from the University of Kentucky, University of Texas – Arlington, University of California – Irvine and LSU.
Hosford, who joined the team last year, said he believes the team is successful because of its members’ friendships.
“We’re here to win, but being friends comes first, and having fun is exactly what we’re doing,” Hosford said. “I think our main strengths are our flexibility and our closeness as a group of friends.”
This flexibility has been helpful during the tournament. Each player has an extensive pool of characters they can play, which makes it easier for the team to play around its opponents’ strengths.
Hosford said even in Blizzard Entertainment’s “Meet The Heroic Four” show, the analysts said they had to “nitpick” to find any weaknesses within the team.
“Heroes of the Storm” is a multiplayer online battle arena where five players from each team compete to outthink and outplay their opponents. The players choose from one of over sixty characters in the game, and the team looks for characters who will work well as a team.
For making it into the “Heroic Four,” each team member received a brand new, custom built PC worth over $1,500 and an all expense paid trip to the tournament in Las Vegas.
Each member of the winning team will receive a $25,000 scholarship for each year they have left in college, at a maximum of $75,000 per player.
Throughout the tournament, the team has been sponsored by Ballistix, Gamers Trinity, Scion Group, Tespa, Akquire, GG Superstore and UMG Gaming.
On Saturday, April 8, the team will compete against the No. 13 seed, University of Kentucky. The semifinals and final will be held at the Cox Pavilion at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, but students can watch the live stream on FacebookLive. The team is looking forward to representing the University and hope to bring home a win.