By Virtual gunfire eruptions paired with shouts from the players calling out enemies and targets made the rapid tempo of “Overwatch 2” combat immediate in the semifinal match as Team Leftovers and Team ABD Heaven battled for a place in the finals.
The final matches of the CSULB Esports “Overwatch 2” competition, hosted by Long Beach State’s Associated Students Inc., took place on Nov. 15, where the last three teams battled for supremacy.
“Overwatch 2” is a first-person shooter game that uses a class system based on the original role-player games.
Players on each team have an assigned role and select characters with various abilities to compete. They must choose heroes that fit the roles of tank, damage per second and support.
Team ABD Heaven came out strong, taking the first kill and continued the drive to capture the first objective and win round one. ABD Heaven continued the forward momentum to win the first two games.
The Leftovers were unable to prevent ABD Heaven from securing the third and final game point needed to win the match, so they called a short break to try a different tactic.
Team Captain Alex Nguyen, Andy Hong and other members of team ABD Heaven celebrate their victory with the crowd viewing the “Overwatch 2” competition on Nov. 15. Photo Credit: Aiden Redsteer
“We have to see if our adjustments can make a dent and go from there,” Vincent “SirSmaffles” Sok, a Leftovers support player, said. “It wouldn’t be the first time doing a reverse sweep if we can do it.”
Although the Leftovers were able to slow ABD Heaven’s advances in the next game, it was not enough.
ABD Heaven swept the Leftovers three games to zero, earning them the final round of the competition.
The final match would be between team ABD Heaven and team CrackerBarrel. The game had high stakes for Team Captain Alex Nguyen of ABD Heaven.
Last semester, Nguyen and his team were the underdogs, but they fell short of a true Cinderella story after losing in the finals.
Following the loss of Nguyen’s former teammate, David Brown, who left the team to start Team CrackerBarrel, they quickly became the team to beat this semester.
“He betrayed us,” Nguyen said.
Emotions were high for ABD Heaven, who wanted to overcome last semester’s tragic loss in the finals and defeat their former teammate, who they believed had abandoned them.
To further fan the flames, Josh Lopez was filling in for CrackerBarrel’s designated tank, who was unable to play.
Lopez was a key player in last semester’s champion team, which defeated Nguyen.
“I’m not worried about the finals,” Brown said. “We are coming in cold, but we are very practiced.”
The final match started with the first game being Control on Ilios.
CrackerBarrel immediately took the lead. With minimal resistance, they secured the first round, kept ABD Heaven on their back foot and quickly won the first game.
Members of ABD Heaven were seated to play in the first game of the semi-finals. Team ABD Heaven beat the Leftovers and CrackerBarrel to win the “Overwatch 2” competition on Nov. 15. Photo Credit: Aiden Redsteer
“We need to really hone in on ourselves and make less mistakes,” Nguyen said. “Like communication errors and not following through on some calls.”
Game two, Hybrid on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, involved much more back-and-forth. Both teams scored three points in their offensive rounds.
However, in the last few seconds, ABD Heaven stopped CrackerBarrel’s forward momentum and won overtime, leaving the teams one-on-one at the end of the second game.
The third game, Hybrid on Kings Row, showed a visible shift of control in the hands of ABD Heaven. They won the game by three points to CrackerBarrel’s two.
This placed them ahead at two games to one.
Game four was the final bout, with ABD Heaven effectively managing the capture point and beating back CrackerBarrel’s attempts to use expertly synchronized rushes to force them out.
ABD Heaven maintained its grip on the point, winning the match three games to one.
Andy “Rice” Hoang, designated DPS player for ABD Heaven, earned most valuable player of the competition by a crowd vote, giving ABD Heaven total victory in the ASI Overwatch 2 Competition.
“It feels really good considering last semester we lost to Joshua’s team,” Nguyen said. “I saw him as the guy I needed to beat, and it feels good to do that.”
