Esports 11/19/2024 9:50:00 PM

Blinn League of Legends outlasts Keyano to reach regional championship, punch ticket to nationals

The Buccaneers face Dallas College Richland for the Central Region title Dec. 2

Esports 11/19/2024 9:50:00 PM

Blinn League of Legends outlasts Keyano to reach regional championship, punch ticket to nationals

The Buccaneers face Dallas College Richland for the Central Region title Dec. 2

The Blinn College esports team earned a 2-1 victory over Keyano College in the NJCAA Esports Regional Tournament semifinal round Monday.

The win in the best-of-three series advances the Buccaneers to the regional championship where they will face Dallas College Richland at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2.

Richland handed Blinn its only regular-season loss of the year (2-0 on Oct. 30).

The win also gives the Bucs a berth in the four-team NJCAA Esports League of Legends National Tournament, which will feature Blinn and Richland, as well as NJCAAe East Region competitors Wake Technical Community College and Northern Virginia Community College.

Blinn and Richland will place for the regional title and also for seeding in the national tournament. The first seed out of the Central will battle the second seed out of the East in the opening round of nationals.

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) where teams of five players select champions with unique abilities to work together to gain control over a map. The game's objective is to destroy the enemy Nexus while securing objectives like turrets, inhibitors, and neutral monsters. Teams must control a map and destroy a Nexus while contesting neutral objectives such as Dragons and Baron Nashor for powerful boosts.

Blinn punched its ticket to the regional title match and the national tournament with a victorious effort from Brian Shi, Jonathan Nguyen, Alejandro Aular, Anthony Fullerton, and Alec Chojecki.

"This was the most intense League of Legends series I've been a part of since coming to Blinn," Bucs assistant coach and League of Legends manager Ryan Lucich said. "All five of our players played well, and any given game any one of them can step up and make plays. I'm really proud of how my guys battled through a tough series. We've had a lot of respect for Keyano all season and it's unfortunate we had to eliminate them from the tournament, but I'm so happy we were able to advance."

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 49 national championships since 1987.

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Players Mentioned

Brian Shi: Freshman; League of Legends

Alec Chojecki: Sophomore; League of Legends

Players Mentioned

Brian Shi
: Freshman; League of Legends

Alec Chojecki
: Sophomore; League of Legends