JACKSONVILLE, Ill.- The Illinois College Esports team competed in their postseason tournament hosted by the Midwest Esports Conference (MEC) this past weekend. The team fell into the consolation bracket after a loss to Grand View, but then upset Drury and Briarcliffe to battle their way back into contention. The team will face University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the consolation Semifinal to stay in contention for the MEC title.
GAME 1- Illinois College 0, Grand View University 2
In game 1, enemy Grandmaster toplane "Prankuru" was able to disrupt the Blueboys from level 1 by causing first blood on a late invade. Following that, Prankuru and enemy jungler "Castle" were able to win a 2v2 topside in a 2 kills for 0 fashion which lead to a significant gold lead pre 10 minutes. GVU had little resistance closing this game out before 25 minutes.
Game 2 was a much closer contest with gold being within 1.5k at 16 minutes after IC was able to win a teamfight at dragon 4 kills for 0. However, GVU was able to translate the advantage they gained on jungler Castle, and ended the game within 26 minutes off of the back of a pentakill from GVU AD carry "Mark Gonzales".
GAME 2- Illinois College 2, Drury University 1
Their history this season with Drury was a 0-2 loss in the first round robin followed by a 2-0 win in the second round robin.
In game 1, IC's bot lane duo Kevin "Sagewabe" Tran and Tristan "Loneforce" Fissette came out with a strong start disabling the enemy support and picking up an early 2v2 kill on Sagewabe. IC top laner Carlos "Usopp" Cortes was able to completely dominate his lane opponent and secured a massive lead on the top side as well. IC was up around 4.5k at the 15 minute mark.
Sagewabe notably came in clutch and made a huge hero play; combatting the Panthers 1 vs 4 for a Quadra kill that saved the game for IC. It took until 30 minutes for IC to finally close the game.
In game 2 the Drury Panthers turned up with a 1-3-1 Seraphine strategy that caught IC off guard. To answer this, IC's draft indexed into scaling 5v5 which proved to be advantageous for the skirmish heavy Panthers. Drury was able to snowball game 2 and end at 39 minutes.
An epic game 3 came down to Drury running back the Seraphine and IC drafting a full engage comp this time around. Gold was dead even at the 15 minute mark before IC made some agressive plays topside around the rift herald. After a 48 minute barn burner IC was able to bring home the game 3 win off the back of some outstanding performances across the board. Coach's Player of the game:
Kevin Tran "Sagewabe"
GAME 3- Illinois College 2, Briarcliff College 1
Previously this season, Briarcliff was able to defeat the Blueboys 0-2 in the first round robin and 0-2 in the second round robin. Making IC the underdog coming into their postseason matchup with Briarcliff.
In round 3 of consolation bracket IC went up against Briarcliff to determine who would advance to final 4 of the conference.
Game 1 we saw Sagewabe and Loneforce on Lucian Yuumi which proved to be strong as we saw a Pentakill come out from Sagewabe. However, Briarcliff arranged a comp where jungler "Autofill Pete" was able to find advantages on his Kindred, while Briarcliffs solo lanes were both tanks which smothered the Lucian pick. Briarcliff took game 1 at 39 minutes.
Game 2 IC made some draft adjustments to counter the Yuumi pick that Briarcliff opened up with on blue side. IC was lead by jungler Peter "255" Foreman and top laner Carlos "Usopp" Cortes who gained significant advantages throughout the course of the game. Tristan "Loneforce" Fissette was able to land a major Nautilus hook on enemy adc Zeri which had major implications on the game. IC was able to close out game 2 at 29 minutes.
Game 3 was truly a "Cinderella run" type of game from IC lasting until the 29 minute mark.
Gold was dead even at the 15 minute mark and Briarcliff even saw a kill advantage 8-4 until a game deciding Baron fight lead to IC getting the momentum they need to close out the game. The hero of this game was Noah "TheDicey" Postin on his signature Heimerdinger who was able to secure an item advantage over enemy members in the game. His threat and zone control matched up well into Briarcliff's tank composition.
Coach's Player of the game:
Tristan Fissette "Loneforce"
