This year has been a weird one for everyone – in the world of collegiate esports, though, we were lucky enough, in some ways, to continue and even grow! What were we able to accomplish this semester?
Apex Legends – This semester brought the debut of Butler’s first Apex Legends squad! They competed in the Apex Spark tournament series Division A, earning 38 series points but finishing near the bottom half of the league. Still an excellent first season, with a lot more to come!
Call of Duty – The Black Ops Cold War season was an exciting one, as Butler participated in a few warm-up tournaments before the beginning of CCL 2021 in February. The Bulldogs finished the first league split with only one loss, and went 3-2 in split 2 to earn an automatic playoff berth, where they earned a top 32 finish (including a loss to the eventual league champions, University of Ottawa Gold).
Counter-Strike – Butler completed the CSL Open Division in January to finish with a 2-7 record overall.
Fortnite – We sent several solo players and a trio to compete in the PlayVS collegiate Fortnite season this semester. Will “SwayWard” Seward ’24 finished ranked #113 out of many hundreds of students, and the trio of Seward, Owen “otp” Pechous ’24 and Aaron “Exroh” Ryan ’24 were ranked #33 at the end of the season.
Hearthstone – This semester, Butler fielded a Hearthstone team after taking a few semesters off and exploded back onto the collegiate scene. The Bulldogs finished 7-2 in the regular season’s Swiss rounds, good enough for a #18 seed in the double-elimination playoff bracket. After two close five-round losses, the team finished in the top 48 for 2021.
League of Legends – This semester, the League of Legends White team finished their CSL Star League season in January to end 3-7 overall.
Overwatch – This spring, Butler Overwatch finished 4-6 in the ABC regular season, as well as fielding a team for the Flash Ops: Experimental tournament and a few tournaments hosted by Nerd Street Gamers.
Rainbow Six: Siege – Our best-performing team of the semester, Butler Rainbow Six had an incredibly huge spring. The Bulldogs competed both in this year’s spring CR6 season (going 2-4) and in the NECC for the first time. After a 9-0 regular season in which Butler only dropped two maps, they were able to take the NECC Challengers title with wins over Concordia Wisconsin and SUNY Oswego, earning Butler its second-ever esports title in program history.
Rocket League – We fielded three Rocket League teams again this semester. Blue finished the CSL season 5-5 in January, and later competed in two CRL qualifier tournaments, going 2-2 and 6-2 in those events. White and Grey finished their respective CSL seasons 1-9, and White went 5-9 in seven weeks of PlayVS collegiate competition.
Super Smash Bros – Butler’s Smash crew continued to meet regularly despite COVID-19 complications, both online and in a practice facility on campus. Additionally, they played a few crew battles for A Kid Again’s “Spread the Love Weekend” and the Durham College Collegiate Smash Showdown.
BIG EAST League of Legends – The first of our two BIG EAST squads competed in the spring 2021 BIG EAST season within the cLoL tournament structure. After a double round-robin with eight other BIG EAST schools, the Bulldogs earned a top 4 placing within the conference. For more about the spring 2021 Butler League of Legends season, check out Beyond the Rift: A League of Legends Documentary, put together by our own Henry “Sirerin” Johnston ’21.
BIG EAST Rocket League – This semester, this team competed mostly cross-conference in the second half of EGFC Season 2. The Bulldogs went 6-2 for a total record of 12-4, good enough for a top 4 finish in the BIG EAST conference with a win over Villanova. In the EGFC playoffs, Butler also pulled out a top 4 finish with wins over Marquette and Delaware.
This year, Butler esports teams played matches against more than 145 schools from across the US and Canada. But we were also able to accomplish things outside of competition! This semester we hosted our annual Extra Life charity stream, raising $1,645 for the Children’s Miracle Network of hospitals. We also elected a new slate of officers for next year, and we’re excited for what next year will bring!
Follow us on social media by visiting allmylinks.com/butleresports!
