The inaugural British University Esports Championship has reached its end. With teams gathering from all over the UK to compete for their university’s honour and earn themselves a share of over £5,000 in prizes.
The finals took place over three days at Belong Nottingham with a student conference on the Friday before the games which gave student leaders the chance to talk with brands such as EXCEL, Belong and SpecialEffect before watching their teams compete.
In the coming days we are going to be announcing the final points standings and the first ever Esports University of the Year, until then here’s a look back at how the Spring finals played out.
FIFA 19 GRAND FINAL
Northumbria University 6 - 5 UCFB
The first leg of the final got off to an explosive start with both players scoring within the first 10 ingame minutes, Jésus (Northumbria) opened the scoring with the very first possession of the game with a quick break down the right wing and a well timed cross giving him the lead. It would be only moments later that Ross (UFCB) would pull things back level with a well worked build up culminating in fantastic shot to the top right corner of the net. The game settled for the remainder of the first half as both players became more cautious, it wasn’t until the 50th minute that the deadlock was broken with Jésus scoring a screamer from just outside the box, building on this he quickly netted two more to put himself up 4-1 heading into the 90th minute where Ross pulled one back putting the aggregate to 4-2 with the second leg still to play.
Game two got off to a quick start as well with three goals inside the opening 30 minutes with Ross being up 2-1 heading into the second half. In the 57th Jésus equalised again, taking the aggregate to 6-4 and scoring the decisive goal. Ross pulled one back but couldn’t find the all important final goal. After a nailbiting two legs Jésus would win 6-5 overall and claim the Championship for Northumbria.
ROCKET LEAGUE GRAND FINAL
Loughborough University 4 - 2 Newcastle University
The Winter split runners up Loughborough took on Newcastle in what would be a back and forth series to determine the new victors of the Rocket League Championship. First blood went to Newcastle who took the first game 2-0 with a couple of well worked backboard rebound goals which Loughborough struggled to deal with. Game 2 did not disappoint, Loughborough took an early one goal lead before, in the last 70 seconds of the game, there would be 6 goals with a final buzzer beater giving Loughborough the win. Time to calm down? Of course not. Game 3 would also be a 7 goal thriller with Loughborough seeing off a Newcastle comeback to go up 2-1 in the series as a whole. Game 4 was a more muted affair with Newcastle stealing it with a well worked goal in overtime.
It would be Loughborough who took the lead once more, punishing Newcastle’s aggression with two quick goals and taking the game 2-1. In the final game Newcastle gave everything, hitting Loughborough with attack after attack but they couldn’t find the finish and succumbed to a two goal deficit. With the wind at their backs Loughborough would go on to score a third and seal themselves as the Rocket League Spring Champions.
Here’s the last minute of that incredible game 2:
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS GRAND FINAL
University of Manchester 3 - 0 Loughborough University
Defeated in the Winter Championship final, Manchester were back for a second shot at the title and this time faced first time finalists Loughborough as their opponents. In game one Loughborough struggled to control the mid Sylas pick from Manchester, with two dives top and then a scrappy fight in Loughborough’s jungle leaving him on 6 kills. And that was all she wrote, Manchester pushed the advantage to close out a 30 minute game 1 win. Game 2 was then a story of everything but midlane with Manchester’s botlane and toplane effectively running over their lane opponents. Loughborough would put up a fight in the midgame winning multiple fights despite being at a significant gold disadvantage. It was not enough though, the early lead Manchester had built was too much to overcome and so it would be 2-0 heading into game 3. In the closest game of the three Loughborough took and held an early lead punishing overaggression from Manchester and setting themselves up for a clean win. This was not to be the case though as once again Manchester’s midlaner asserted dominance reaching a score of 7/1 just 23 minutes into the game. It would prove a lead enough for them to usurp their earlier deficit, take the game, and take the title of Spring Champions.
CS:GO GRAND FINAL
University of East Anglia 2 - 0 De Montfort University
Coming in on the back of a dominant upper bracket run University of East Anglia (UEA) faced an opponent many did not expect. De Montfort University (DMU) were knocked into the lower bracket some 6 rounds ago by the very UEA they now faced in the finals and with a heroic run now looked to avenge their former loss. The first map was DMU’s choice of Mirage and a scrappy first half would have swung hard in their favour without some incredible clutch rounds from UEA. However, when the sides swapped UEA went on to win 10 of their 13 T-side rounds wrapping up the first map with a well played 1vs3.
