The First Otago Esports Brawl

Over the last two years it has been my pleasure to have been developing a High school strategy for esports. This weekend that culminated in the first ever High School esports tournament. To pay full tribute to the event what will follow is a run down on the competitors and results.

Eight teams registered for the event which was hosted at the fantastic Kavanagh college, we could not have had a more accommodating and comfortable venue. So let us look at the teams:

The Heraldines from Otago Girls Led by Erika Stuart

The Rising stars: 2 years ago this squad were the easy beats in the rift. 2 years of experience they bring balance and poise to the game and in term 3's competition they not only took the Otago boys scalp they have topped the table to see them take a bye to the semi final of the top tier. The squad have become one to be feared.

The Taste of Tandoor from Logan Park Led by Griffin Millar-Kelsey

The Steady eddy's. The Taste of Tandoor. This team have been regular contestant in the Otago High school league and though the starting line up is in the air you know that this squad will bring the goods they finished in the top tier of the season 2 with a dominant run of form. Coming out of Logan Park they are serious contenders and who wouldn't back them to finally go all the way?

Plan C from Kavanagh College Led by Henry Lapham

The Young Guns Plan C the tournament host and the young kids on the block. Yes Kavanagh has the youngest side in the competition but they have played all three seasons and have steadily improved through out the year. Home advantage might just see the young guns make an impact.

Wakatipu high school Led by Davin Hong

The dark horses: Coming out of Central Otago the Wakatipu side are complete unknowns to the metro players of Ōtepoti. Everyone will be nervously doing there research as this squad looks to plunder the trophy.

Obama's Paparazzi from Otago Girls High School Led by Teagan Purvis

The enigma: Another young squad looking to ascend. This season Teagan and Nathalie have steered their squad to the top three of their league to get to the top tier playoffs. A slightly altered line up for the Brawl we know this squad will have fun, but also count on them getting an upset or two.

OBHS ZƎR0 from Otago Boys High School Led by Tai Ratima

The Legacy. Otago Boys have a proud tradition of sporting success and within the esports arena they are no different. Captain of the OBHS Poros combines with some of the legendary OBHS Imports who are still smarting after a near perfect season saw them lose to the Logan park Low ELO legends in the final of term 2's competition.

Headlessrats from Logan Park High School Led by Connor Hobbs

The Underdog. Logan Park have a firm plan in place to ensure pedigree continues to flow through the Kura being possibly the only Kura with an esports prefect. Their 2nd team is led by Conor Hobbs and they will come into the tournament as underdogs. If they can embrace this title then they can potentially upset a the apple cart on the day.

Defenders of the Rift: A combined team across Queens High School, Otago Boys and Logan Park Led by Daniel Visser

The Alliance: Through Lock down an impromptu knock out tournament brought a change for Daniel Visser of the Poros. He formed a squad stretching across school boundaries and they defeated the John McGlashan squad to take the title of Lockdown Blitz champions. Daniel now adds Queens High School captain along with the pedigree of Logan park title holding captain of the LPHS elo Legends to his squad and looks to take another title. There is no doubt they have constructed this team with one goal in mind.

The day itself

It was with nerves I welcomed the first teams into the Kavanagh library checking teams in through the door and making sure everything was set up. I had through out the evening and day thought of this as the new rock and roll with the Your Corps team setting up what was to be an epic event. Just like every event coordinator it is alway nerve wracking waiting for the event to start. Having only ever met the squads on line through organising league play over the past two years it was great to put some faces to names. The Otago Boy teams had been regular visitors to Otago Girls but the others were unknown to me.

The day clicked of with open matches in Group 1 my squad the Heraldines took on the Defenders of the rift. Though we were certainly underdogs the girls went into this match with a grim determination. Hoping for an early round win. Some classic top lane play from BadgerFloof (Gamertag) kept Otago Girls on the scoreboard and allowed them to push. With Kills counting for the seeding The defenders took this out 35-12 though at times the Heraldines had really made them worry.

On the other side of group one OBHS Zero played the dark horses that were Wakatipu. The boys from Queenstown had set off at 5:30 in the morning and had only just played their first game as a team on the Friday. This is one of the beauties of bringing esports into the School sports arena. Students are enabled to meet like minded people and develop all the skills we would see in any other team sport. Wakatipu were tilted at the draft stage when their opposition banned all their regular champions this was a clear play and OBHS Zero had clearly done their home work. The game resulted in a clapping and OBHS Zero made wakatipu go to the bottom of their group with a 29-9 win.

Group 2 saw the young guns of Plan C take on the mighty Taste Of Tandoor (TOT). The young squad had an uphill battle and TOT certainly took the tournament ruleset of taking kills into account for seedings in the knock out stages. 45- 11 was a real flex from the Taste of Tandoor and it was proof this squad were contenders.

