By: Jeremy Blye

 

As many of you know, we had our first ever DePaul Summer Showdown this past Thursday. It was a blast of an event, and it was even better since I was one of the casters. We had Paul “Foof” as another caster and Kevin “Tenacity” in charge of virtually all of the production. This event was a double-elimination bracket which consisted teams of DePaul, Xavier/Butler (or widely known as Blavier), University of Connecticut, and Northeastern University. Each team battled it out in every single series, and I am sad to say that DePaul did not take home the win this event. They played extremely solid with Blackwraith, Shacookie, and Mybyke. It was quite interesting to see how we morphed Varsity and Junior Varsity players and had a huge amount of success against some stronger teams out there. This is just another learning moment for our DPU squad, and I am sure they will come into their next tournaments even stronger. On a side note, I am glad to announce that University of Connecticut took the dub after a 10-game final. They battled against Blavier for a bracket reset and took both of the Grand Finals to a game 5. Let’s take a look into each of the games.

 

Rosters:
DePaul: Blackwraith, Shacookie, Mybyke

Blavier: Brospeh, Kai, Astroo

UConn: Anton, droiz, Disastyr

Northeastern: A1, shotguy, skribl

 

 

Round 1:

DePaul vs. Northeastern (2-1)

This game was hard to even guess who could win. I have personally played against Northeastern’s B Team, and they are extremely solid. I got absolutely destroyed by them. A1, shotguy, and skribl are all extremely talented players. Their talent was displayed profoundly throughout the 3 games our squad got to play against them in. One thing that I have always noticed about Northeastern is that they are always accurate and love to get as many shots on goal as possible. It is hard to match the pressure they put onto other teams. Unfortunately, their talents were not strong enough since our squad came out victorious in the end.

 

UConn vs. Blavier (2-1)

This is a series that seemed to be in UConn’s favor from the start. Blavier seemed to not be as warmed up as UConn was. There were quite a few mistakes that UConn was able to play off of and take a quick lead. Even though Blavier did get one game on UConn, it was not enough to stop the powerhouse the Huskies bring out to the field. UConn was seen making pass play after another and seemingly got around and in the heads of the Blavier squad. This did not stop the Blavier Squad from excelling in the rounds that would follow.

 

Semifinals:

DePaul vs. UConn (0-2)

Going into this series, I knew it was not going to be an easy win for DePaul. As many of you know, UConn was the Big East Champions in the most recent split. They obviously know what they are doing, AND they are good at it. This did not stop DePaul from putting their all in. Even though DePaul did not get a game on UConn, it was extremely good experience to face a team as solid as UConn. The issue when playing against a team like this is that once they take control of the game, it is hard to get around it. Even with this obstacle, players like Blackwraith were always there on the defensive end to stop UConn. Mybyke seemed to be the main playmaker and demo-er. Shacookie was also a playmaker and always was styling on his opponents. Yet, this was not enough to stop the Huskies.

 

Finals:

UConn vs. Blavier (5-5)

This series was absolutely crazy. We had a bracket reset and we had both series go to a game five. Who would’ve thought that both UConn and Blavier could put on such a show for everyone to see at home? I guess we were able to find out on Thursday night! Blavier were definitely the underdogs in this situation, yet they still excelled all the way to the finals and almost showed UConn what was up! Both teams were showing fatigue all throughout the series, but that did not stop the aggression each had within the game. Even though both teams were extremely vigilant, UConn took home the bread in the bracket reset and won the first ever DePaul University Summer Showdown!

 

Recap:

Overall, I was extremely happy with the results of this tournament and event! I was worried that it was not going to go smoothly since I had never done anything like this before. Kevin did such a fantastic job on the production side of things. I am so happy I have him to work alongside with. Paul “Foof” is one of my favorite casters out there. Working with him is even better. I am not that experienced with casting either, yet Paul helped push me to be the best caster I could be. Even though at the end of the 150 minute stream I was soooooo tired, Paul helped keep up the pace and guide me into success for the night. I am excited to continue this event within the near future. On that note…we have our next Summer Showdown on Thursday, July 15th. The game will be announce on our Twitter shortly.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out and participated (either in game or in the stream) and I am looking forward to what the future holds!

By: Jeremy Blye

 

In the upcoming weeks, we will be introducing some events to help provide the Esports community with more to participate in. Two of the major events will be the DePaul Gaming League and the DePaul Summer Showdown. DGL will consist of more casual gaming sessions with game features such as Among Us and other party style games. While on an Among Us note, our first DGL will occur tomorrow, June 18th at 6 PM CST. With the Summer Showdown, it will be focused around our competitive games and teams. These events will be either tournament-style or show matches for almost all of our competitive series. Our first Summer Showdown series will occur next Thursday, June 24th at 7PM CST. This will be streamed on our Twitch Channel and it will feature Rocket League. As the summer continues these events will rotate every week.

Keep an eye out for the future events, they will be announced between our Discords, Twitter, and Instagram. It will be interesting to see the titles we bring on board in the upcoming weeks.

