Jon Dunning
Staff Writer
Murray State Esports defeated Ferris State University 2-1 in the Riot Games College League of Legends 2020 season on Saturday, Feb. 1.
The Racers entered round one with a lineup of characters Vladimir, Vi, Jinx, Nautilus and Lissandra. FSU chose to play as characters Miss Fortune, Leona, Aatrox, Sejuani and Zoe.
At the 7:17 minute mark of game one, FSU slayed the first dragon of the map, a Cloud Dragon, which earned FSU a 10% ultimate cooldown reduction, allowing Crimson’s team members to recharge their abilities faster. Around the 13:00 minute mark, FSU continued to make gains by slaying an Infernal Dragon, giving their team a 4% boost in attack and ability power.
The Racers began to make progress 14 minutes into the game, as they destroyed one of FSU’s turrets, which also happened to be the first turret destroyed of the game. By the 15:50 minute mark, Murray State destroyed three more FSU turrets.
At 18:49 minutes, Murray State slayed a Mountain Dragon, giving the Racers their first dragon of the game and a 6% boost in armor and magic. The Racers continued to dominate the rest of the 31-minute round, slaying two more Mountain Dragons and taking down all ten of FSU’s turrets and nexus while not losing any of their own turrets.
Entering round two, the Racers picked a team consisting of Gangplank, Elise, Lissandra, Jinx and Morgana. FSU chose to play Aatrox, Hecarim, Zoe, Miss Fortune and Thresh.
FSU slayed the first dragon of the second game at the 7:18 minute mark, taking an Ocean Dragon to give their team a 2.5% healing boost every five seconds. FSU Crimson completed another dragon objective at 12:57, slaying an Infernal Dragon to gain a 4% attack and ability boost.
FSU continued to see success in the second game, taking the first turret of the round 17:47 minutes in. At 18:40, the Racers began to find footing as they slayed a Mountain Dragon for a 6% boost in armor and magic, then took down two FSU towers within the following 30 seconds. At 20:20, the teams were tied 3-3 in taking down each other’s turrets.
Towards the end of the 30-plus minute round, FSU Crimson pushed ahead to a 10-3 lead in turrets destroyed and slayed two Mountain Dragons in the process. Crimson went on to demolish Murray State’s nexus, pushing the match into game three.
Murray State switched up their team in round three, picking a team of Oran, Jarvan IV, Leona, Ihin and Orianna. FSU chose to run Aatrox, Tristana, Xerath, Morgana and Master Yi.
The Racers took the first dragon objective of game three at 6:58 minutes, slaying an Infernal Dragon for a boost in attack and ability. At 12:30, Murray State claimed another dragon objective, getting an armor boost from a Mountain Dragon.
Murray State continued to perform well, taking down three turrets 17:34 minutes into game three. The Racers went on to finish the round with all their turrets protected while taking down all 10 of FSU’s turrets, as well as FSU’s nexus. The Racers took the set 2-1.
Following a loss last weekend, Murray State staff advisor Sean Mitchuson thought the League of Legends team made better choices heading into the match against FSU.
“We had champions that worked together better this time, and I think that really helped out,” Mitchuson said. “Other factors were they just played around objectives better, they kept control of the map a lot more, so that was really what helped us overtake FSU Crimson.”
Murray State’s victory over FSU pushed the team ahead 34 positions in the rankings, putting the Racers in 60th place. Following this win, Mitchuson thinks Murray State has even more potential in future games.
“We’re showing exactly where we need to be showing right now,” Mitchuson said. “We’re only one loss away from the top 27, so it shouldn’t be tough at all to get back in the game.”
Murray State Esports’ League of Legends team will be back in action against a to-be-determined opponent on Saturday, Feb. 8. To keep up with all of Esports’ activities, viewers can subscribe to the team’s Twitch channel at RacerEsports and YouTube channel at RacerEsports.