The otherside of Group 2 saw Obama's Paparazzi battling TheHeadlessRats. I must admit I have a soft spot for both these squads I remember the captain of Logan Park side coming over to Otago Girls to start his teams journey late in 2020. The Paparazzi are the future of our esports at Otago girls this squad are so much fun to be around. Sometimes we are focused sometimes we are singing country roads at the top of our lungs. With the OGHS third team or Dream Team joining them it was bound to be fun. I really thought due to form in the grassroots weekly tournament the Paparazzi were favourites. The Logan Park squad were not here to mess around though and dealt the true damage to them taking the game 31-8 leaving the Paparazzi at the bottom of their pool.

The tournament then went into its Knock out format splitting into the Lower bracket and the upper bracket In the Upper Bracket ideally we would of loved to play this as a best of three but time dictated it to be a best of one. The upper bracket saw OBHS Zero beat the Headless Rats to send them into the lower bracket game against Wakatipu. Plan C were pitched against The Heraldines in a game that saw them assert their authority and send the home side into an elimination match against their OGHS protégés Obama's Paparazzi.

Wakatipu seemingly had shaken off their bus trip and were in no mood for an early exit they duly beat TheHeadlessRats to start their own climb to the top and leave the young Logan park side in the last chance saloon with a match up against OBHS Zero. In the elimination match Plan C finally found their form and eliminated the fan favourites Obama's Paparazzi.

This led on to the Upper bracket and Lower Bracket Semi finals. In the Top Bracket The Heraldines took on The Taste Of Tandoor while the Defenders of the Rift were pitched against OBHS ZERO. These games were again best of one with the losers dropping into the bottom bracket.

The Heraldines are well acquainted with The Taste Of Tandoor having never beaten them in the weekly league but have come close. This game was no different and they pushed the Logan Parkers all the way. Alas they couldn't take the win.

The other semi final saw familiar players take on each other. The captain of OBHS Zero usually plays together with the captain of the Defenders this was probably the pick of the upper bracket semi finals. The Defenders gave their all but OBHS Zero were in solid form and would be the team to advance to the Upper final.

The Lower Bracket now saw Elimination matches set up with a repeat of the Quarter final The Heraldines versus Plan C and The Defenders of the Rift versus Wakatipu.

Plan C had been improving all game and it took the OGHS students all their might to ensure they maintained their record against Kavanagh. The score being 48-32 in comparison to the earlier match it was clear the young guns were starting to shine alas to late and their tournament was now over.

Wakatipu had almost warmed up the school van and an early exit was quite appealing for their travelling teacher. A massive shout out to Kyle Jackson, school sports do not happen with out the volunteers that put in the time to help our ākonga. A mid game drop in frame rates did cause some controversy in the game and led to a slight delay. With the Defenders of the the Rift playing well it was Wakatipu who managed to take the win and go on to face The Heraldines in the Lower bracket final.

For the Lower Bracket final it was now best of three. And the Heraldines were starting to show signs of fatigue. This clearly showed in the bracket final with a usually solid side making uncharacteristic mistakes. The opposition teams had quickly started to figure out who their champions were and banning them in the draft. The Semi final seemed a bridge too far for the Heraldines and the visitors from Queenstown won in straight matches to send the Heraladines out the competition.

The top tier final was the match of the tournament as expected. The Taste Of Tandoor proved their pedigree being the first team to beat OBHS Zero all tournament. This set up a tense second match that was do or die for the Otago boys crew. Luckily for them they did manage to draw the set. This led to an epic final game which the spectators looked in on eagerly awaiting a result.

Unfortunately for The Taste Of Tandoor this Otago Boys side were in fine form and finished of the Logan parkers and send them into the last chance saloon as they sought to beat Wakatipu to have a chance of resurrecting their chance of getting to the grand final.

Wakatipu had been taking the hard route to the final and though OBHS Zero had been prepared for this squad The Taste Of Tandoor were not as prepared and this match saw Wakatipu at their clinical best. With two clean matches helping them march into the Grand final and a revenge match against the side that had ambushed them in round 1.

There was a break and both teams took their time to discuss tactics and meta game the possibilities.

The Grand Final though tighter than the first round match was justifiably taken by OBHS Zero in 2 straight games. The squad had barely put a foot wrong all day and deservedly were crowned The First Otago Esports Brawl champions. A fantastic day with the tournament well organised by Marcin Lipski.

Your Corps put on a hell of an event and I was extremely proud to be able to bring this top end gaming experience to our community. We know this is a start of things to come and look forward to bringing further joy and competition to the community.

Nga mihi to all our sponsors