Who won the British Esports Championships Spring 2020 finals? Watch highlights and hear from participants here

The British Esports Championships Spring 2020 Season has concluded – and we have the three winners who will now be progressing to our online grand finals in April (specific date and details TBC following changes made around COVID-19). 

In this post we take a look back on the spring finals, speak to some of those who took part and provide some highlight recap videos.

 

League of Legends

Our League of Legends spring season finals was action-packed from the very beginning and led to the full best-of-three being played out. With strong team compositions from both sides, each match was exciting to watch!

For match 1 we saw strong early dominance from Alsager School, which only snowballed as nqny’s Yasuo snowballed out of control and ended up on a rampage for the majority of the match! Despite some great plays by Hills Road, Alsager’s team fight skills – with the help of the sheer damage from Himeko Inaba’s Ashe – ensured the first match was theirs in a confident 32 – 10 victory for Alsager.

Going into game two, Alsager had the confidence with the previous win keeping their spirits high, but Hills Road were determined not to make it easy and to gain the advantage. Both teams kept the game very even, with some amazing hooks from ben folds five’s Blitzcrank and 1st Rock’s Malphite controlling each fight. However, Hills Road proved too strong for Alsager as 4th Rock’s Jinx dominated the mid-late game with ease and a quadra kill. After technical difficulties, the match resumed and Hills Road earned their win, leading the season finals into the third game of the series.

For the last game – and most tense – of the series, both teams were determined to win. Hills Road led with a strong toplaner in 1st rock’s Garen who soon became too much to handle. Alsager did well to manage the rest of the team with their Morgana and Caitlyn and made some amazing plays, but with Garen out of control and pushing through each lane, it soon proved too much for Alsager. With some heavy losses in their team fights, Hills Road pushed on through to the base where they quickly ensured their victory and became our spring season League of Legends winners.

Congratulations Hills Road Sixth Form! They will now face BTC (Bridgwater & Taunton College, who won our Winter 2019 Season) in the grand final!

Result: Hills Road Sixth Form 2 – 1 Alsager School

 

Rocket League

For Rocket League, our season finals were a tense and exciting match-up! Resulting in the full best of seven games being played out, we were all on edge to find out who would be our spring season winner.

DON’T PANiC! showed clear confidence early on as they moved into overtime to score the winning goal for the first map. With some fantastic shots and defence from both teams, Sunderland quickly levelled the playing field and won the second match.

After several victories for both sides, the games grew tense as both teams were determined to win. In the final game, Seers grew confident as they scored two goals early on, leading DON’T PANiC! to catch up from behind. Seers maintained an excellent defence, only letting one goal in for DON’T PANiC!, and secured their victory with a third goal.

Thank you to AGSB Esports for the casting and streaming our Rocket League season finals. Congratulations Sunderland College! They will go on to play against Clyde Hot Shots (Glasgow Clyde College) in the grand final. 

Result: Sunderland College 4 – 3 Northgate High

 

Overwatch

The Overwatch finals was another showdown between returning Champs teams Sunderland Seers and Farnborough Peregrines! Both strong teams went head-to-head in the spring season finals where there were some amazingly close fights.

The first map of control (Oasis) went quickly in the way of Seers. With a strong double shield line up with Fed’s Sigma and Qwantex’s Orisa, it was a fast win for Seers to secure the point both times.

Farnborough didn’t make it easy for Seers in the second hybrid map (Eichenwalde) with a great defence of the payload each time and securing 3 points with their push leading the second map into a round three. Despite a great defence from Scribble’s Zarya and Cardinal’s Mei, Seers had a great teamfight with itsbrenn’s McCree using a wonderful ultimate picking off the competition – ensuring their second map win.

The third escort map (Rialto) was push and pull to its finest. With Farnborough putting up a great defence and excellent teamfights, they were not making it easy for Seers to move the payload. With some fantastic plays of the game from Kronos’s Ana and Aleck’s Mei, both teams made the season finals amazing to watch. With a very strong defence of the payload, Seers dominated the map and claimed their 3-0 victory.

