The Ohio State Overwatch premier scarlet team attacks the payload at the first TESPA preseason split tournament Oct. 4. Credit: Lucas Lumbra | For the Lantern
After a mixed showing in the first tournament, the newlook Ohio State Premier Overwatch teams will look to find more success in the second TESPA preseason split tournament.
The Ohio State esports Premier Overwatch team is set to begin its second TESPA preseason split tournament this weekend. The Buckeyes will be entering two teams once again in hopes of placing higher in the standings than the previous tournament split.
“For this specific tournament, I would be extremely happy if we were 6-0 after the swiss portion, I think that is definitely doable,” Lucas Lumbra, analyst for the Overwatch team said. “Just making sure that every opportunity we have to play against somebody who’s higher rated than us in the power rankings or has a high quality program comparable to ours, that we’re taking that ‘W’ and giving it our best shot every time.”
The team has been competing together for well over a month now, gathering experience in many different ways — taking part in various tournaments, scrimmages against other teams, practices amongst themselves and video review sessions.
TESPA — formerly known as the Texas eSports Association — is the holder of the collegiate regular season for Overwatch and other collegiate esports. TESPA has already hosted one preseason split that the Buckeyes participated in.
The Buckeyes entered both of their scarlet and gray teams to the second TESPA tournament.
In the first TESPA tournament, the gray team was eliminated in the first weekend while the scarlet team made a deep run in the tournament making it all the way to the round of 32.
Lumbra, a fifth-year in computer information science, said that this tournament is slightly different compared to the last one in how it will play out.
This second tournament has between 200 and 300 teams. Teams will play in a “swiss” pool, where teams will face one another based off of their records throughout the tournament. For example, teams that are 1-0 will play other teams that are 1-0, while teams that are 0-1 will play other 0-1 teams. This will allow for the judges of the tournament to seed teams accordingly moving into the final stage of the TESPA preseason split tournament.
“We finished ninth in the first preseason split so I think we are definitely capable as long as the scheduling works in our favor to not only go undefeated in the swiss portion, but also push into the top eight of this tournament,” Lumbra said. “I’d say that is the long term goal going into December.”
Lumbra also said both teams were going through personnel changes heading into the tournament. They will be looking to replace one player that left the program due to scheduling conflicts on the gray team. The other personnel change comes from a player swap for the scarlet and gray team.
Justin Yancey, a third-year in business economics at Ohio State, was the gray team’s tank player before being promoted to the scarlet team.
This decision was based off of practices and competitive play starting last week. Yancey has been touted as a player with a diverse character pool, allowing him to give the team some flexibility in compositions for the particular composition they would like to play against certain teams.
Yancey said both the scarlet and gray teams have shown the necessary competitive spirit to win matches this season.
“I would just say that not shying away from the big games, really taking it to the top teams that we have in our area or in our pool or whatever tournament we’re going into. Just having a good solid showing regardless of the opponent,” Yancey said.
With more flexibility in terms of their team composition, Lumbra said the teams are more versatile in how they compete.
“I think the biggest thing is playing all these different comps give us experience, not only playing with them, but also give us an idea of how to play against them,” Lumbra said. “I feel like we’re more diverse than we were even two or three weeks ago.”
