Esports club hosts Mario Kart tournament
On Oct. 11, Utah State students gathered at the Esports Center to play Mario Kart together. The intramural tournaments have been in full swing this semester and have given students the opportunity to meet new people and compete at the amateur level.
Junior Tanner Timothy, Esports Club program manager, has enjoyed hosting a variety of tournaments at the university.
“Through Campus Rec, the esports program hosts different intramural tournaments, and that’s what tonight was,” Timothy said. “We do one a week on Wednesdays at 6:00. We do Mario Kart and Smash Brothers every month, and then the other weeks we’ll do other titles. For example, next week we’re doing Rocket League.”
Even though the tournaments came from small beginnings, the club has already had the opportunity to partner with institutions both on and off campus.
“In the past, we had a GFuel sponsorship, and they just gave us a ton of GFuel we gave out as prizes. Just energy drinks for free,” Timothy said. “Now that Campus Rec is helping us a lot more, we have the intramural championship shirts to give out as prizes.”
The club offers a variety of games including Rocket League, League of Legends and Overwatch. The events are catered towards the casual player, making sure that participants of every level enjoy themselves.
“They range from really casual and friendly to a good source or outlet for competition in games that you might not be able to find the opportunity elsewhere,” Timothy said.
The club has fostered a budding community and continues to grow each week. Students who attend have the opportunity to find people with similar interests.
“I love some of the communities that we’ve made. The Smash Bros. community has grown almost entirely from these tournaments. We have people at the esports building on random weekdays just playing Smash Brothers and practicing for the tournaments,” Timothy said. “It’s a program that’s still developing, but I think so far what we’ve done is really cool.”
The tournament itself was double-elimination, meaning each player would need to lose twice to be knocked out of the tournament. The six players were divided into groups of three, and the top two competitors of each round would advance to the next round.
The six competitors went by Darkai, Brock, TrickyFox, CRT, Sam and ArcticStreaks.
Group 1 first went to Neo Bowser City, a course riddled with tight turns and deadly cliffs. Darkai got out to a good start, leading by many car lengths, and while Brock tried to claw his way back, a late bomb explosion dashed his hopes. Darkai would continue to race well, winning the second race as well over TrickyFox.
In the penultimate race, TrickyFox showed what he was made of and rushed to the front. Unfortunately for them, Brock was able to mound a small lead and hold onto it until the checkered flag. Brock couldn’t close it out though, falling to Darkai but advancing to the next round.
Tournament participants are locked in on their races at the Esports Center on Wednesday, Oct 11.
Group 2 went to a new course, paying a visit to beautiful Paris. Sam and CRT pulled away from ArcticStreams and after a tense battle, Sam came out on top to take a small lead.
The three competitors next stopped at Wario’s Gold Mine, with Sam dominating once again. He took the lead early and held onto it, the nearest racer nearly 15 seconds behind.
While Sam would lose the final race, his position was all but sealed up and he advanced to the next round along with CRT.
Sam flexed his skill in round 2, winning each race handily. The real battle was between Darkai and Brock, in competition for second place and the opportunity to make the third round unscathed. In the end, Brock pulled out a close win and sent Darkai and CRT to losers to meet ArcticStreams, fresh off a win against TrickyFox.
As the only two players still without a loss, Sam and Brock battled it out. Sam kicked the series off with a bang, winning Cloudtop Cruise by nearly ten seconds. It was no different at Koopa Cape. Sam once again found himself with an insurmountable lead late in the race and won handily.
Needing to win two straight races to tie it up, Brock couldn’t do it and dropped down to the losers bracket, leaving Sam in the winner’s side grand finals.
While she took the first round handily, Darkai couldn’t find the placements she needed and bowed out in fifth place.
With Sam only one Grand Prix win away from the title, he didn’t let up on the gas. Even though he started near the back of the field, he drove Peach to the front within the first fifteen seconds and wouldn’t let go despite desperate attempts from CRT and ArcticStreaks. Sam once again held first, but perhaps filled with newfound motivation, Brock kept it close the whole way, biting at Sam’s heels. But even with this pressure, it didn’t matter, and Sam was one race win away from sealing the victory.
To have a chance at victory, the other three had to pick up the pace, but Sam was quicker. Though Brock was holding the Star that could save the race, due to a powerful lightning bolt, he lost it, and with it, his hopes of winning.
Even after his dominating victory, Sam expressed his desire to continue improving.
“I feel like I played fine — could’ve played better,” he said.
He’s been a top performer at the monthly Mario Kart tournaments stretching back to last year.
“I’ve been playing since they started doing the Mario Kart tournaments. I’ve lost one, so I’ve won every other one that I’ve played in,” Sam said.
Any students interested in the tournaments can follow @usucampusrec on Instagram for more information and or visit the Esports Center at 6:00 p.m. every Wednesday. Next week, the club is hosting a 2v2 Rocket League tournament.