Staten Island, NY | A new era of competition is set to begin at the College of Staten Island in just a few short days, as Esports is getting set for its debut within the East Coast Conference. CSI will support teams for two fo three video games the ECC will support competition in this fall, Overwatch & Valorant, with play to begin in mid-semester and culminating in ECC Championships in early-November. All match play will be held online.
The ECC has been sponsoring Esports since the 2018-19 academic year, so the sport is still in its relative infancy. CSI joined Hood College as new additions to the conference this summer, and will be eligible to compete immediately.
For CSI, the season officially kicks off on Friday, September 11, with the Dolphins clashing with Molloy College for a 7PM online matchup in Overwatch that will be broadcast live (viewing details to come). After facing Daemen College the week after, CSI will have a bye the next Friday, and will then go six straight Fridays to round out the regular season in the game. In the final two weeks of the regular season, CSI will face ECC-Champions Southern New Hampshire, followed by ECC runner-up NYIT in the season-finale on October 30. Playoffs will start the next week, followed by the ECC Championship the week after.
Valorant is a brand-new game that was released in late-spring 2020, so it will be the first official season for all the ECC teams, nine in total in 2020. Matches will be held every Wednesday at 7PM, again in an online capacity. CSI earned a bye for the first week of the season, so will compete eight-straight weeks, starting with NYIT on September 23.
In the coming days, csidolphins.com will go more in-depth on Esports and the particular games involved. League of Legends and Rocket League are two more games that will be offered during the spring semester. In Overwatch, teams of six battle against one-another in squad-based combat over several different game modes. Players can choose between different "hero" characters that have unique specializations that make organization and strategy a major priority. The first team to be awarded game victory three times wins the game. In Valorant, two teams of five are divided into attackers and defenders with the goal of winning the most rounds in combat. Players choose a specific "agent" to control and after each round of play can develop their character. The first team to win 13 rounds twice wins the game. Rounds are completed when an entire team is eliminated, or the spike is successfully planted or defused.
Check the Esports schedule regularly for listings of game broadcasts.