Moving to Inferno, UEA took the momentum from the first game and overwhelmed the DMU team with their T-side, ending the half 11-4 up. Not satisfied with that they went on to not drop a single CT round and closed the game 16-4 claiming their 2-0 win and their place as Spring Champions
HEARTHSTONE GRAND FINAL
University of Oxford 3 - 1 Heriot-Watt University
The Hearthstone Spring Final was one of only two from the BUEC which saw two first time teams facing off. It is also now the case that both Hearthstone Championship Finals have been a Scottish university against an English one. Game 1 seemingly started well for Heriot-Watt as they opened Deathrattle Hunter with Keleseth in the opening hand however the early pressure put on by Oxford’s Even Paladin and in particular Corpsetaker was too much, too early for the Hunter to hold on. Game 2 saw Oxford’s Pirate Rogue do the same thing again to Heriot-Watt’s Hunter deck with them unable to deal with the early aggression and not having an answer for the turn 3 VanCleef. All the momentum was in Oxford’s favour and if Heriot-Watt couldn’t make their stand here it would go down to a 3-0 defeat. They decided to switch up decks, now using their Malygos Priest deck to go up again Oxford’s Hunter. It was looking dicey for Heriot-Watt until their Diamond Spellstone brought back Zilliax and gave them a good health confusion against further aggression. With that the Hunter ran out of steam and eventually fell before drawing Rexxar putting the series at 2-1. Moving onto game 4 Heriot-Watt sent in their Quest Rogue up against Oxford’s Hunter who quickly gained early board control. A 6/5 Razormaw caused nightmare for Heriot-Watt who struggled to get it off the board but finally doing so on turn 6. However the damage had been done and with just 9 health it was only a matter of time before Oxford re-flooded the board and finished them off taking the game and the series.
OVERWATCH GRAND FINAL
Staffordshire University 3 - 1 University of Sussex
The Winter Champion’s Staffordshire were back to defend their title having beaten Durham the previous term. This time their opponent would be Sussex who came into the final as the underdog in most people’s eyes. The first map would be Busan and it started as expected with Staffs taking an early 1 round lead, however Sussex bounced back immediately taking a point of their own and pushing Staffs to a close 2-1 game 1 which Staffs ultimately won. Next up was Dorado with Staffs opening up on the attacking side. After a close fight on the first point, which went to Overtime, Staffs rallied and rapidly took the second and third points as Sussex were unable to manage their ult economy under the pressure and eventually falling. With sides now switched Sussex took the first point in no time at all but struggled to cap the second point and lost a lot of time in doing so. Once they had captured it very little time remained and they could not break the Staffs defense who held them for a 3-2 victory. It was now match point for Staffs heading onto Hanamura. Both teams opened with terrifying offensive and took both points with timebanks of over four minutes, going into the second phase of rounds it was not the defensive capabilities of both teams that shone with Staffs first holding the final point for three minutes. It was Sussex though who persevered, holding the final point for 5 minutes straight and taking the map in thrilling fashion
Map 4 would be on Blizzard World with Staffs once again opening up on attack. They quickly capped two points and looked unstoppable heading to the third, it was with just three metres remaining that Sussex managed to hold them. With the cart now so close to the enemy spawn, Staffs struggled to regain control of it and ultimately were unable to cap leaving it in Sussex’s hands to claim the map. Staffs wouldn’t make it easy though and it would be in the choke heading to the third point the game would be decided with Evy landing a double kill with D.Va ult which Sussex simply couldn’t recover from giving Staffs the final win.
DOTA 2 GRAND FINAL
University of Bristol 3 - 1 King’s College London
Last term’s champions Bristol were here to claim back to back title wins but blocking their way was a team hailing from King’s College London (KCL) who were looking for their first. Bristol would open up by absolutely dominating the first two games, averaging over a kill per minute in both. Game three was where their hubris showed, making a number of cocky plays which KCL expertly capitalised on. Having been humbled Bristol put their game faces on and delivered a commanding victory in the final game with Rubick causing havoc all game long. It would be solid 3-1 win for Bristol who take home their second title and are your Dota 2 Spring Champions
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