Esports 2/25/2025 11:45:00 PM

Blinn Super Smash Bros. picks up four victories while Overwatch falls to Illinois State

The Buccaneers will compete in another busy night of esports action with seven matches Wednesday

Esports 2/25/2025 11:45:00 PM

Blinn Super Smash Bros. picks up four victories while Overwatch falls to Illinois State

The Buccaneers will compete in another busy night of esports action with seven matches Wednesday

The Blinn College esports team had a busy night of action Tuesday as the Buccaneer Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team went 4-1 in five one-on-one matchups, while Blinn's 10th-ranked Overwatch squad fell to No. 1 Illinois State University.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) league play, Blinn's Gage Cole earned a victory over Coastal Bend College and is now 2-1 in the Central 1 Conference. Gabe Pipes topped opponents from Amarillo College and Coastal Bend to improve to 3-1 in the Central 2 Conference. Kiara Molina picked up a win over Coastal Bend before falling to Dallas College Mountain View. Molina is now 2-1 in the Central 2 Conference.

Each match was contested in a best-of-three format, with each Buccaneer win coming by way of a 3-0 sweep.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a crossover fighting game where players, either in one-on-one or four-on-four matches, aim to knock each other off a combat stage. The objective is for players to inflict damage to increase their opponents' likelihood of being knocked off the platform. In singles play, each player has a set number of lives or "stocks," and the match is won by reducing the opponent's stocks to zero. In crew battles, teams take turns battling, with stock carryover. The team that eliminates all opposing players' stocks first wins. Series are often best-of-three or best-of-five.

Blinn's Joshua De Los Santos was scheduled to face opponents from Laredo College and Dallas College East Field, while Cole was also scheduled to play a match against Eastfield, but all three matches were rescheduled for Wednesday due to technical difficulties. De Los Santos will battle Laredo and Cole will face Eastfield at 5 p.m., while De Los Santos will take on Eastfield at 6 p.m.

"Every single player has been working hard these past several weeks and they continue to improve," Blinn head coach and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate manager Kyle Murto said. "We are looking really solid this semester and we are hoping to have a couple playoff bids as we continue to perform well in the regular season. I could not be prouder of the work my players are putting into their game this semester, and I cannot wait to see what they can accomplish."

The Bucs will continue their NJCAAe Super Smash Bros. Ultimate season with eight one-on-one battles against Jefferson College, Dallas College Richland, Laramie County Community College, and Moberly Area Community College at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4.

In Overwatch play, Blinn came up short against the Overwatch Collegiate Rankings Association's top team, falling 3-0 in a best-of-three National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) bout.

Competing for the Bucs were Joseph Mares, Haluk Tanriseven, Matthew Hutchings, Donnivan Straight, and Dhruv Pandrangi.

Blinn fell to 2-2 in the NACE Super Conference.

Overwatch is a team-based, first-person-shooter in which players select heroes with unique abilities and work together to complete objectives across multiple map modes. Each team can strategically choose its maps based on team strengths and opponent weaknesses.

Each round Tuesday included a different win condition based on the following modes:

Control: Teams fight to capture and hold a single point. The first team to reach 100% control wins two rounds in a best-of-three format, where the loser of each round picks the next map.
Escort: The attacking team moves a payload to its destination while defenders try to stop them. The payload moves when attackers are near it, and the attackers aim to complete the route before time runs out.
Hybrid: Teams capture a point and then escort a payload. The match is typically one round for attackers, who must secure the point first before moving the payload.
Push: Teams battle to control a robot and push it toward the opponent's side. The first team to push it farther than their opponents wins, with the loser picking the next map.
Clash: Teams capture consecutive points, with the first team to a set number of points winning.

"While the scoreline was not in our favor, there were some valuable lessons learned from the experience," said Murto, who also manages Blinn's Overwatch team. "Facing a team of Illinois State's caliber allowed us to see firsthand how top-tier players approach the game, how they execute strategies, and how they adapt to situations on the fly. We were able to pick up key insights into their playstyle, what works for them, how they exploit weaknesses, and the speed at which they make decisions. Though we struggled to keep up in this match, we gained a lot from analyzing how they played, and how they took advantage of the areas where we were vulnerable. This will help us refine our own strategies and make adjustments to improve."

The Bucs continue their Overwatch season with an NJCAAe tilt against Wichita State University Tech at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

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

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