The Unified Update Week 2
Unified Esports Association 3/7/2022
Good afternoon and happy Monday to all my fellow esport lovers! My name is JayTuu and I’m the Social Media Manager here at Unified Esports Association! Each week, I’ll be providing all of you with an update on all things Unified and as an old man trapped in a 25 year old’s body who thinks he’s super funny (I am my mom says so), I hope you’ll stick around and laugh with me or even at me. But as long as we’re all enjoying esports and laughing, that’s a win for me ?? The group action continued this week in PGCQ #2 and this week went much more to expectations with 100 Thieves Next, Immortals AOE, No Team, and Taco Gaming qualifying for the playoffs! Taco Gaming is probably the only “surprise” here, but honestly…they played Maryville on a Tuesday so what did we expect ??. We are sad to say goodbye to York Lions, Redbird Esports, Third Party, and Nameless Randoms as they were all eliminated this week. All of these teams weren’t expected to be here and yet they were–and on top of that, they put up solid performances, so super proud to see some new teams making waves in the space! Let’s dive into each group though as we get ready for a new week: Group A - The first thing to mention here is the obvious: 100X won and it’s to nobody's surprise. It was cool to see the “old men” vs “zoomers” storyline with the ex-LCS/Academy experience on Bogged but at the end of the day, this 100X squad is just so unstoppable right now. Someone wake me up when they win all of Proving Grounds ??! For Winthrop, it’s good that they not only won but did it in a convincing fashion considering they now have to rematch Bogged for a spot in playoffs. Winthrop will definitely want to win this match to fully secure their Proving Grounds spot so they’ll need the #ThropsOut support on Monday for sure! Group B - This group honestly was the group of death for me. You’ve got Redbird having some of the most banger matches of the entire year so far, while Ginger Turmeric are absolutely popping off with Le Grain hitting 360 no scopes on every team they face! As sad as it is to see Redbird eliminated after some incredibly strong performances, it’s also a huge relief for EG Prodigies to have another chance considering how important their placement is if they want to make it to Proving Grounds. This team had some high hopes and they definitely don’t want to be the only LCS Affiliated org not participating in the event, especially with the strong lineup they have! The wildcard of this group has definitely been Ginger Turmeric who have fire?? memes and fire?? gameplay to back it up. It was unlucky they couldn’t make playoffs against Immortals AOE but their upcoming matchup is going to be a banger rematch between them and EG Prodigies! Group C - #This #Group #Has #Been #Very #Fun #To #Watch! If you don’t get the reference, it’s because you haven’t followed No Team on Twitter to see them hashtag every word and have the most amazing graphics. The players are fun, their personalities make them lovable, and Dragoon followed me back on Twitter recently so they’re now my favorites! Outside of No Team, the other three have really been duking it out for the final playoff spot. We say goodbye to Third Party but hello to ToastyAlex after the elimination match this past week! Is anyone else just loving how good this guy is at mid because my goodness his Veigar might be pick/ban worthy at this point! Maryville Saints will be a tough team to beat but if they’re saints, surely that means first round Renekton picks, Lee Sinner jungle, and pushing every wave all the way to the fountain (couldn’t help myself)! In all seriousness though, this is gonna be a great match with the winner even having a chance at Proving Grounds (I think?)! Group D - Hey babe look, Maryville University and Supernova are playing for a potential final spot in Proving Grounds again! Honestly, the script writer really copy/pasted and said “aight I’m out” and I’m at least ok with this! Maryville has looked really strong and it’s unfortunate they got hit by the Taco Tuesday buff against Taco Gaming but it’s definitely still a winnable achievement for them ??! Supernova have also been slowly scaling since the first PGCQ so it will be interesting to see what they bring to the table! Since this is being uploaded on Monday, I’ll be sure not to spoil Drury too much but the Midwest Esports Conference has really proven 2 things to me that I want to talk about: 2. Collegiate Esports are on the rise and it’s so exciting. When I went to school, there was never an option to play games at school or even systems in place to encourage students to play video games. As a matter of fact, a lot of times video games were looked down on and kids would get bullied for being a “nerd”. Now I’m sure these issues still exist to some degree but seeing kids from the high school level enter the college level and all throughout have the opportunity to play video games competitively is insane