On Tuesday, February 2nd, 2023. I got the privilege to sit in on Transylvania’s first-ever Esports match. Sitting in the basement of Thomson on a Tuesday night does not sound like an ideal place to find an eventful evening, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Transy’s Esports team made their debut this semester and will be partaking in a conference against other schools. Games are played in a best-of-5 style, meaning that the team who wins 3 matches first wins. The Pioneers played Overwatch 2., a 5 v 5, first-person shooter, against Mount Saint Joseph Universities’ Esports Team. The game started with a coin flip in which the winner got to choose the map played, and the loser got to choose whether they wanted to attack or defend first.
Starting off strong, Transy won the coin flip and chose to play on the map “Nepal”. MSJ chose to attack first and started out of the gates strong by winning the first round. Little did MSJ know that this would be their only win of the night. The next two rounds would go
to the Pioneers, winning them the first map of the night.
MSJ got to choose the next map, King’s Row, and Transy decided to defend first. A quick, clean victory from Transy raised morale in the room and in the chat room of the live stream. With MVP of the game being awarded to our own Janzen Santos, aka “CatBoyMaid.”
The final match was played on Dorado, chosen again by MSJ. Transy defended the objective and ended up winning the third match, completing Transy’s first-ever Esports match with a sweeping victory.
All in all, it was a very exciting experience getting to sit in on this monumental victory from the Esports team, a first in Transylvania University history. The next game will be played next Tuesday, once again in the Transylvania Esports facility in the basement of Thomson Hall.
