Stockton Esports - ecac-invitational

Join Stockton's former Competitive Manager as he recaps his experience at the ecac spring showdown invitational lan tournament, including his preparation and success at the tournament during his final semester at stockton.

Story by: Jesus Causing

The Call to Compete

Being the leader of the competitive division at Stockton Esports is a rewarding experience. You help players grow both in the game and out of it by developing their communication and adaptation skills. Sometimes though, I would get jealous of seeing players get excited and succeed as while I add value to the team, at the end of the day it’s not me playing. Thankfully, I got an opportunity to play Teamfight Tactics at the ECAC Winter Invitational. Teamfight Tactics is a game that I know quite well, being in the top 1% of any season I play seriously. So, I decided to give it a go because I couldn't come up with a reason not to.

Now the double-edged sword of Teamfight Tactics is that it’s a game that requires you to frontload a significant amount of pre-game knowledge in order to stay current with the metagame. This is where my coaching experience comes in handy. I’ve always preached the fundamentals and knowing what your plan is before going into games. However, the application is a completely different beast in itself.

My Preparations and the Start of the Tournament

Truth be told, I've only really ever learned the games I've excelled at through sheer brute force. Hours upon hours of grinding would eventually get me to the promised land and it did in fact work for the competitive ladder in Teamfight Tactics but when game changes are bi-weekly the metagame evolves quickly and I simply didn’t have enough time to spend hours playing to figure it out. Recognizing this I went out and got a coach myself.

And so came the day of the tournament. I had gotten a lesson the day before to make sure I knew what lines of play were relevant for the weekend and felt my preparation was good enough to at least make the final lobby. Despite being told that my game was “easy” and “there's no need for me to warm up.” I started my rituals and found myself in the hardest group of the tournament. My teammate Mike Klein had an easier time in his bracket but we qualified all the same and geared up for the final lobby.

The Start of Checkmate

It's important to know how the scoring system works in Teamfight Tactics. You’re put into a lobby with 7 other people and you earn points inversely based on your placement in that lobby. For example, first place receives 8 points and last place gets 1 point.

This scoring system is normal until you reach the Grand Finals, where the officials can elect to instate the Checkmate format which puts a caveat on how one wins the tournament. Scoring is the same but once a player reaches a point threshold (16 points in this series), they need to place first in the game to secure their victory hence the name “Checkmate”.

The final lobby was myself, Mike, and two high-ranked players from two other schools so it would be a moderately difficult lobby but nothing compared to the competition in ECAC’s Elite Division so I felt good about my odds to take the entire thing.

The first game of the lobby would go extremely poorly as my computer crashed at a pivotal moment, throwing away what would be a 1st (8pts) into a 3rd (6pts). It’s at this point I proceed to freak out. One of my flaws as a player is playing emotionally once things start going south. Knowing this would happen, I took a ten-minute break to breathe and reset. This is where I have to mention Alex Lee, who had been assigned secondary support staff for the weekend when Mike and I were playing. He quickly sprung into action trying to advocate on my behalf as I hyperventilated outside trying to calm myself down. I was given an extra point due to the crash and in checkmate, every point truly does matter.

In the second lobby, I proceed to take a very subpar line but in Teamfight Tactics you aren’t winning every lobby so you need to hope luck doesn’t go in favor of your opponents. Unfortunately, Vulkzen, one of my main competitors from the University of Albany, would secure his check with 16 points so from here it was win or lock him out of winning.

Was it Worth It?

Thankfully in the 3rd game, I would essentially be handed the game just like game 1 through general luck and thankfully didn't have the game crash on me allowing me to coast to a very comfortable first. The downside being my teammate would also enter Check alongside me meaning one out of three of us would end up winning the tournament in the next game.

So it was down to the last game. Vulkzen would be forced into a suboptimal line which left him basically dead in the water. Mike would also be handed one of the best openers to start so it came down to one moment where everyone creates their final board and hopes it’s good enough. Thankfully my unit quality was slightly higher and I was able to win the game, the lobby, and the tournament with just two units left on my board.

I couldn’t believe it, I had actually done it. This road wasn’t easy for me. Between six classes and being the competitive leader at Stockton, there wasn’t much time to get good practice, causing me to sacrifice sleep and weekend time to devote to the game. I had not spent as much time playing this game in a single season before this one and it was the push I needed to get to the next level.

It is truly different when winning as a player than as a coach. The drive to win is on a completely different basis. As a coach it's about the team but in a game like Teamfight Tactics it’s all about you.

So, if you ask me “Was It Worth it?”, here’s what I have to say:

PXL_20240501_001115526~2.mp4

Story by: Jesus Causing

Jesus “frAnk” Causing was the 2022-2024 Student Competitive Leader for Stockton Esports. His coaching history began with Qualifying for the North America League Championship series in 2013 and was an integral part of developing the structure of Stockton Esports during his tenure.

Photos courtesy of ECAC Staff and Teri Abramson (instagram: @ imateri)

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