 

                       

 

Personally, I am extremely excited to add these events into the summer. Although I may have a busy summer with my jobs, it is nice to have some competition and casual sessions to experience within a community that I love. Hopefully this is something that we will be able to add into the future and maybe even expand it to become larger than it is at the current moment. I look forward to see who will participate and the memories that will be created by making these events a reality for our community. I hope others see this in the same light and express similar feelings throughout the course of this summer.

By: Alex Rodriguez

As we conclude this strange year, we thought it would be important to acknowledge and celebrate the individuals who went the extra mile within our Esports program. Last week we released the list of winners for three Esports awards, each representing a different accomplishment. The first award we gave out was the Most Valuable Player award also known as the MVP award. This was an award that will be given out per team and was awarded to a player who’s devoted time, effort, and skill to help the team achieve new heights. The next award we gave out was the Exemplary Community Member award which was given per-game title and was awarded to someone who helped push their community forward and really put in extra effort to ensure their organization was more enjoyable throughout this remote year. Lastly we gave out a few Student Leader Awards which will be given to a select group of individuals that went above and beyond to represent the Esports program as a whole. While this was our first time running the Esports Awards program, we hope to continue this program for the years to come to really give back to our excellent community.

With that being said, we bid you all an excellent summer break! Without further ado, here are the winners!

Most Valuable Player Awards:

Kevin Forbes – LoL Ruby
Lauren Jang – LoL Amber
Jozef Tokarczyk – LoL Jade
Joel Alvarez – LoL Varsity
Ryan Ayers – LoL Varsity
Albert Luna – Valorant Academy
Andrew Hiss – Valorant Academy
Casey Peterson – Valorant Varsity
Angel Rivera – CSGO Varsity
Ross Chapman – Overwatch Black
Chris Cordoba – Overwatch Varsity
Robert Vega – Smash Junior Varsity
Bobby Nieves – Smash Varsity
Maaz Haider – Smash Varsity
Michael Venit – COD Varsity
Ricky Soto – R6 Varsity
Sean Casey – RL Junior Varsity
Spencer Ficht – RL Varsity

Exemplary Community Member Awards:

Aaron Ho – LoL
Tim Komperda – Valorant
Tito Protasio – CSGO
Peyton Gatza – Overwatch
Matt Buerckholtz – Smash
Kevin Donnelly – COD
Richard Santos – R6 Siege
Layne Norris – Rocket League
Will Braun – Minecraft

Student Leader Awards:

Michael Gardner – Commentator
Tom Zdanowski – Overwatch, Valorant, Good guy

By Layla O’Malley

The DePaul Esports community is excited to announce the launch of a new collegiate chapter of the *gameHERs right on our campus! One of the biggest goals of DePaul Esports has always been to create a fun and welcoming environment where everyone can get together and bond over shared interests, and the introduction of the *gameHERs chapter to DePaul will serve to further provide new opportunities for engagement! By partnering with the *gameHERs, we hope to provide a new environment dedicated to the promotion of the voices of all different types of gamers and those interested in Esports and the professional game industry.

In order to bring the *gameHERs to DePaul Esports, it is important to understand the mission and goals of the organization to see how we can work to make this a really exciting new chapter. The *gameHERs, above all else, is an organization designed to amplify the voices of women and non-binary gamers in both professional and recreational video game settings. The community is women-led and prides itself on its abilities to create a space for a variety of people looking to exist in a safe and positive environment! The platform provided by the *gameHERs serves as a hub for content creators, professionals in the gaming industry, and casual video game fans. The organization hosts a myriad of events centered around the mission of advocating for women in games. Furthermore, while the *gameHERs seeks to create a woman-led space built upon empowerment and community, the overarching mission of the organization is to promote the idea of a positive, safe environment meant to provide resources relating to gaming and the game industry to all in a kind and welcoming manner.

With the addition of the collegiate chapter of the *gameHERs at DePaul Esports, we will serve as the liaison between events offered by the *gameHERs and DePaul Esports members while also seeking to provide a similar space of shared community and empowerment through new events of our own. We have begun hosting weekly meetings on Thursdays from 1-2PM CST in the #game-hers chapter of the DePaul Esports Discord where we can share new news from the *gameHERs and generate an environment for comradery, and in the near future we will host a variety of events in partnership with other communities in DePaul Esports centered on different aspects of the casual, competitive, and professional gaming world. As representatives of DePaul’s *gameHERs chapter, we look forward to hosting game nights, professional panels, and casual chats which will all benefit in the amplification of women voices in gaming and Esports. Everyone is welcome to join the *gameHERs chapter within DePaul Esports and we are so excited to work with you in our continued effort to make gaming more accessible and enjoyable for all!

For me personally, I have been so grateful to have the opportunity to work with the *gameHERs and DePaul Esports to create a space that is designed specifically to promote inclusivity. I am very passionate about helping to garner a tighter knit gaming community here at DePaul, and I think creating a channel that allows people to feel safe and heard is a really great way to encourage more participation and create lasting relationships! I cannot wait to see what the *gameHERs will be able to bring to DePaul’s Esports community in the coming future.

 

Check out the announcement launching the *gameHERs Collegiate program here: https://esportsinsider.com/2021/05/thegamehers-womens-collegiate-esports/