While McCarthy Quad was bumping with rhythms and flows Thursday night, Argue Plaza was bustling with Esports hype. E-Conquest, which saw USC’s Esports teams face off versus UCLA, was another one of Conquest Week’s engaging events for student life.
Avid fans were able to see the rival schools go head-to-head on their favorite games including Valorant, League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros, and Hearthstone.
The evening started strong for UCLA as their Rocket League team was able to take down the Trojans in a demonstrative 3-1 victory on Stage 2 (1-3, 0-2, 2-1, 1-3). The newer USC squad was unable to figure out how to beat the calculated gameplay from a more seasoned Bruins team, despite a promising showing from USC’s Vitor “VTR” Salomão which allowed the Cardinal and Gold to take a game.
While UCLA rejoiced over their first victory, Stage 1 was hosting the most intense match of the event.
UCLA and USC Valorant teams clashed in a tight 3-game series, with Game 1 going the Bruins’ way after a difficult OverTime 14-16 win. Games 2 and 3 then played out in USC’s favor with an assertive 13-6 scoreline to tie it up and a close yet confident 13-11 from our Trojans to end the series.
This nail-biter of a match then gave way to a dominant 2-0 victory for our Trojan Hearthstone team. The Bruins focused on board-development-heavy gameplay with a defensive Paladin deck. USC’s aggressive Warrior and Paladin decks were able to overpower the UCLA tactician. Luck was on the side of the Cardinal and Gold as a clutch “Tomb Traitor” card cleared a full opposing board in Game 1, and an “Ignis, the Eternal Flame” lucky draw led to a weapon that was strong enough to end Game 2 early on.
The fun did not end there for the Trojans as the League of Legends team also dominated their Bruin counterparts in a 2-0 series. Despite some parts of the games being close, USC was able to rely on its star AD Carry Joseph “Levitate” Hong to carry teamfights and close out the games in style. His Xayah and Aphelios picks reigned supreme versus a UCLA team that had a hard time locking him down.
The night intensified when UCLA’s Super Smash Bros team took their Trojan counterparts to a tiebreaker, which led the Cardinal and Gold to a 2-1 hard-earned victory. The competition format was a 5v5 “Crew Battle.” This format is historically associated with and almost unique to Super Smash Bros. It consists of a series of 1v1s where the winner stays on and the losing team has to keep sending players until they knock out the winner. The first team to knock out all the opposing team’s players wins.
The first Crew Battle started with USC at a deficit, but the Trojans were able to claw their way back and win by a single stock. Crew Battle number 2 started similarly but this time UCLA kept it together just enough to clutch the victory. The tie-breaker was a more casual 4v4 Random Characters match which USC won.
Overwatch 2 was the final game to close out the night, and a final breath of victory for UCLA who were able to end on a 2-0 win from their team. Despite the Trojans fighting hard and pushing games into overtime, the Bruins’ superior tactical execution was the ultimate decider for the series.
USC Esports as a whole beat the Bruins in a solid 4-2 victory at this year’s E-Conquest, with a lot of star players popping off on both sides.
Now, the question is, will USC Football be able to do the same on Saturday?