to me. Rocket League, Valorant, even League of Legends are titles that I actively see on socials pushing this Collegiate scene and I’m loving seeing the students compete and the companionship it brings. One example I want to give here from our own conference is just the relationship from the Grand View University team. These guys are always memeing away at each other on socials whether it’s Airrens Yeezy sliders or tossing plushies at each other or hyping up their guy Prankuru, these guys have a good attitude and a good bond and it’s so much fun to watch. I’ll finish this up by saying Drury was amazing and I can’t wait to write about it next week! The competitions were great, the main MEC matches really shook up the standings, and the engagement with the people there seemed really positive! Playoffs are on the horizon for many of our Premier Leagues and it’s an exciting time of the year! There’s been a lot of excitement and a lot of great stream moments but let’s take a look at this past week to catch up on the action: UPL Valorant - The Vandal Division has been a 3 way race for first all season long and this last week was the culmination of that race. UBC, Akuma Esports, and Halt the Kings have all been trying for that number 1 spot and they were all tied with 5-1 records since they all beat each other in the first round robin! Let’s look at each of these teams: This upcoming week is the final week and it’s going to be a crazy end to the regular season and playoffs are looking exciting! Infernal Division - Bay State Maroon, University of Michigan, Supernova, UofT, and Zenigma are all sitting at the top of this group and as we move further some movement is possible but 4 of these 5 are looking likely for playoffs! Mountain Division - New Trevor are the lone undefeated team at the top with 3 teams tied for 2nd and some teams right behind that. New Trevor will likely hit playoffs but the question becomes, who will be joining them? Ocean Division - There’s a lot going on in this group and things are still unclear but the constants are Redbird Esports being undefeated and looking strong since we saw them play in week 1!
1. Esport LANs have so much potential here in the Midwest. I haven’t got to attend one yet but with the outpouring of positive feedback on social media, it’s clear to me people are having a good time at the LANs. I think the biggest attraction for us right now is definitely the prize shop and quest system we have in place as many players spend time between competitions working hard to collect their prizes even pooling together tickets to get some of the plushies!
UBC - UPL Fall Champs coming to defend their throne
Akuma Esports - Fall Top 3 and long time players here in UPL Valorant. Akuma is an org always known for putting up strong teams in our leagues
Halt the Kings - Former Redbirds players and former ex-Pro Modigga20 this team has been very impressive this season.
All of these teams have a claim to that first place spot with their performance but with Halt the Kings and Akuma having played UBC this week, a lot of that was finally put to rest. On Tuesday, UBC came and got their business taken care of in a 2-0 victory over Akuma! They made them work for it but this is now the second time UBC beat them and they just have their number thus far this season! Maybe a best of 5 in playoffs would help them figure it out but Akuma is still a strong contender even with this hiccup! Aoshine in an interview on Tuesday said he and the rest of UBC were “Coming for Halt the Kings on Thursday” and they lived up to that statement. Halt the Kings had beaten UBC on the first round robin in a 2-1 banger match but UBC was not messing around on this day. Although the rounds were still close and HTK started with a 6-0 lead on icebox, UBC took both Maps and had another 2-0 which is scary coming into playoffs! In the Phantom Division, AOE Esports played up against the second UBC team UBC Blue and after their 2-0 victory and current undefeated record in their group, they tweeted:
UPL LoL - Ascension Esport fans rise up! Our casting booth consisted of Alkbattery and Decerux this Friday in a throwback cast of two great friends of Unified! It was great to see this duo back at it again as we got to watch University of Toronto take on Supernova! Supernova has a big week in Proving Grounds ahead of them so this was definitely the place for them to test out any new theories and get their game faces on for Monday! The match ended in a 2-1 for Supernova but the series was incredibly fun filled with Casters pausing the stream, Ariendel Galio picks, and Supernova comebacks after UofT had some very impressive early games!
We’re still 3 weeks out from playoffs but let’s take a quick look at how some of the groups are shaping up (keep in mind top 4 from each division make playoffs):
Cloud Division - Winthrop and Harrisburg sit atop this group with a 4 way tie for 4th so this group could have some dramatic endings coming it’s way if this keeps up!
