“We knew we won the last game from the pick-and-ban phase,” said Awad Khadir, also known by his handle JamaicanThunder. “Our strategy was simply better…theirs was not that good.”
With a beautiful execution, and a solid strategy, the team Ghain E-sports claimed victory in the Algonquin College Esports First Encounter tournament.
The tournament took place on Nov. 19, with eight teams facing each other to win a League of Legends competition.
Ghain E-sports held a perfect streak of wins throughout the tournament, except for a small hiccup in the finals.
The tournament was divided in two phases: the group stage, that ended on Nov. 14 and the main event, held in room E206 on Nov. 19, in which the eight teams that qualified during the previous phase battled for the title of champion.
The format was a double-bracket, single-elimination event, which allowed each team to play at least two games before being kicked out.
Ghain E-sports, the winning team, only lost one game during the finals. But since their opponents were coming from the loser’s brackets, they had to win two games to triumph. It didn’t happen.
Ghain E-sports claimed the win against their opponents, Pride’s Team, right after losing to them.
The five-man team held their head high in the last match, gaining momentum in the final stage, recovering from a bad action to go straight for the win.
Mhadi Khiari, 19, a student in the computer engineering technology program who went by the username Ghain, assembled a team with three of his high school friends along with one of the members’ brother.
“For me, there wasn’t too much pressure,” said Khiari. “Especially because the prize wasn’t too important.”
Charlie Truong, whose username was Nonepanda, is a classmate of Khiari and said that their goal was mostly to reach the top four.
“The prize for the tournament was an in-game cash prize, but we weren’t too focused on it,” he said. “The first four teams got the in-game prize, our goal was to reach the top four.”
The value of the in-game prize varied from around $5 to $30 depending on ranking plus an in-game item available only to players that win a tournament that has been accepted on Riot Games’ official site.
Khiari said the team didn’t feel pressure because they were never in the loser’s bracket.
“The reason we weren’t pressured is because we won all of our games, and we were never in the loser’s bracket,” he said.
The team never practiced together, but they used to play for fun.
“I wouldn’t have minded if we lost,” said Khiari.
They didn’t choose an official captain, despite the team being named after one of them.
“We didn’t really decide who was going to lead,” said Truong. “If anyone said something that was logical, everyone would agree and we’d do it.”
When asked about if they had any future plans, each team member said it’s unlikely they’ll participate in other events.
Abdillahi Kadir, username Unknown447, only participated to help his brother, Awad. “I’m a solo player,” he said.
“If there’s another tournament like this, maybe next year,” said Awad Kadir. “We might play if we have time.”