Thank you to AGSB Esports and our Overwatch game adviser Terry ‘Servitude’ May for the stream and cast of our Overwatch season finals respectively. Congratulations Sunderland College!

Because Seers won both the Winter 2019 and Spring 2020 Seasons, rules dictate that the runner-up in the second season will advance to the grand finals. This means Seers will face Farnborough again in the grand finals, giving Farnborough another chance to try and take down Seers!

Result: Sunderland College 3 – 0 Farnborough Sixth Form

 

What they said

 

Northgate High students: ‘The Championships was the main thing I looked forward to every single week’

Here are some views from Northgate High’s Rocket League team, DON’T PANiC!

Tommyd27 (right): “So many had such an unbelievable experience in this beautiful tournament. At first, I was doubtful that we were going to get to enjoy this. But great work from sushi meant that I was able to participate in this amazing tournament and really enjoy myself. I’m thankful to him for that.”

Suket ‘sushi’ Arya (centre): “The Championships was the main thing I looked forward to every single week – playing with a team and being determined to win. It has also helped me communicate much more efficiently with staff and others, and we will be back next season!”

Seamus ‘AwesomeS64’ Smyth (left): “The championships was incredibly enjoyable, as it allowed me to hone my skills and improve the synergy with my team in a competitive environment, I am glad we were able to participate and look forward to taking part again next year.”

The team added: “Big thanks to Mr Howard for allowing and helping us to make this happen, and without him, we wouldn’t have made the finals. We enjoyed being a team, and will be for next year!”

 

Farnborough students: ‘This has been exciting, challenging and enjoyable’

We also caught up with some of the players from Farnborough Peregrines Overwatch team. Here’s what they had to say:

 

Quote from Michael ‘Senseishark’ Kelly:

“Both the Winter and Spring season were very fun, we didn’t make the finals first season, however the second season we managed to bring it all the way up to the finals in the end, which felt just as good as it did last year. The final match was very fun, the best match we’ve played so far, and even though it was a 0-3 loss it was relatively close – we can definitely reel it all in for the finals and we will all be working hard to do so :)”

 

Quote from Emily ‘Invidia’ Brazzill:

“The existing teams had been mixed up just before the Winter split, so at first it was honestly quite daunting because there was a much more competitive atmosphere this time. Even though our first match resulted in a forfeit, every game onwards with my team was really fun, and the finals were even more so – we’re already on good terms with Seers, so that just added to the hype surrounding the match.

“The score was 3-0 in the end, but it never felt that way; the games were really close, and considering how skilled our opponents are and have always been, I’m just happy we could make the match worth their while. I can safely say that we’ll all be working as hard as we can to make the grand finals even closer than before.”

 

Quote from Roger ‘Gjallarhorn’ Quilliam:

“Competing in the British Esports Championships has been an exciting, challenging and very enjoyable experience. I am proud of my team for working hard to push all the way to the finals, despite having to suffer a forfeit in one of our earlier matches. I have always loved the thrill of competing, and I am glad that the championship has, and will continue to, open many eyes of teachers and parents as to what esports is about.

“I’m also very happy that I had the privilege to host and cast a mid-season charity esports event where my college and the British Esports Association partnered up to raise over £275 for Teenage Cancer Trust. The finals themselves, although in score terms was a 0-3 loss to us, the games were a lot closer. We definitely managed to win a hefty amount of team fights, however I think our opponents had better ult usage and ran slightly unconventional comps compared to what we were used to scrimming which caught us out. It was great to compete against other Top 500 players, and I know my team felt their skill, ggs! Overall I am pleased with my first year in the championships, and although a lot of my teammates will have left the college by the next academic year, I am going to continue being a leader and scout the best players in order to come for that first place spot next year.”

 

Teacher: ‘I’m impressed with how well they’ve done’

We spoke with Richard Steed, Teacher of Business Technology at Alsager School. He said:

“The team has been really keen to be part of the esports league – they have harassed, badgered, bothered me throughout constantly – interrupting lessons, taking up my break times, etc. Which is great as it’s awesome to have something they are so passionate about being involved in.

“The team has practically run itself – I’ve just made the tech available at school and I’m really impressed with how well they’ve done. Maybe we can win it next year!”